Usability
How to adjust an iframe element’s height to fit its content
In some cases JavaScript can be used to resize an iframe element to make it as tall as its content, making it look like the content is part of the parent page.
Please provide a usable fallback for Flash content
The number of people browsing the web without Flash Player installed is non-negligible, so if you use Flash it is worth your time to give them a better impression.
Writing useful page titles
A few simple guidelines that will help you create readable, usable, and accessible titles for your web pages.
Use uppercase text judiciously
Text set in all uppercase letters may slow readers down and may cause some screen readers to spell words out letter by letter. Use good judgement when capitalising text.
Frustrated by the Web
During my time off from work I’ve still been using the Web. It makes me very frustrated more often than it should.
Reverse chronological order comments
A few suggestions for sites that display reader comments in reverse chronological order, especially in combination with paging.
Use a background image in your CSS? Remember to specify a backup colour.
Whenever you place text on top of a background image, check if the text is readable if the image is missing and specify a background colour if necessary.
Användbarhetsboken – a free online book on usability
If you can read Swedish, here’s an opportunity to read a good book on usability for free.
Let your links look like links
Don’t make your users waste their time by hiding links. If you can’t stand the look of blue and underlined links, there are other ways of making them obvious. But do not rely on colour alone.
Remember to specify a background colour
There is no guarantee that web browsers always use a white background, so if your design needs a white background, remember to specify it in your CSS.
Make sure your website works with or without www
Make sure your website is available whether or not the visitor has typed www in front of your domain name.
Does advanced search sound too advanced?
Should advanced search be called something else to sound more friendly and inviting, and would it make more people to use it when they need to?
Indicating language choice: flags, text, both, neither?
Do not use flag icons to indicate language choice. Instead use the name of the language as text in the language itself.
Usability testing without a budget
How to do usability testing of websites even if you have no time and no money.
Who framed the web: Frames and usability
Back in the nineties, using frames to split a browser window into several independent parts was very popular. Much due to the increased aw…
Document titles and title separators
I came across an interesting discussion on title separators the other day: What’s your favourite blip? at The Man in Blue. It made me star…
Practices and Patterns
When you’re trying to come up with a good way of solving a design problem looking at how others have done is often very useful. While work…
Verdana bad?
Why you should avoid the Verdana font is an interesting article by Stephen Poley. His opinion is that Verdana may not be the great screen …
The cost of usability
Those of us working in the web industry who believe that usability testing is something that should be done in every project often are not…