From the category archives:

potpourri

HF Potpourri

by Richard Pak
Thumbnail image for HF Potpourri

Touch Usability’s Kevin Arthur is soliciting input for a presentation he’s doing at UPA
Designing for Human’s Rob Tannen posts an online video of a presentation (ergonomics for interaction designers) he gave at the School of Visual Arts in New York
Edward Tufte will help us understand and track where stimulus funds are going (via Slashdot)
The Internet does not replace health professionals.  [...]

Read the full article →

Design & HF Potpourri

by Richard Pak
Thumbnail image for Design & HF Potpourri

Comparison of text entry input speeds.
Steve Krug (of “Don’t make me think“) has a new book on usability titled Rocket Surgery Made Easy.  See the first few chapters.  [via Photoshopblog]
Smashing Magazine has a list of how various websites portray progress in multi-step tasks.
A piece on complicated and overwrought design from the NYT.  Choice quote:
Sadly, more and more products seem set [...]

Read the full article →

HF Potpourri

by Richard Pak
Thumbnail image for HF Potpourri

James Rubinstein sends along a this post about a 32 inch LCD TV presumably designed for older users.  It has features such as a dramatically simplified remote control, fewer wires, and a shut-off timer.  [Engadget]
Designing Devices is a relatively new blog devoted to “how and why to create devices” from Dan Saffer (author of Designing for Interaction).  I’m loving the [...]

Read the full article →

Vision-themed Potpourri

by Richard Pak
Thumbnail image for Vision-themed Potpourri

Today’s potpourri happens to be related to understanding or enhancing what your users see (or don’t see):

Google Browser Size let’s you see how much of your web content is visible by users.
Rocker Lou Reed (of the Velvet Underground) designs an iPhone app for near-sighted users.  It basically increases the font size in the contacts application.  It appears that Mr. [...]

Read the full article →

HF Potpourri

by Richard Pak
Thumbnail image for HF Potpourri

More potpourri from the web:

Jakob Nielsen has a new book on using eye-tracking in web usability. View a 32 page chapter PDF (26 mb) for free (via PhotoshopSupport).
Using autistics for software quality-control work. Would this work for usability? An obsessive attention to detail is good for design/usability (via Slashdot)
The HF/usability company HumanCentric held an internal competition to [...]

Read the full article →

Smells like more potpourri

by Richard Pak
Thumbnail image for Smells like more potpourri

The end of the academic semester is upon us in the U.S. so we’re backed up with deadlines which is why we’re having Potpourri again for lunch. But tasty potpourri:
First, a curmudgeonly three-part series on things that give too little feedback or have too few buttons:

I just got an iPod Shuffle which uses a system of taps on an [...]

Read the full article →

Usability/Design/HF Potpourri

by Richard Pak
Thumbnail image for Usability/Design/HF Potpourri

Just in time for the end of the year:  Top 10 interaction design books from Kicker Studio
Making cooking safe for the blind (via Real World Design)
Deciding when you need graphics (via uxforward)
We’ve posted before about the man who designs the UIs in movies, but Gizmodo has posted his new streaming demo reel…fascinating.
How will reading change with e-books?  (via Twitter/Steve Portigal)
Traffic [...]

Read the full article →

HF/Usability Hodgepodge

by Richard Pak

Things too small for their own post but interesting nonetheless…it’s a hodgepodge, a mélange, a potpourri!

Stay in touch with those who don’t have or want a computer (via Gadgeteer)
“upgrading customer usability without breaking the bank” (via UXforward)
If Craigslist got a makeover, what might it look like? (Wired)
Men and women use car navigation systems differently (GPSworld)

Share/Save

Read the full article →

HF Potpourri

by Richard Pak
Thumbnail image for HF Potpourri

Some interesting items that have passed through my reader:

Jerk can be emulated in software.  Cars with continuously variable transmissions sound and behave differently from other cars.  In this video, the speedometer and RPM smoothly increases (in most cars the RPM would bobble as gears shift and you’d feel a slight jerk).  I don’t know how I reached this page but [...]

Read the full article →

HF/Usability Potpourri

by Richard Pak

Study Suggests People Prefer Bing’s Design To Google’s
“The study was an intense focus group in which 12 subjects were monitored with eye-tracking cameras as they conducted searches. Afterward, they were interviewed and completed a survey.” (TechCrunch with usability report)
Nielsen recommends abandoning password masking in online forms
“Usability suffers when users type in passwords and the only feedback they get is [...]

Read the full article →

Human Factors Potpourri (again)

by Richard Pak

Here are some more human factors-related items that have crossed my blog reader:

Twitter is hot!  Oprah recently twittered on her show and apparently fell victim to a usability problem:  the update button was non-obvious so she never posted her tweet (Touch usability)
Fellow HFE blog Real World Usability will be posting updates of the Ergonomics Society Conference via Twitter
A night at [...]

Read the full article →

HF/Design/Usability Potpourri from around the Web

by Richard Pak

Here are some links to interesting things from the past few weeks.

Wired reports on user complaints with the new Kindle ebook reader’s text rendering.
Touch Usability’s Kevin Arthur posted a neat behind-the-scenes of how Nokia phones get tested for durability
Smashing Magazine rounded up a list of well-designed tabbed navigation schemes from around the web.  Earlier they also evaluated/redesigned Craigslist [...]

Read the full article →