Hyper-Text usability: Designing Web Usability by Jakob Nielsen

Use white space as a border. Do not create borders (ex: table borders) to separate data when white space would work.

Links: Text in a link should explain where that link goes. You should be able to take the link out of the context and still understand what the link is for. It maybe beneficial to have the link text display the title of the page it is linking to. For external links, do not change the color or denote it in any other eye-catching way; instead include the new domain in the link text.

Do not place 3rd party buttons on the home page; put then on the "about this page." Viewers do not care that the site supports html 4.0, or has ICRA support. These graphics just add size to the home page and steal from the content of the site.

When you test a new design (or making a log of tests), include screenshots of appearances in numerous browsers (FF, IE, NE, Safire, Opera) on many platforms (windos 95, 98, 2000, XP, Vista, Mac, Linux) in different resolutions (600x800, 1000 x whatever, etc).

The navigation bar should take up a nominal percent to the screen.

Simplicity is GOLD!!!!

Text on the internet should be half of what you would find in a print publication. If you get something that was printed, delete half of the unnecessary words when you post it online.

Use fewer paragraphs and more lists. You want the viewers to be able to scan the page.

The text should have a voce/personality; it should not sound like a law book. However, the text should not be screaming.

Spell check

Nest Headlines: Use at least two sub-headlines.

Title/Headlines should not be cute, but rather informative. The internet is not a newspaper, there is no reason to use "play on words" and such. There is no need to compete for the view's attention; they are already on your site. With that said, however, you do need to invest more time in the links that point to a page, but again, they need to be informational in order to prevent wasteful clicks. In the title/headline, do not insert teasers. Also, the first word should be the most important; do not use the 1st word on more than 1 page.

Bold keywords and ideas in an article.

Define words.

Inverted pyramid: Have the big ideas in the 1st paragraph in an article. Also, use journalistic paragraphs (new idea = new paragraph). Most people only read the 1st line in a paragraph.

Do not use jokes or metaphors because they may be taken literally especially if the user is scanning. However, do be funny; we cannot take ourselves too seriously.

Continued Pages: Cut the page on a whole new idea.

Using name links (ex: href="x.html#numbertwo"): It is better to make another file than to use name links. The user may be confused when the page loads.

Keep the length of a page small (or just not too long).

Home Page: the home page should answer these questions: (First person= the user)

The Navigation system should answer the question "where am I." This can be accomplished by displaying the "user file path" somewhere on the top of the page (ex: college > test > SAT > Dates [each would be a link]). Currently, this site changes the color of links to denote where the user is. For example, if the user is reading the Mexican Math Woman poem, the top link "Story" and sub-link "Math Woman" would be highlighted ( or have a different background color).

In the heart of a page/article, include a section of related pages. If the user is reading about the SAT, give then a link about colleges and ACT in an attractive box. We need to help users find information that they care about.

If we have a search box on the home page: Longer the box = more words people are likely to type into it.

1. Get a group of people, randomly. In this sample, there should be people who are expert internet surfers, teachers, students, and technically deficient people.

2. Create a test asking for specific questions (For example, if you are makeing a website for a school, the test should include questions: does PV offer a basic math class, what is 122lbs in Joules, who is the advisor of the computer club, what room is the advisor of CSF, when does school start, when is the next ball game, when is the next SAT/ACT, etc).

3. Have the subjects write down the answer and where they found the answer. Time them to see how long it takes them.

4. If it takes too long, then we need to improve our usability.