Web Usability Handbook by Mark Pearrow

The Web Site Usability Handbook is for individuals who evaluate and improve the usability of Web sites. It does not, as the title might imply, specifically show Web developers how to make their sites more usable.

The book explores the growing field of Web usability, with equal emphasis on theory and practicality, and focuses primarily on measuring usability accurately and applying it to formal and informal testing. The concept of a usability toolbox — a collection of tools and techniques — is presented, along with sound reasoning for the use of each component. The tools vary from index-card sorting to heuristic evaluation to focus groups. There is some fascinating material also about the human factors of usability, such as the mechanics of vision and the idiosyncrasies of human memory.

A chapter that's devoted to design guidelines includes some concrete suggestions, such as "don't overuse emphasis" and "make printer-friendly pages." This chapter contains no revolutionary ideas; instead, it's a helpful list of pointers that are worth revisiting from time to time. More elemental are the 10 usability heuristics that are presented in the next chapter and that were developed originally by usability guru Jakob Nielsen. These high-level concepts demand careful consideration, but can produce impressive results.

The Web Site Usability Handbook presents the framework for a usability lab complete with video observation, and shows how to conduct objective usability testing. Many organizations skip the potentially critical development step of usability analysis; however, if yours wants to be more forward-looking in Web strategy, this is a good guide for getting it started in usability.

Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Charles River Media; 2 edition (October 2, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1584504692
ISBN-13: 978-1584504696
Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches