Subject:
They're Watching You!
By learning principles of good usability, you will begin to recognize bad
usability in many interfaces that you encounter every day. You may even become
eager to share your opinions on how a particular design can be improved.
Several web sites share their opinions by displaying the questionable usability
efforts of others, hoping that they can show you how
not
to design an interface.
Browse the following two sites to learn how you can avoid receiving the wrong kind
of attention.
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Irish Website Usability Hall of Shame
This site is "dedicated to highlighting difficult-to-use Irish websites that
really ought to know better." It lists offenders, describes each offense, and
suggests further reading on each violated usability principle. You can even
nominate a site!
Irish Website Usability Hall of Shame
http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/1340/hallofshame.html
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USABILITY Site
This site displays and categorizes examples of bad design, and uses "Try This!"
suggestions to place you in the position of a frustrated user. Categories
include navigation, content, use of graphics, unreadable text, exclusionary
design, and more.
Usability:// Examples
http://www.saturnfolios.co.uk/usability/examples.html
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Reference Material
Usable Web
(15 categories of bad design, with preconfigured search links for additional
examples)
http://usableweb.com/topics/000316-0-0.html
