Web Usability Made Simple

Author: Deborah J. Mayhew, PhD

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D15 from a comprehensive curriculum on User eXperience (UX) currently under development at The Online User eXperience Institute (OUXI).

This course is one of a track of courses aimed at small web business owners, students and developers/designers with little or no prior training in software/web usability.

Before you attend this Web Usability Course, we recommend that you take the free, 30 minute course called "Introduction to Web and eCommerce User eXperience Design". As well as providing a high level overview for this and other related courses from the same OUXI curriculum training track, it will explain how the small fees you invest in these courses could pay off in thousands of dollars in increased revenues from your ecommerce website.


COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course addresses one of three key aspects of the User eXperience of eCommerce and other websites: usability (other courses in the OUXI curriculum will address designing for persuasion and graphic design).

The course is very concrete, "how-to" course offering clear, actionable guidelines and hands-on exercises. These website usability guidelines are not based on subjective opinion - they have all been well established by rigorous, published research from disciplines such as cognitive science and computer-human interaction. Each guideline is fully explained and generously illustrated with many examples from real websites.

The 34 design guidelines offered were selected from the full body of knowledge on web usability to be: universal (i.e., applicable to any and all websites), easy to explain, commonly violated, high impact, and easy to implement. They represent the "low-hanging fruit" in designing for web usability.

With nothing beyond these 34 key guidelines, anyone should be able to realize major improvements in the usability of their website, which will contribute measurably to the success of the site in meeting its business goals.


COURSE FORMAT

The course format is a Powerpoint presentation accompanied by a studio-recorded video lecture, broken up into chapters and lectures.

Downloadable course materials include the full Powerpoint presentation in two formats - full slides, and two slides per page - and an actionable, Excel-based guidelines checklist that can be used as you apply your new skills to real web projects.

The course includes about 3 hours of lecture, and roughly 1.5 - 2 hours of hands-on exercises.

Both quick (a couple of minutes) and more comprehensive (roughly 45 minutes) optional hands-on exercises, followed by sample exercise solutions, help reinforce your understanding of the guidelines.

 

Keywords: usability, user interface, web design, user experience design, user experience, Deborah Mayhew, Deborah J. Mayhew, Web Usability Course

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Web Usability Made Simple

Promotional Video
Introduction

View a brief introduction to the course.

Infrequently Asked Questions

Consider these interesting questions about human cognition, just for fun.

"User eXperience"

View a definition of the term "User eXperience".

"User Interface"

Learn a definition of the term "User Interface".

"Usability"

Learn a definition of the term "Usability".

Anatomy of a User Interface

Learn how user interface design guidelines can be categorized into three groups: structure of navigation, design of navigation, and design of page content. This lecture defines and illustrates these categories.

Guidelines 1-3: Structure of Navigation

Learn guidelines 1 through 3 for the structure of navigation.

Guidelines 4-6: Structure of Navigation

Learn guidelines 4 through 6 for the structure of navigation.

Exercise One: Structure of Navigation

Practice applying usability guidelines 1 - 6 for structure of navigation by doing this hands-on exercise.

Exercise One Solution: Structure of Navigation

Consider this solution to exercise one on structure of navigation.

Depending on how you chose to do the exercise, you can compare your solution to this one, or simply listen to this solution as an additional example of the application of guidelines 1 - 6 for structure of navigation.

Guidelines 7-8: Design of Navigation

Learn guidelines 7 through 8 for the visual design of navigation.

Guidelines 9-10: Design of Navigation

Learn guidelines 9 through 10 for the visual design of navigation.

Guidelines 11-12: Design of Navigation

Learn guidelines 11 through 12 for the visual design of navigation.

Guidelines 13-15: Design of Navigation

Learn guidelines 13 through 15 for the visual design of navigation.

Guidelines 16-17: Design of Navigation

Learn guidelines 16 through 17 for the visual design of navigation.

Guideline 18: Design of Navigation

Learn guideline 18 for the visual design of navigation.

Exercise Two: Design of Navigation

Practice applying usability guidelines 7 - 18 for the visual design of navigation by doing this hands-on exercise.

Exercise Two Solution: Design of Navigation

Consider this solution to exercise two on design of navigation.

Depending on how you chose to do the exercise, you can compare your solution to this one, or simply listen to this solution as an additional example of the application of guidelines 7 - 18 for design of navigation.

Guidelines 19-20: Design of Page Content

Learn guidelines 19 through 20 for the design of page content.

Guidelines 21-24: Design of Page Content

Learn guidelines 21 through 24 for the design of page content.

Guidelines 25-28: Design of Page Content

Learn guidelines 25 through 28 for the design of page content.

Guidelines 29-34: Design of Page Content

Learn guidelines 29 through 34 for the design of page content.

Exercise Three: Design of Page Content

Practice applying usability guidelines 19 - 34 for the visual design of page content by doing this hands-on exercise.

Exercise Three Solution: Design of Page Content

Consider this solution to exercise three on design of page content.

Depending on how you chose to do the exercise, you can compare your solution to this one, or simply listen to this solution as an additional example of the application of guidelines 19-34 for design of page content.

Summary

Consolidate your learning by listening to this course summary with some important additional points.

Infrequently Asked Questions - Answers

Learn the answers to the infrequently asked questions posed at the beginning of the course.

Attachments:

Handouts   (11.45 MB)
This is a pdf file of the course PowerPoint slides in handout format (two slides per page).
Slides   (26.76 MB)
This is a pdf document of the Powerpoint slides for the course in full slide format (one slide per page).
Guidelines Checklist   (55.5 KB)
This is an Excel file providing a checklist of the 34 guidelines with "Action" columns for managing your website assessment and redesign. It is also used in the hands on exercises.
Recommended Readings   (36.5 KB)
Recommended follow on readings.

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$199.00 ( Per License )

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