Most Popular Articles

Late follow-up of the Usability day 2006: more than 50 companies have registered websites for free usability evaluation and our experts were busy for some time :-)
The feedback we've received from companies emphasized great value of such analysis to usability improvements on clients' websites.

Medical devices rely on proper use to be "safe and effective," which is why FDA has in recent years encouraged devicemakers to incorporate human factors engineering into their development processes. What is human factors engineering (or HFE)? FDA defines the term, simply, as the "application of human factors principles to the design of devices and systems." HFE is accounting for how users interact with a device, and the process of identifying operational or label issues that may prevent the device from being used as intended. FDA often requires that human factors data be included in premarket submissions, or the data may be reviewed in postmarket scenarios in response to a serious adverse event. Read the article ... 

Update #1 - November 9th

I am very much looking forward to the presentation. Here is the first update.

Here is a link to instructions for viewing the webcast.

Webcast information at WUD 2006 Tools page. 

We are only 1 day away. Can you please check that your system meets the requirements?

World Usability Day 2007 kicked off the year with a special session at the Usability Professionals' Association conference. The focus for World Usability Day (WUD) is healthcare. Healthcare usability affects every individual throughout his or her entire life. Every day, issues of medical illnesses and diseases, health insurance, nutrition, prescriptions and supplements, healthcare professionals and medical facilities affect how we experience our world and the quality of our life. Our daily "user experience" is critically affected by healthcare and the usability of all aspects of healthcare. The WUD 2007 kickoff event was attended by close to 100 people, many of whom have participated in the previous 3 World Usability Day events. Theo Mandel, Ph.D., the healthcare chairman for WUD 2007, presented a brief introduction followed by four case studies of successes in healthcare usability. View introduction slides Over 20 sponsors have signed up for World Usability Day 2007. Sponsors to date include: Apogee, Axure Software Solutions, Constant Contact, Dell, Different, Eventbrite, FatDUX, Google, Intuit, Microsoft User Research, Mitsui-Links, Ovo Studios, PayPal, SirValuse, Techsmith, Texas Tech University, VKI Studios, Usability.ch, and Weber Shandwick Worldwide. To kick off WUD 2007's focus on healthcare, four case studies were presented:

We have decided to hold this event in ShanXi Business Hotel which is on the Middle Yan An Road and between the two cross roads: North Mao Ming Road and Shi Men Yi Road.  The detail address is updated in the Event Details.

The price for this event would be 100 RMB/person, and there would be a 50% off discount for UPA China members and students.

For any more information, feel free to contact Nan via email: nanxiang.sheng@upachina.org

How many cars does the US Government own and run?? 642,233?? Couldn't be or could it?  More.

We have updated the program woth presentation details for Daniel Woo, Senior Lecturer from University of New South Wales, who will be presenting at 1pm.  It is titled "Stand up and speak out when it isn't usable". It hightlights the challenge for how designers, consumers and organisations could communicate in order to make highly userable products.

On the last day of Sean Stapleford’s junior year in high school he dived into the James River – and broke his neck. The year was 1972, and he was paralyzed from his shoulders down. Today he lives in The Virginia Home, an adult residential-care facility, in Richmond, VA. From his room, Stapleford skillfully operates a “mouth stick” to navigate his computer screen, jumping from Web site to Web site while communicating with others using a host of assistive technology. A computer monitor, suspended from an overhead swing arm, is mounted on his headboard, and an Environmental Control Unit (ECU) operates as a universal remote control – accessing his TV, VCR, stereo, phone, the nurse call bell, and his electric bed. Stapleford is an expert. Despite limited use of his hands, he can press keys, turn pages and operate switches and speakerphones with ease. This ability to navigate the world of technology has provided an opportunity to experience meaningful recreation, socialization and employment. In recent years a push towards more user-friendly and accessible technology have helped Stapleford become more involved and integrated in day-to-day living in his hometown – and across the world. Working for the Richmond-based company TecAccess, Stapleford telecommutes each day from his room at the Virginia Home. Widely considered one of the best “accessibility testers” in the country, the tech-minded teleworker has the ability to communicate with colleagues as far away as India and Japan with a quick flick of his mouth stick. Stapleford is not only taking advantage of a recent move toward telecommuting in the business sector but also a general push in government and private industry to make technology more accessible to disabled commuter users and the elderly.

Oyster Cards are used as payment on buses, Tube, tram and Docklands Light Railway in and around London. Due to a computer fault, the cards have malfunctioned for many users.  Learn about the glitch!

Edward Lopez’s experience with a company’s web site shows that lack of content and navigation can have a negative impact on an excellent product. "I frequent the gym with my standard issue duffle bag. The bag has one small pocket in which I cram the small items I don't want to get swallowed up by the innards of the gigantic duffle compartment. One day while shoehorning my bag into the crapped, narrow, yet extremely tall locker, I thought: "Geez- why don't they just make a bag designed to fit into a locker? Surely I'm not the only one that doesn't like to push my gym bag into these things everyday.” Squeezing the insides of the bag to fit the general shape of the locker and then still having to kick and push it in every time was starting to wear on me. "Of course, a simple Google search led me almost immediately to Ogio's "Locker Bag" designed to meet the exact needs I mentioned. It goes above and beyond the needs of the everyday gym goer. Molded more like a carry-on bag then a duffle, it holds it's tall and narrow shape very nicely and still leaves space to hang clothes overhead. "But I would not have known that from the online research I did. A quick trip to the company website yielded a choice of Street, Skate, Snow, Power, Golf, Girl, Work, and Corporate. "Ummm, do I choose Power? Work? Street, I guess is the closest – Bingo!" Of course, I was curious as to what the difference was between the Work and Corporate sections, but that was for later. After finding my choice in the Street section -- what does the gym or working out have to with street?