Category Archives: Usability

Usability in Action (2) – The Role of a Homepage

What to place and where to place the many elements of a website’s homepage is often the result of a delicate negotiation and compromise between what users want and what the site owner wants.  While the most ideal case is … Continue reading

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Usability in Action (1) – Don’t Offer Irrelevant Options in the First Place

Many assume that adding more information would automatically increase the usability of a website.  While there are cases in which this would be true,  often a better option is to make that needed information not necessary at all for a … Continue reading

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About the Merit of an e-Reader as a Single-Purpose Device

Despite the popularity of an e-book reader, I was never really tempted to purchase a Nook or a Kindle.  I figured since I have an iPad, it would be completely pointless to own and use a e-book reader, which I … Continue reading

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Two Simple Ways to Upgrade the User Experience of Your Library

If you ever had the feeling that your library space might look somewhat dull and unexciting, there might be some relatively simpler ways to change that.  The university I work at has two separate campuses and I work at one … Continue reading

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Netflix and Libraries: You Are What “Your Users” Think You Are, Not What You Think You Are

By now, probably almost everyone has read about the Netflix’s decision about separating their DVD delivery service from the streaming service.  I am not going to argue about how bad the decision is since that should be pretty clear to … Continue reading

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Usability Express: Recipe for Libraries

Here is the slides for the presentation I am doing with my colleague, Marissa, at Computers in Libraries 2011 conference this coming Wednesday.  I cover the first half in which we look at the common usability flaws in library websites … Continue reading

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No-brainer Usability: the new Twitter iPhone app

I am presenting about usability issues in library websites in Computers in Librareis 2011 in a few weeks. So needless to say, I have been thinking a lot recently about usability. Today, having updated all apps on my iPhone, I … Continue reading

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