Usability is the ease of use and learnability of a human-made object. The object of use can be a software application, website, book, tool, machine, process, etc.
We've often blogged about Section 508 compliance as a means to convince very engineering-centric developers to consider their users.
Accessible designs work for everyone - Ever use a curb-cut!?
By thinking about a disabled user and designing a solution that works for them, developers adopt a human-centered design strategy without even knowing it.
It is an excellent foot-in-the-door for designing for an admin user, a casual user, the sales team, an expert user, and many of other personas associated with the solution.
The team at Bentley University recently sent out a survey to UX professionals to learn more about their experience with UX consultants, and the type of services they need from a UX partner.
They received more than 200 responses from the survey and shared a few interesting findings from their initial data analysis:
One of the easiest ways to improve the usability (and perceived usability) of a web/application is to improve the text that appears on the screen specifically around labels, embedded assistance and error messages.
In many web/applications, there is a false assumption that all of the users are already experts. In many situations, the placement of a simple bit of embedded assistance will help the novice and intermediate users know exactly what to do.
Usability and user experience teams have traditionally been way understaffed and often under-utilized.
Usability teams that I have led in the past have had to beg, borrow, or steal resources in order to achieve the significant gains in user productivity, user satisfaction (and reduction of user errors) for the software systems of the many companies and organizations that I’ve worked with.
It was a pleasure to work with you, as you and your team made this process a more pleasant experience for our team and the participants.
Karen Perry
I just want to tell you that I value people relations more than money. I remember how you were friendly and helpful not going against policies and contractual obligations at the same time, not using your power to make us feel stupid and small. It was a very rare and big experience for me. Really. I will always remember this.
Alex
The Usability People are all individuals that you can become friends with very easily. They have a lot of different interests and are a pleasure to work with. I was writing a PRD/MRD for a billing solution and worked with The Usability People in defining the user interface. They are receptive to ideas and are able to mold the user interface from an end-user's perspective. I really liked the idea of putting end-user photograph & short biography around the office to help understand the users
