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Sakai Pilot Evaluation Final Report
UNC report on their pilot of Sakai as a replacement for Blackboard. Quote from a faculty member in the report: "Have heard many complaints about Blackboard being kludgy. Sakai is graceful."
The minimal support needed is a good sign of Sakai's overall usability: "First, of the more than 1,000 people using a completely new collaborative learning environment for almost a full year period, we had a total of 264 tickets—the vast majority of which (74%) were for requests to use the system (new sites
and new user accounts)...In summary, from a support perspective, 54 substantive help requests on behalf of more than 1,000 pilot participants over a nearly one-year period was a very positive finding."
The eLearning Coach » Blog Archive » User Interface Design For eLearning – Updated
Tips and simple examples for user interface design. The elevator example is perhaps not the best metaphor for structuring learning, but the concept is good.
A List Apart: Articles: In Defense of Eye Candy
Why aesthetics are important to web design (and by extension, online learning)--we shouldn't approach visual design as an add on, but a core part of the design
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According to a 2002 study, the “appeal of the overall visual design of a site, including layout, typography, font size, and color schemes,” is the number one factor we use to evaluate a website’s credibility.
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Researchers in Japan setup two ATMs, “identical in function, the number of buttons, and how they worked.” The only difference was that one machine’s buttons and screens were arranged more attractively than the other. In both Japan and Israel (where this study was repeated) researchers observed that subjects encountered fewer difficulties with the more attractive machine. The attractive machine actually worked better.
Mega Drop-Down Navigation Menus Work Well (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)
Recommendations for drop-down navigation menus with big menus grouped with structure
elearningpost » Usability testing on the cheap
4 inexpensive tools for doing usability testing
Sakai 3 Proposal
Vision for what Sakai could look like in the future. The authors envision an LMS based on widgets with lots of flexibility, social networking, and content creation tools. The proposed changes to the organization (doing away with sites) would make Sakai much more flexible outside of a traditional academic course environment. The ability to have groups persist outside of courses would allow cohorts to be part of a group together, which creates some interesting possibilities.
"In summary, our ambition is not merely an incremental improvement of Sakai nor is it to copy Google. Our goal is not simply to create a better and cheaper version of Blackboard. It is time to arrive at a clearer understanding of the capabilities that represent needs unique to education and for the Sakai community to focus its development effort on providing these capabilities while taking advantage of established open‐source efforts to provide more generic capabilities. We should, in short, strive to create a different type of academic collaboration system."
Usability in eLearning « eLearning Weekly
Brief intro to usability and a collection of resources for usability and usability testing
Make Your Blog Design Work For You | chrisbrogan.com
Design ideas from someone who says that every part of his blog design is intentional. It may not be perfect, but he's thought about all the elements and how they help him accomplish his goals. Some of this is visual design, but a lot of it is general usability and effectiveness.
What to do with a visually noisy blog » VisualsSpeak Blog
Christine Martell explains blog visuals with some usability and color theory. First in a series where she will help a blogger work on making his content easier to find.
Declutter your office or you will get fat | Janet Clarey
Discussion of decluttering physical and virtual spaces to avoid feeling buried and lost and improve productivity. You need a vision of what you want, then you can get rid of the physical/virtual/mental clutter that doesn't help you reach that goal.
Blind users still struggle with 'maddening' computing obstacles
Computerworld article on the minimal progress made in assistive technology and accessible design. Vista is substantially less accessible than Windows 3.1, for example; there are actions in Vista which cannot be done with a keyboard.
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Put your graphical user interface to this test: Adjust the contrast on your display until the screen is completely black.Now, perform basic e-mail, word processing and Web-browsing tasks.
What? Having a problem?
Welcome to the world of the 1.3 million Americans who are blind.
Top 10 Worst Captchas | John M Willis ESM Blog
These are just awful Captchas--great examples of failures for usability.
The other side of the interface « Successful Software
Our brains, how we process and perceive information, and how that affects usability and user interface design.
Templates & Examples | Usability.gov
Usability resources from the US government. Organized in four sections: plan, analyze, design, test & refine
Usability Testing Materials (Evaluation Usability Resources)
Documents for usability testing, including schedule, observer guidelines, script, consent form, questionnaire, and more
Usability Toolkit
Forms, checklists, and other documents for usability testing
The Blog Usability Checklist
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Just what the title says--a list of usability guidelines for blogs. Each guideline has an explanation of why it matters.
- christyinsdesign on 2007-10-09
Blasting the Myth of the Fold - Boxes and Arrows: The design behind the design
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Debunking the myth that users won't scroll at all and that all information must be presented "above the fold." Some general guidelines are given, including keeping information to 3 screens or less in height.
- christyinsdesign on 2007-08-05
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Screen performance data and new research indicate that users will scroll to find information and items below the fold.
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The most basic rule of thumb is that for every site the user should be able to understand what your site is about by the information presented to them above the fold. If they have to scroll to even discover what the site is, its success is unlikely.
Functionality that is essential to business strategy should remain (or at least begin) above the fold.
The Principles of Beautiful Web Design
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Article explaining principles and purpose of good web design. Includes a definition of "good" web design, a design process, and layout considerations.
- christyinsdesign on 2007-04-15
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The most important thing to keep in mind is that design is about communication. If you create a web site that works and presents information well, but looks ugly or doesn't fit with the client's brand, no one will want to use it. Similarly, if you make a beautiful web site that isn't usable and accessible [7], people may not be able to use it. Indeed, the elements and functionality of a finished web site design should work as a single cohesive unit, so that:
Users are pleased by the design but drawn to the content
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Users can move about easily via intuitive navigation
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Seven Screen Reader Usability Tips
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List of tips for making sites more than just accessible to screen readers, but actually more usable. Includes explanations of why good headers and descriptive links are important.
- christyinsdesign on 2007-02-23
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