Re:New To Usability - Trying To Learn & Define Standards

[Michael Coombs]

Hi Doug,

I¹ve never responded to post to this group before. Great book to pick up
some best practice standards for ³icons² or not, ³text links² or not,  is
³Web Form Design² by Luke Wroblewski.

My basic rule on icons, avoid whenever possible. In my enterprise
application, at last count, I believe we have about 900+ icons and not one
engineer can even tell you which ones are really used in one of the ERP app
versions (it would all depend on user, access, and security to even see all
the screens).

Michael

___________________________________________

Michael Coombs | Senior Interaction Designer | Ariba, Inc.
mcoombs@... | www.ariba.com | [phone]




 

 



 

[jonathan berger]

> My basic rule on icons, avoid whenever possible.

I think that's a pretty poor rule of thumb. Icons have their place,
particularly in text-heavy environments where a little bit of color
and shape can help guide the user toward "nouns" in the interface.



On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 1:40 PM, Michael Coombs <mcoombs@...> wrote:

>
>
>
> Hi Doug,
>
> I’ve never responded to post to this group before. Great book to pick up some best practice standards for “icons” or not, “text links” or not,  is “Web Form Design” by Luke Wroblewski.
>
> My basic rule on icons, avoid whenever possible. In my enterprise application, at last count, I believe we have about 900+ icons and not one engineer can even tell you which ones are really used in one of the ERP app versions (it would all depend on user, access, and security to even see all the screens).
>
> Michael
>
> ___________________________________________
>
> Michael Coombs | Senior Interaction Designer | Ariba, Inc.
> mcoombs@... | www.ariba.com | [phone]
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

--
_________________________
@jonathanpberger
http://www.marketpublique.com
http://www.jonathanpberger.com
718.930.2165
This email is:     [*] bloggable     [ ] ask first       [ ] private


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[Sigfrid]

I totally agree with Jonathan.
In a text-heavy application icons are not a option, they are a must.


Sigfrid Dusci
Software Element

2009/10/1 jonathan berger <jonathanpberger@...>:

>> My basic rule on icons, avoid whenever possible.
>
> I think that's a pretty poor rule of thumb. Icons have their place,
> particularly in text-heavy environments where a little bit of color
> and shape can help guide the user toward "nouns" in the interface.
>
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 1:40 PM, Michael Coombs <mcoombs@...> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> Hi Doug,
>>
>> I’ve never responded to post to this group before. Great book to pick up some best practice standards for “icons” or not, “text links” or not,  is “Web Form Design” by Luke Wroblewski.
>>
>> My basic rule on icons, avoid whenever possible. In my enterprise application, at last count, I believe we have about 900+ icons and not one engineer can even tell you which ones are really used in one of the ERP app versions (it would all depend on user, access, and security to even see all the screens).
>>
>> Michael
>>
>> ___________________________________________
>>
>> Michael Coombs | Senior Interaction Designer | Ariba, Inc.
>> mcoombs@... | www.ariba.com | [phone]
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> _________________________
> @jonathanpberger
> http://www.marketpublique.com
> http://www.jonathanpberger.com
> 718.930.2165
> This email is:     [*] bloggable     [ ] ask first       [ ] private
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>

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[Gilgongo]

On Thu, 2009-10-01 at 14:23 -0400, jonathan berger wrote:
> > My basic rule on icons, avoid whenever possible.
>
> I think that's a pretty poor rule of thumb. Icons have their place,
> particularly in text-heavy environments where a little bit of color
> and shape can help guide the user toward "nouns" in the interface.
>

The moral to almost every story in interaction design is: "it depends."

I'm curious about the book. What were some of the strong takeaways from it that you use consistently?

--- In agile-usability@..., Michael Coombs <mcoombs@...> wrote:

>
> Hi Doug,
>
> I¹ve never responded to post to this group before. Great book to pick up
> some best practice standards for ³icons² or not, ³text links² or not,  is
> ³Web Form Design² by Luke Wroblewski.
>
> My basic rule on icons, avoid whenever possible. In my enterprise
> application, at last count, I believe we have about 900+ icons and not one
> engineer can even tell you which ones are really used in one of the ERP app
> versions (it would all depend on user, access, and security to even see all
> the screens).
>
> Michael
>
> ___________________________________________
>
> Michael Coombs | Senior Interaction Designer | Ariba, Inc.
> mcoombs@... | www.ariba.com | [phone]
>

[Adrian Howard]

On 5 Oct 2009, at 17:39, doug.gorman@... wrote:

> I'm curious about the book. What were some of the strong takeaways  
> from it that you use consistently?
[snip]

I'd second Michael's recommendation of Luke's book. A useful read -  
especially if you've not got a usability/UX background. It's tricky  
one to sum up since it's really a collection of useful patterns /  
"best" practices for form design.

You'll get some good rules of thumb on, for example, label alignment  
in forms - which will help with making those initial decisions before  
user testing.

Taking a look at the book site

        http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/webforms/

and the illustrations from the book

        http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/webforms/content/diagrams/

might give you more of an idea.

Cheers,

Adrian
--
http://quietstars.com  -  twitter.com/adrianh  -  delicious.com/adrianh