tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238934542009-12-18T09:35:52.761-05:00user experience, website analytics, and interface designstephennoreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-59654099280738459232009-08-06T21:50:00.009-04:002009-08-06T22:35:38.271-04:00

Stephen Turbek To an expert user, it is easy to forget the obstacle that registration and login pose to many users. Forgotten user IDs and lost passwords are a consistent problem, frustrating users and preventing sales. In my project work, lost password requests remain the number one customer service issue. Making this process simpler and easier for the user to recover will provide one of the

stephennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-39467715824787068342009-06-09T22:18:00.000-04:002009-06-19T21:48:25.995-04:00

Stephen Turbek 9 June 2009 Selecting the wrong chart, like bad chart design, can obscure the data. Here is a simple model pick the right chart for your needs. First, let’s ask a few questions to make sure we are going in the right direction. Is a human making the chart? If a person is creating a chart, they can decide the most appropriate format, and more importantly,

stephennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-59078499462491499742008-03-01T22:20:00.006-05:002008-03-01T22:49:50.436-05:00

Personas are a popular user experience deliverable, whose purpose and use are often misunderstood. This article suggests ways to make personas useful, and not just a pretty face.As a UX consultant, this was a familiar scene: our team had worked late hours for this Friday client review. The deliverable this week: Personas. After 4 weeks of user interviews, the client was getting anxious: were

stephennoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-29484987644089129462008-01-16T21:16:00.004-05:002008-03-01T21:38:37.949-05:00

Published on Boxes and arrows on 16 Jan 200816 Jan 2008Advanced search is the ugly child of interface design -always included, but never loved. Websites have come to depend on their search engines as the volume of content has increased. Yet advanced search functionality has not significantly developed in years. Poor matches and overwhelming search results remain a problem for users. Perhaps the

stephennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-63330990550374575382007-04-15T13:15:00.000-04:002007-10-16T21:38:02.753-04:00

From April till December 2006, I conceived, designed, and coded survee.com (see some cached pages), an attempt tobuild an new approach to online surveysexplore AJAX codingStart a companytry out new interaction modelsThough I dropped the project, it was very satisfying and it taught me some lessons. I'm attempting here to make those clear to myself and perhaps others. This project was no big

stephennoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-53137082758769982952007-04-03T11:44:00.000-04:002007-04-03T14:26:59.771-04:00

I use Visio to create wireframe documents, and as updating Tables of Contents in Visio is very dull, I wrote a macro (a small program) that automatically generates a Table of Contents list for a Visio document. It is stored in a Stencil.The Table of Contents format is:1 First Page2 Another Page3 Etc Page(Where the page title comes from the page title seen in the tabs at the bottom of the

stephennoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-1160573115661751132006-10-11T09:16:00.000-04:002007-04-03T14:04:55.858-04:00

by Stephen Turbek Published on 09/19/2006http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/real_wireframesRead the PDF “Just because project teams understand the purpose of wireframes, that doesn’t mean everyone will. Similar to listening to someone sing out loud to his iPod: we only hear the singing, while the person hears the whole orchestra.”

stephennoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-1149524237130857772006-05-20T12:08:00.000-04:002006-06-05T12:17:17.153-04:00

read the PDFWhen DHTML was first introduced, there was much discussion over the complexity of dropdown menus. “Will users know to roll over the menu to display them?” “Can users handle elements that appear and disappear?” Over time, the desire to include more links outweighed the additional complexity. Dropdown menus are a standard feature of many websites. But usability problems remain.[image

stephennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-1145910299727076952006-04-24T16:19:00.000-04:002007-10-16T22:14:11.915-04:00

Avenue A | Razorfish whitepaperRead the more beautiful PDFProblemOnline interfaces have become the primary way clients transact with financial services firms, yet many of today’s interfaces are poor reflections of these firms. SolutionFinancial services firms should respond through a greater investment in online systems for internal and external users.Benefit A user-centered design means fewer

stephennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-1143688176773112592006-03-29T22:07:00.000-05:002007-06-22T21:55:43.093-04:00

A presentation at the 2006 Boston Usability Professionals Association Mini-Conferencesee the PDF (1 meg)

stephennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-1151600439336354702006-03-21T12:55:00.000-05:002006-06-29T13:00:39.346-04:00

Research and Workflow Techniques: Designing complex applications with digital and manual componentsStephen Turbek and Mary-Lynne WilliamsPresented to the Intranet Benchmarking Forum, 21 March 2006This presentation summarizes techniques for designing complex applications, though as always with presentations, much more was said than appears on the slides.PDF versionPowerpoint version

stephennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-1142124774153851682006-03-11T19:51:00.000-05:002006-03-23T18:05:21.270-05:00

by stephen turbekPublished 29 Jan 2006 at boxesandarrows.com and Edited by Liz DanzicoThis article further develops the excellent Automating Diagrams with Visio by Michael Angeles. Sitemaps are common deliverables, desired by clients who want a visual representation of a site. Since they are rarely used to make decisions, information architects may not consider them the valuable tools they are.

stephennoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-1143142427792419272005-04-13T14:23:00.000-04:002006-03-23T14:37:37.283-05:00

-a view from the trenches Stephen Turbek 13 April 2005The goal of this essay is to educate business and technology leaders to make planning decisions. Even if your company has chosen to outsource development, project management decisions can determine the success or failure of the project. Why don’t we know? The discussion of IT outsourcing has been dominated by the advertisements of

stephennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-1143140008599177732004-01-17T13:51:00.000-05:002006-04-05T10:19:55.726-04:00

By stephen turbek 17 January 2004 Everyone knows that you should be able to argue well. Anyone who doesn’t is an ignorant stooge and will get what’s coming to them. The philosopher Aristotle, one of the smartest people ever, said that logic was the highest form of thinking. All of the problems in the world, from poverty to war, are the result of a lack of logic. If only we would follow

stephennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-1143141434572764072003-01-01T14:15:00.000-05:002006-04-05T10:22:48.470-04:00

Intelligence is not enough 2003stephen turbek The emergence of cheap, powerful microchips has enabled us to build intelligence into everyday objects, from washing machines that sense dirt to refrigerators that order food. We are seemingly only steps away from building computers that can leave the desktop and take care of our chores. It is worthwhile to take a moment to look at what are

stephennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-1143139586938554632002-03-23T13:44:00.000-05:002006-04-05T10:11:38.053-04:00

We're getting what we ordered What food additives say about us as consumers. 2002 By Stephen Turbek Edited by Liz Danzico If you are reading this article, you probably don't grow your own food. But consider what you've eaten today. Do you know where it came from? What was added to it? How old it is? In this age of mad cow disease and genetically modified corn, you cannot simply

stephennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-1142203728507336512001-03-26T17:45:00.000-05:002006-03-23T13:43:21.940-05:00

A short paper on login best practices, part of the Razorfish "The Good..." series. view the PDF (570K)

stephennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-1142880201120939192001-01-31T13:37:00.000-05:002006-05-01T12:20:18.910-04:00

By Gavin Shepherd with Stephen Turbek31 January 2001Read original PDF “A third of the effect of ‘Psycho’ was due to the music.” -Alfred Hitchcock Since the early days of film, sound has been added to increase the richness of the experience. Before there were soundtracks, an organist played a carefully crafted musical score along with the movie. Sound is necessary to tell the story: themes

stephennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-1143154608051278482001-01-29T17:55:00.000-05:002006-03-23T17:56:48.050-05:00

by David Neier, with Stephen TurbekThe Open System Interconnection (OSI) model describes the way in which information travels across a network. This report illuminates some of the inner workings of your computer as it browses the Web. 29 January 2001Read the PDF

stephennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-1143154529287600252001-01-22T17:54:00.000-05:002006-03-23T17:55:29.286-05:00

XML, the eXtensible Markup Language is a simple, flexible, open system for sharing data between organizations. Though generally invisible to the user, it is rapidly changing the way information is exchanged and is used in thousands of applications. 22 January 2001Read the PDF

stephennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-1143154481698620732001-01-12T17:53:00.000-05:002006-03-23T17:54:41.700-05:00

Secure Internet transactions have been as important as the Web browser in making the Internet useful. This report gives an overview of Public Key encryption and a brief history of cryptography. 12 January 2001Read the PDF

stephennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-1143154432389186752000-12-11T17:53:00.000-05:002006-03-23T17:53:52.390-05:00

Collaboration with distant colleagues is one of the biggest challenges in the new workplace. Here are some ways to make it easier. 11 December 2000Read the PDF

stephennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-1143141084458344192000-12-04T14:06:00.000-05:002006-03-23T17:42:30.160-05:00

By stephen turbek 12/4/2000 What does it mean to be “digital”? Why has the word ‘analog’ become synonymous with natural, old, or human? Why exactly is the future digital? Is there a difference between ‘data’ and ‘media’? This report reviews the recent history of analog and digital technology and tries to explain why we went in this direction. What is ‘analog’? When we speak of

stephennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-1143154375897245112000-11-06T17:51:00.000-05:002006-03-23T17:52:55.896-05:00

Plug and Play technology is poised to make computers much simpler, if only we can agree on a standard. Read the PDF

stephennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23893454.post-1143154271706371222000-10-23T17:50:00.000-04:002006-03-23T17:51:11.706-05:00

Cookies have been fingered as agents against personal privacy, but in reality, they work for you.Read the PDF

stephennoreply@blogger.com0