Usability Portals

I used to recommend the Usable Web site for the ultimate comprehensive collection of useful links , but unfortunately the site is no longer being maintained (last update 2002). It is still a great site with a good overview of the first 9 years of Web usability.

For current portals to usability information, see the Spin Group's resources for effective and usable design .

See also Wilson's Web Marketing Info Center for many links related to business-enhancing design.

Regular Columns

• Bruce "Tog" Tognazzini's monthly AskTog column: mostly about user interfaces for Web applications. Extremely well written.
• E-Media Tidbits and Paid Content cover current events in new media; the former with a news-oriented angle and the latter with a business-oriented angle.
• Long Tail , by Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine. Annoyingly, this is in the format of a weblog instead of true columns, but virtually all postings are original content and substantial enough to qualify as columns. Covers the rise of niche markets as technology makes it easier for customers to reach specialized sites and services.
• Rough Type , by Nicholas Carr. Not specifically about usability, or even user interfaces, but a good cold reality check on much of the Bubble 2.0 hype from the perspective of what actually works in business.

Some Good Sites

I have given up posting a full list of good sites. Instead, please see the directory sites mentioned above since they are being maintained by people who focus on that job. Here are a few sites I like.

"Web pages that suck" is a series of critiques of poor Web design. The examples are wonderful(ly bad) and I find myself in agreement with the author's analysis about 95 percent of the time. Probably the highest scoring other Web site in terms of agreeing with me. (This site has proven so popular that an extended version has been published on dead trees .)

"Bad Designs" presents many good design lessons illustrated with everyday things. Another good collection of bad designs is "Design Not Found" . This one focuses on websites and their lack of support for edge cases in the interaction (e.g., how to handle error states).

Microsoft

• Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN)'s special interest area on user interfaces , with special links to their UI guidelines (which must be followed if you develop for Windows) and a regular human factors column.

Other UI Hotlists

• Interaction Design Encyclopedia has definitions and short articles about many concepts in the field.
• HCI List lists most user interface sites of interest.
• HCI Bibliography has a database of more than 15,000 references to printed publications about human-computer interaction (including abstracts; about 1,000 papers have links to online versions). The Bibliography project also maintains a list of the most prolific authors in the user interface field.
• Searchblog covers developments in search user experience and business strategy.