User Experience News & Articles

When we talk about the digital media consumption of teens and young adults, from social media to the mobile web, we often wonder how the future of online media will evolve. Rarely, however, do we consider what it means for the future of education.

On Saturday, March 6, educators and technologists alike gathered for TEDxNYED, an all-day conference, examining the role of new media and technology in shaping the future of education.

Some say that Microsoft hasn't really made many changes to SharePoint 2007's web content management functionality for SharePoint 2010 (news, site). While the underlying architecture may not have changed, there are some improvements that you are bound to like. Here are 8 changes to SharePoint WCM that you need to know about.

Your website is your primary communication tool, so you give it plenty of love. However, research says this is not sufficient as more than 70% of U.S. Internet consumers are now using multiple channels.

Examples include:

• Call centers
• Direct mail
• Mobile apps and interfaces
• Social networks
• In-store displays

Today's ruthless consumers expect a seamless cross-channel experience. Unfortunately, consumers often report that their cross-channel experience are poor -- A.K.A., you have work to do.

With this problem in mind Forrester Research is teaming with CoreMedia this Thursday at 11am EST/4pm GMT to present a webinar titled: The Role Of WCM In Cross-Channel Customer Relations.

Forrester analyst Tim Walters says you can maximize your online presence to create the optimal cross-channel user experience. And further, that your web content management system can play a key role in the process.

If you're responsible for optimizing your customers' cross-channel experience this webinar may be just what you need. Skip on over and register here.

What do you get when you combine premium content with user intent? A partnership between Mochila (news, site) and Netseer that seeks to deliver content-based ad units that are tailored more accurately to the user’s immediate needs than ads targeted by context keywords.

2010 is proving to be about user experience. Even in the past few weeks, we have covered the trends and needs associated with improving usability online, from web design to promoting transparency.

With the upcoming MX: Managing Experience conference that will focus on usability and user experience best practices, we'd like like to revisit the three key variables Jared Spool once indicated as being critically important to the field.

Managers in large organizations are too concerned with downsizing and cost cutting and not concerned enough with efficiency, productivity and customer satisfaction.

Think you know what websites have the best usability?

A survey by the UK-based research firm Webcredible found that the top performing industry sectors were news and media websites, followed by travel and utility websites. The sites voted most unfavorably belonged to local authority and government sector websites.

The study surveyed 1,000 users during the last quarter of 2009. The results indicate that some industries could improve from a renewed focus on their interfaces.

Our latest poll showed that while web analytics usage by our readership was strong for a good number of you, more than 65% of respondents have significant work to do.  Here's a review of the results peppered with the opinions and commentary of some experts in the analytics space.

Personas are a flexible and powerful tool for user researchers. They're also one of the most misunderstood. When done well, they ensure the team focuses on the needs and delights of their users.

TechRadar recently delivered what they and top experts consider to be key trends for the next 12 months in web design. At the core, is an increased focus on usability. Smashing Magazine sought to promote better user experiences with storytelling, encouraging designers to capitalize on users' emotions. The bottom line: by focusing on usability, a better website can be built.

There has been a lot of discussion around what is better, integrated analytics or third party analytics solutions. But the discussion doesn't start there. It should start with just how well you use your analytics to drive your business decisions and user experience improvement decisions.

And thus our question for you this week is this:

The poll will be open through Sunday, February 14th, so have your say now. Stay tuned for the results of our Top DAM Challenges poll from last week.

Right now, in a far off cubicle, someone is designing an e-commerce checkout application. It’s not unusual. There are thousands of existing e-commerce sites with their own checkout applications. And I can bet in the future there will be thousands more.

On most sites, users look to on-site Search after they've scanned the page for clues to the content they're seeking. A quality Search experience is critical to making users happy, yet many teams don't spend nearly enough time looking at that experience.

One place to start is the Search Log. Spending a little quality time with it, on a regular basis, is a great way to learn more about how people use your site.

To create clear menus you need to understand your customers' top tasks and use the words they would look for as they seek to complete these tasks.

In just two tiny weeks the world will celebrate World Usability Day 2009 -- a day when we can focus on designing for a sustainable world. It may be just one day, but it’s intended to inspire us for years to come. Come along and find your enthusiasm.