25 Excellent Usability/UX Articles and Resources

Today I thought I’d share some of the most valuable usability and user experience articles and resources I know, in a somewhat wild mix. Since there’s presumably enough to read and talk about later, please welcome a few great articles and research papers…

Post from March 30, 2007, filed under Web Development and Art and Design.

Photos Make Websites More Credible

An important finding of Stanford University’s work regarding web credibility is that photos can make websites more credible. A study by B.J. Fogg et al. showed how “a photograph of an author had significant effects on how people perceived [credibility]”…

Post from March 28, 2007, filed under Web Development and Art and Design.

CSS Practice: Namespaces in Complex Projects

Working in complex projects or in projects that don’t provide a good overview of forthcoming page types and elements may require a defensive strategy for writing CSS. Such a defensive strategy rests on certain safety measures to ensure better maintainability…

Post from March 21, 2007, filed under Web Development.

Why I Love DreamHost

No kidding. Unconditional love. Almost.

Post from March 13, 2007, filed under Web Development.

“Valid CSS” and Similar Claims Are Unprofessional

You know them. “Valid CSS” here, “Valid HTML” there, crowned by a “WAI AA” button. When these website claims hold true, that’s a great thing. Unfortunately, those compliance and quality claims have no place on professional websites.

Post from March 9, 2007, filed under Web Development.

Hire Only Web Designers with a Website

…is a good rule of thumb when you need a web designer or developer. Though it’s not necessarily the most important criterion, the benefits are obvious. Web designers who also own websites are more likely to be close to the medium…

Post from March 6, 2007, filed under Web Development and Art and Design.

HTML: Semantics of “title” Element Content

I already proposed this in October 2005 but see the need to bring it up again: It would be useful to allow other elements within the title of an HTML document. Why? You otherwise cannot mark abbreviations and other flow content elements, which means their meaning gets lost…

Post from February 26, 2007, filed under Web Development.

Print Style Sheets: The Basics (for No Excuses)

There are no excuses for not having at least a simple print style sheet. If you’re already on the web standards track, things are simple.

Post from February 21, 2007, filed under Web Development.

Weird Weekend Without Happy End: Eggebek, Flensburg, Denmark, Bremen

To be a bit more transparent to my valued readers: a brief account of a not quite optimal weekend of mine.

Post from February 18, 2007, filed under Adventure.

Word Division: On “word-break,” Soft Hyphens, and Zero-Width Spaces

Word breaks and hyphenation are sometimes a problem when it comes to little available space but long words: The longer the word and the less space available, the more a layout is at risk. English appears to be less affected than other languages, but…

Post from February 8, 2007, filed under Web Development.

Why “Conditional Comments” Are Bad, Repeat: Bad

“Conditional Comments” are inadvisable to use. They contradict the goal of separating structure from presentation, and because of that they will hurt you one day.

Post from February 1, 2007, filed under Web Development.

QA: On Errors, and Why Paying for Errors Pays Off

A pseudo-scientific approach to improve websites and services, and that is applicable almost anywhere.

Post from January 20, 2007, filed under Web Development and Everything Else.

1 + 1 = 3: Explaining Busyness and Background Noise on Websites

“1 + 1 = 3 (or more)” is an important design effect described by Josef Albers and Edward Tufte. It means that two elements in close proximity cause a visible interaction…

Post from January 18, 2007, filed under Art and Design.

Web Design: 15 Important Research Findings You Should Know

A small selection of research findings related to web design, usability, and accessibility, most of them obtained from Human Factors International. With some of them being known, others may add to the understanding of our profession.

Post from January 13, 2007, filed under Web Development and Art and Design.

Internet Explorer Filter or Hack Using Character Escapes

Searching for a valid and “safe” way to circumnavigate an ugly layout problem in Internet Explorer I discovered the following filter that does not work in [IE ≤6].

Post from January 9, 2007, filed under Web Development.

Evangelists, Focus on Standard Ad Code

On the quality of online ad code, and what we could do.

Post from January 7, 2007, filed under Web Development.

“nofollow” Still Considered Harmful

Well, nofollow is crap.

Post from January 6, 2007, filed under Web Development.