Lessons

Welcome to Usability Lessons
    welcome letter to lesson recipients
01-Introduction to Usability
    What is usability?—tuning a car radio—bad GUIs
02-A User's Bill of Rights
    Do computer users have rights?—angry users
03-IBM Design Principles
    IBM's HCI (Human-Computer Interface) design basics
04-Incorporating Usability into the Design Process
    two approaches to usability implementation
05-Usability FAQs
    how IBM incorporates ease-of-use into their products, Macintosh vs. PC debate
06-Usability Checklists
    web site and application development checklists
07-They're Watching You!
    usability hall of shame, bad design
08-Software Under the Microscope / Lazy Users
    companies try before they buy, users' impatience with bad usability
09-Understanding the User's Perspective
    all users like familiarity
10-So You've Analyzed Your Users' Tasks. Now What?
    adopting an object-action model, suggestions for dialog boxes
11-Using Paper Prototypes
    improving focus and saving development time with paper prototypes
12-Peer Reviews
    learning and improving through peer reviews - four approaches
13-Tabbed Dialog Boxes / Usability Humor
    problems with tabbed dialog boxes, "If Microsoft Built Cars"
14-Users Avoid Help / Designing Wizards
    ideas for delivering help content, the magic of "wizards" (automated task entry)
15-Step-by-Step Interface Design
    designing in quality, interaction design techniques
16-Microsoft Design Guidelines
    ideas from MSDN (Microsoft Developers Network) Online
17-The Business Case for Usability
    benefits to customers, employees, the brand
18-Visual Communication
    enhancing user comprehension through effective screen layout
19-Usability Evaluation Methods
    two strategies for testing usability
20-Does "Well DUH!" Mean "Well Done?"
    humorous graphical examples of bad usability, links to additional reference materials
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Feedback from Lesson Recipients
    comments and suggestions from lesson recipients  

Please send any comments and suggestions to:
Subject:  Desktop Training
OnlineSapio@yahoo.com