Touch screen usability
How to adjust controls for touch This interesting video is a great explanation of some of the challenges we face when designing for touch screens. Over 75% of all mobile users use one digit to select...
View ArticleDesigning university websites
University websites: top 10 design guidelines This study from Nielsen Norman Group assesses higher education websites in four countries including the UK. This is very relevant to us, and I would...
View ArticleThe usability of homepages
Homepage usability: can users infer the breadth of your product catalogue? This article looks at the usability of shopping websites’ homepages. But there may still be lessons for us here, with our...
View ArticleDon’t break the back button
4 design patterns that violate back-button expectations One of the biggest usability faux-pas we can commit is “breaking” the back button. The back button is by far the most commonly used function of a...
View ArticleDon’t break the user experience
Breaking web design conventions = breaking the user experience The esteemed Nielsen Norman Group has turned its attention towards the controversial redesign of the Bucknell University website. The...
View ArticleWhy simplicity improves the user experience for all
The myth of the sophisticated user Our goal as designers is to make things as easy as possible for the user. When we set out to simplify content and convert jargon terms into plain English, we are...
View ArticleCreating great microcopy
Interface writing: Code for humans Microcopy, or interface writing as Nicole Fenton calls it, is the small bits of text that make a user interface – the text used in buttons, notifications, links and...
View ArticleAssumptions about mobile users
UX myth: Mobile users are distracted The rise of mobile has also given rise to myths about how people use it. The idea that mobile users are more distracted than users of any other devices does not...
View ArticleAccordions and tabs in forms
Form usability: The pitfalls of inline accordion and tab designs Accordions and tabs are common user interface elements, and we are making increasing use of accordions in the new pattern library....
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Why is the user important?
As we may have mentioned a few times already, the digital communications team is committed to a user centred approach to our work: whether that be research, design, content or build. We have placed...
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Results from usability testing of PGT pages
Usability testing is a technique used to evaluate a product as it is developed by testing it on others. It has been used by the digital communications team in the past to gain insightful qualitative...
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Agile usability testing at IWMW 2016
‘Understanding Users; Managing Change; Delivering Services’ was the theme of IWMW 2016 (the Institutional Web Management Workshop) – and agile usability testing seemed to convey this message perfectly....
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How to conduct usability testing
If you’re new to usability testing, you may find my post What is usability testing and why do we do it, useful before diving into the ‘how-to’. While that post looked at the what and why, this post...
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Understanding how users search the University website
When someone uses the search box on any of our University webpages, the results are returned using our own Google Search Appliance (GSA). The current search results pages are optimised for desktop. For...
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Usability testing of the undergraduate pages: the results
Usability testing is a method used to evaluate a product as it is developed by testing it on others. It has been used by the digital communications team in the past to gain insightful data about user...
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Guerilla testing on mobile devices
A couple of weeks ago The University of Dundee’s external relations team released data from some guerrilla usability testing they had conducted during their freshers’ week. It was an incredible data...
View ArticleCommon content mistakes and how to fix them
Part of the work done by members of digicomms is ensure all content on the University’s website meets digital standards. In particular, any text on the website or in print materials must meet the...
View ArticleProspective student information: usability testing and results
As part of the external website project we are retiring the Study at St Andrews section of the website and moving its content into either Subjects or Prospective students. Certain information will now...
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Usability testing around the University
The digital communications team has been conducting usability testing since 2015. Usability testing allows us to evaluate the design of a webpage, or more specifically, a particular process such as...
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Study at St Andrews: usability results
As part of the external website project, we are reconfiguring the current Study at St Andrews section to improve the prospective student’s experience. Digicomms recently conducted testing specifically...
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