Quotes About Usability

Intuitive design is how we give the user new superpowers.

I closely follow everything about user interface or human-computer interface: technology that makes computers closer to the way the human being actually functions.

There is beauty when something works and it works intuitively.

But the problem isn't functionality. Functionality means a piece of software is capable of doing something. Merely having a function doesn't say anything about how many people can figure it out or are even interested in trying.

Every time you make the user make a decision they don't care about, you have failed as a designer.

There is beauty when something works and it works intuitively.

A good test for DevEx is how easy it is to onboard a new Developer to the platform.

every question mark adds to our cognitive workload, distracting our attention from the task at hand.

Demonstrate ROI. In this approach, you gather and analyze data to prove that a usability change you've made resulted in cost savings or additional revenue ("Changing the label on this button increased sales by 0.25%"). There's an excellent book about it: Cost-justifying Usability: An Update for the Internet Age, edited by Randolph Bias and Deborah Mayhew.

What works is good, integrated design that fills a need—carefully thought out, well executed, and tested.

There's a good usability principle right there: If something requires a large investment of time—or looks like it will—it's less likely to be used.

Clear, well-thought-out navigation is one of the best opportunities a site has to create a good impression.

I think the ideal number of participants for each round of do-it-yourself testing is three.

Another needless source of question marks over people's heads is links and buttons that aren't obviously clickable. As a user, I should never have to devote a millisecond of thought to whether things are clickable—or not.

It's good to do your testing with participants who are like the people who will use your site, but the truth is that recruiting people who are from your target audience isn't quite as important as it may seem. For many sites, you can do a lot of your testing with almost anybody. And if you're just starting to do testing, your site probably has a number of usability flaws that will cause real problems for almost anyone you recruit.

A person of average (or even below average) ability and experience can figure out how to use the thing to accomplish something without it being more trouble than it's worth. Take my word for it: It's really that simple.

When we're creating sites, we act as though people are going to pore over each page, reading all of our carefully crafted text, figuring out how we've organized things, and weighing their options before deciding which link to click. What

A person of average (or even below average) ability and experience can figure out how to use the thing to accomplish something without it being more trouble than it's worth.

Get rid of half the words on each page, then get rid of half of what's left. —KRUG'S THIRD LAW OF USABILITY Of

Nothing important should ever be more than two clicks away.

Yes, there are things you can learn only by watching a target audience use the site. But there are many things you can learn by watching almost anyone use it. When you begin doing usability testing, your site will probably contain a lot of serious problems that "almost anybody" will encounter, so you can recruit much more loosely in the beginning.

Usability is like love. You have to care, you have to listen, and you have to be willing to change. You'll make mistakes along the way, but that's where growth and forgiveness come in.

It's important to be informed about issues like usability, reliability, security, privacy, and some of the inherent limitations of computers.

Workflow and usability are not afterthoughts; they impact the core of any project and dictate how it should be engineered.