

Web usability guidelines - kungfudoi
http://www.userfocus.co.uk/resources/guidelines.html

======
DanielStraight
Am I the only one that can't read a list like this without looking for how the
website posting it fails?

\----------

On the menu:

"Navigation and IA"

But...

Under "Writing and content quality":

"Acronyms and abbreviations are defined when first used."

\----------

They say "Pages are free of 'scroll stoppers' (headings or page elements that
create the illusion that users have reached the top or bottom of a page when
they have not)." But the site has THREE footers, any one of which could be the
end of the page.

\----------

They say "Things that are clickable (like buttons) are obviously pressable."
But the text "Usability Training" in the third footer is inexplicably
clickable.

\----------

One that counts as an epic fail... they believe there is such a thing as a
"standard browser width window."

~~~
makecheck
On the very first page that was linked, all of those headings are expanded,
including: "Navigation and IA: 29 guidelines to evaluate navigation and
information architecture.". This is further used as tooltip text when you
point at the actual link with the abbreviation.

As for scroll stoppers...it is very clear to me that the page's main content
has ended when I reach even the "first" footer. It hardly seems like a
principle violation.

"Usability Training" might be a subtlety in the footer, but it is also one of
the major headings (which are obviously buttons).

And while I'd agree that browser widths shouldn't be assumed, their advice in
#29 is with respect to _reading_ , and there is definitely research to suggest
that there is a maximum useful width for a column of text, ~60-70 characters.
[See for instance, "Readability of Print" (H. Spencer, 1968).]

------
seldo
As an fun exercise, go to

<http://www.aa.com>

and watch as they break every single one of these guidelines. I use aa.com as
an example of crappy usability so often that my definition of "good web
development" is becoming "the opposite of whatever aa.com is doing".

~~~
mattyb
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=614703>

