Userfocus Usability Newsletter, July 2013

Welcome to the July edition of the Userfocus usability newsletter.

Message from the Editor

Thank you! Last month, we crossed the threshold of 1000 students signed up for my online training course on UX. This means we're well on our way to the target of 1,105 students before World Usability Day on 14 November. Most of the students have come from people like you promoting the course, so many, many thanks.

Students on the course are now asking for in-depth training in specific areas of user experience, so this month I plan to work on an online course describing how to carry out an expert review.

This month's article describes some low cost alternatives to field visits. I was prompted to write this because so many people I speak to say they want to understand their users but for one reason or another can't do the "gold standard" of contextual inquiry or ethnography. I hope you find it useful.

David Travis

Feature article: Cheap and free under-the-radar alternatives to field visits

People in small companies or people who work as a UX team of one often find it hard to gain commitment to do field research because it's perceived as too expensive or too time consuming. What quick and low-cost alternatives are available? Read the article in full: Cheap and free under-the-radar alternatives to field visits.

Announcing a new training course on Google Analytics

Fast on the heels of last month's course on Design Ethnography, this month we're launching a course on Google Analytics. We've long been advocates of triangulating analytics data with other research methods, but it only recently occurred to us that other people might want to learn how to do this. Titled Google Analytics Essentials, it's for new users of Google Analytics who want to segment visitor types, track goals and generate meaningful usage reports. We're currently offering this as an in-house course.

What we’re reading

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

Like these? Want more? Follow us on Twitter.

Upcoming conferences

Jan Jursa and his team in Berlin are running a one day conference on September 13 on mobile UX. We're proud to be a media partner for this event. The conference focuses on small screen Interaction Design and usable interfaces for smart devices. MobX is for all those who love small, mobile interfaces and smart experiences, good usability and consistent behaviour. More information at the MobX 2013 web site.

Usability Training: Now Booking

Web Usability: An Introduction to User Experience, Sept 23-24, London.

This web usability training course will give you hands-on practice in all the key areas of usability, from identifying your customers through to usability testing your web site with them. 2 places remaining. More information about this training course: Web Usability: An Introduction to User Experience.

User Experience quotation of the month

“You need to 'listen deeply' — listen past what people say they want to hear what they need.” — Jon Meads.

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