This section provides usability factors, rules-of-thumb, and examples
(bad & good) as appropriate of a number of web page and web site design
considerations as presented on the left side of this page. These are some
of the major considerations, that often are ignored by web designers. The
information in the pages of this section is by no means all-inclusive of
every factor and consideration of web usability; it is meant as a brief
overview of the factors and considerations to introduce you to them.
Remember- these are not necessarily hard-and-fast rules; they can be bent
or broken if there is a good reason for doing so.
Four books were utilized for this section (the numbers in parentheses
refer to various quotes in the pages of this section):
(1) How to Do Everything with FrontPage 2000, by David
Plotkin. Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 2000. Appendix A: Design User-Friendly Web
Pages & Chapter 9: Build a Frames Page
(2) Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability,
by Steve Krug. New Riders Publishing 2000
(3) Designing Web Usability, by Jakob Nielsen. New Riders Publishing 2000
(4) Web Site Usability: A Designer's Guide, by Jared M. Spool, et. al. Morgan
Kaufman Publishers, 1999
All of these books are HIGHLY recommended for every web designer's
library. Appendix A in (1) provides a nice quick breakdown of the various
web usability factors, and something like it is most likely in books about
other web design programs; the author is only familiar with FrontPage 2000
& 2002. Books (2), (3), and (4) are all excellent, and go in depth into
web usability design considerations.
There are, no doubt, other publications available that deal with web
usability; the reader is encouraged to use web search engines and online
booksellers to keep up to date with what's available.
There are also a number of web sites devoted to web usability; some of
these are linked to in the Further Reading
section
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