Userfocus Usability Newsletter, January 2012

Welcome to the January edition of the Userfocus usability newsletter.

• Message from the Editor
• Feature article: 20 things you can do this year to improve your user's experience
• Update to ISO 9241 for Beginners
• What we're reading
• Resources for standardistas
• Upcoming training courses
• User experience quotation of the month

Message from the Editor

January always seems such a long month to me. I'm not sure if it's the dark nights, the cold weather or the credit card bills but by the time I get to the end of the month, it usually feels like 6 weeks have elapsed. Maybe that's nature's way of giving us a little extra time to start on new year's resolutions. Indeed, if you're fed up with the clich'd 'lose weight', 'get fit', 'phone parents more often' type of resolution, then this month's article is for you. I've listed 20 ways you can improve your user's experience. All you need to do is pick one.

I hope you enjoy the article.

— David Travis

Feature article: 20 things you can do this year to improve your user's experience

The new year is as good a time as any to review and improve the way you work. With a good user experience now widely seen as the key attribute of many high-tech products, it makes sense to review your own products to see how you can give them that user experience edge. Here are 20 quick, simple and virtually free ideas you can apply in 2012. Read the article in full: 20 things you can do this year to improve your user's experience.

Update to ISO 9241 for Beginners

We've just updated our guide to the ISO 9241 Standard. The latest edition includes a summary of these new parts of ISO 9241:

• Part 100: Introduction to standards related to software ergonomics
• Part 129: Guidance on software individualization
• Part 210: Human-centred design for interactive systems
• Part 310: Visibility, aesthetics and ergonomics of pixel defects
• Part 420: Selection procedures for physical input devices
• Part 910: Framework for tactile and haptic interaction

We've also made some other changes to the document and created an epub version (so you can read it on your iPhone, iPad or most other eBook readers). If you bought ISO 9241 for Beginners in the past, you'll already have received a message from me with a download link. If you'd like to buy a copy, you can find out more here: ISO 9241 for Beginners .

What we're reading

Some interesting usability-related articles that got our attention over the last month:

• Career advice for user researchers.
• How to do a survey in 6 steps.
• Video from Nordstrum showing how paper prototyping + agile = working iPad app in a week.
• Speed matters: a 100ms delay caused a 1% drop in sales at Amazon. A 500ms delay caused 20% fewer searches at Google.
• Creativity kick-starters from writers, musicians and other artists.

Like these? Want more? Follow us on Twitter.

Resources for standardistas

If you're interested in usability standards, you might find these articles from our archive interesting.

• ISO 13407 is dead. Long live ISO 9241-210!
• Usability for Medical Devices: A New International Standard
• New standards in usability
• ISO 9241 for Beginners
• Measuring the usability of everyday products
• Measuring usability with the Common Industry Format (CIF)

Like these? Want more? See all 12 of our articles on usability standards.

Usability Training: Now Booking

Web Usability: Designing the user experience, January 23-24, London.

A fast-paced, 2-day immersion seminar that shows delegates how to boost sales and conversion rates, increase usage and improve customer satisfaction. More information about this training course: Web Usability: Designing the user experience.

Axure Essentials, February 20, London.

This training is designed for people who are starting out with Axure RP Pro and who want to take their first steps in creating prototypes. More information about this training course: Axure Essentials.

Advanced Prototyping with Axure, February 21, London.

Learn how to produce complex prototypes in Axure by exploiting the advanced features of Axure RP Pro. More information about this training course: Advanced Prototyping with Axure.

Prototyping mobile interfaces with Axure, February 22, London.

Learn how to use Axure to develop interactive prototypes for mobile apps and mobile friendly web sites. More information about this training course: Prototyping mobile interfaces with Axure.

Morae Essentials, March 19, London.

For new users of Techsmith's Morae who want to run a usability test, this seminar shows you how to set up, observe, log and analyse a usability test with Morae. More information about this training course: Morae Essentials.

User Experience quotation of the month

“What works good is better than what looks good, because what works good lasts.” — Ray Eames.

Hungry for more?

Read previous newsletters.