Eric. - Usable Usability

Each of the chapters in this book ends with a suggested-reading list. At the risk of some repetition, here are the books I feel make up a good basic library for anyone seriously interested in product design, service design, website design, user-experience design, and related fields.

Measuring the User Experience: Collecting, Analyzing, and Presenting Usability Metrics , Tom Tullis and Bill Albert, Morgan Kaufmann, 2008

Search Analytics for Your Site: Conversations with Your Customers , Louis Rosenfeld, Rosenfeld, 2011

Social Media Metrics: How to Measure and Optimize Your Marketing Investment , Jim Sterne, Wiley, 2010

Social Media ROI: Managing and Measuring Social Media Efforts in Your Organization , Olivier Blanchard, Que, 2011

Web Analytics an Hour a Day , Avinash Kaushik, Sybex, 2007

100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People , Susan M. Weinschenk, New Riders, 2011

How We Decide , Jonah Lehrer, Mariner, 2009

Irrationality , Stuart Sutherland, Constable and Co., 1992

A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives , Cordelia Fine, Icon, 2005

Neuro Web Design: What Makes Them Click , Susan M. Weinschenk, New Riders, 2009

Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do , B.J. Fogg, Morgan Kaufmann, 2003

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions , Dan Ariely, HarperCollins, 2009

Clout: The Art and Science of Influential Web Content , Colleen Jones, New Riders, 2011

Killer Web Content: Make the Sale, Deliver the Service, Build the Brand , Gerry McGovern, A&C Black, 2006

Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content That Works , Ginny Redish, Morgan Kaufmann, 2007

Content Strategy at Work: Real-World Stories to Strengthen Every Interactive Project , Margot Bloomstein, Morgan Kaufmann, 2012

Content Strategy for the Web , Kristina Halvorson and Melissa Rach, New Riders 2012

The Web Content Strategists Bible: The Complete Guide to a New and Lucrative Career For Writers Of All Kinds , Richard Sheffield, CreateSpace, 2009

Contextual Design: Defining Customer-Centered Systems , Hugh Beyer and Karen Holtzblatt, Morgan Kaufmann, 1998

Observing the User Experience: A Practitioners Guide to User Research , Mike Kuniavsky, Morgan Kaufmann, 2003

The Design of Everyday Things , Donald A. Norman, Basic Books, 2002

Designing for People , Henry Dreyfuss, Simon and Schuster, 1955

Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics , Gavriel Salvendy, Wiley, 2006

Living with Complexity , Donald A. Norman, MIT Press, 2011

Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web , Christina Wodtke and Austin Govella, New Riders, 2009

Information Architecture for the World Wide Web , Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld, OReilly, 2006

Pervasive Information Architecture: Designing Cross-Channel User Experiences , Andrea Resmini and Luca Rosati, Morgan Kaufmann, 2011

Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered Products and Services , Kim Goodwin, Wiley, 2009

Designing Interaction s, Bill Moggridge, MIT Press, 2007

Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction , Ben Shneiderman and Catherine Plaisant, Addison Wesley, 2005

The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web , Jesse James Garrett, New Riders, 2003

Brave NUI World: Designing Natural User Interfaces for Touch and Gesture , Daniel Wigdor and Dennis Wixon, Morgan Kaufmann, 2011

Defensive Design for the Web: How to Improve Error Messages, Help, Forms, and Other Crisis Points , Matthew Linderman with Jason Fried (37 signals), New Riders, 2004

Designing Gestural Interfaces: Touchscreens and Interactive Devices , Dan Saffer, OReilly, 2008

Designing Interfaces , Jenifer Tidwell, OReilly, 2005

Designing Search: UX Strategies for eCommerce Success , Greg Nudelman, Wiley, 2011

Designing for the Social Web , Joshua Porter, New Riders, 2008

Designing Social Interfaces: Principles, Patterns, and Practices for Improving the User Experience , Christian Crumlish and Erin Malone, OReilly, 2009

Designing Web Navigation: Optimizing the User Experience , James Kalbach, OReilly, 2007

Designing Web Interfaces: Principles and Patterns for Rich Interactions , Bill Scott and Theresa Neil, OReilly, 2009

Forms that Work: Designing Web Forms for Usability , Caroline Jarrett and Gerry Gaffney, Morgan Kaufmann, 200

Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design , Bill Buxton, Morgan Kaufmann, 2007

The User Is Always Right: A Practical Guide to Creating and Using Personas for the Web , Steve Mulder with Ziv Yaar, New Riders, 2006

Web Anatomy: Interaction Design Frameworks that Work , Robert Hoekman, Jr. and Jared Spool, New Riders, 2010

Web Forms Design: Filling in the Blanks , Luke Wroblewski, Rosenfeld Media, 2008

What Every Intranet Team Should Know , James Robertson, Step Two Designs, 2009

A Project Guide to UX Design: For User Experience Designers in the Field or in the Making, Second Edition, Russ Unger and Carolyn Chandler, New Riders, 2012

User Experience Management: Essential Skills for Leading Effective UX Teams , Arnie Lund, Morgan Kaufmann, 2011

Communicating Design: Developing Web Site Documentation for Design and Planning , Dan Brown, New Riders, 2012

Paper Prototyping: The Fast and Easy Way to Design and Refine User Interfaces , Carolyn Snyder, Morgan Kaufmann, 2003

Prototyping: A Practitioners Guide , Todd Zaki Warfel, Rosenfeld, 2009

This Is Service Design Thinking: Basics, Tools, Cases , Marc Stickdorn and Jakob Schneider, BIS, 2011

WAYMISH: Why Are You Making It So Hard For Me To Give You My Money? , Ray Considine and Ted Cohn, Waymish Publishing, 2000

Dont Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, Second Edition, Steve Krug, New Riders, 2006

Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests , Jeffrey Rubin and Dana Chisnell, Wiley, 2008

Simple and Usable Web, Mobile, and Interaction Design , Giles Colborne, New Riders, 2011

Prioritizing Web Usability , Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger, New Riders, 2006

These first five chapters are about physical parameters, which basically ensure that something does what you want it to do. Buttons, controls, and other response mechanisms are there to help you accomplish your task, and they might include functions and features that may even anticipate your needs and habits. In short, these things make stuff easy to use.

You might think that this idea is something of a no-brainer, but it isnt. Despite all the lip service to user-friendliness, a depressing number of programs and products are still pretty UN-friendly. Throughout the next five chapters, Im going to show you how well-meaning design doesnt always lead to well-functioning stuff.

This part covers the following aspects of ease of use:

• Functional (it actually works)
• Responsive (I know its working; it knows where its working)
• Ergonomic (I can easily see, click, poke, twist, and turn stuff)
• Convenient (everything is right where I need it)