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301 pages PDF format
Download Report (from eSellerate)
$124 for a single report,
$248 for the report and a site license to make copies within your organization and place on your own intranet.
(No shipping/handling fees will be added: it's an immediate download directly from the server.)
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Summary
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This report reviews the designs and usability of ten applications that were chosen from a much larger number of nominated designs. The report is richly illustrated with 206 full-color screenshots, giving readers the unique opportunity to see good user interfaces from highly specialized applications that are usually not available to the public.
The 10 winning applications are:
- Campaign Monitor by Eyeblaster (Israel): integrated management of multiple advertising campaigns for media buyers.
- CMSBox by CMSBox (Switzerland): content management system.
- FotoFlexer by Arbor Labs (USA): photo editor.
- PRISMAprepare by Océ (Netherlands): print shop software.
- Seating Management by Magellan Network and DesignMap (USA): hostess stand reservation book for restaurants.
- SQL diagnostic manager by Idera (USA): database performance monitoring and diagnostics.
- SugarSync by Sharpcast (USA): synchronizing files across multiple computers.
- SuperSaaS by SuperSaaS (Netherlands): creating and hosting scheduling and reservation systems.
- Wufoo by Infinity Box, Inc. (USA): online forms, surveys, invitations, and payments.
- Xero by Xero (New Zealand): accounting for small businesses.
These applications represent both mission-critical applications and apps targeted at a broader audience.
The bulk of the report consists of detailed case studies of each of the ten winning applications, including discussions of the main problems they faced and how these problems were overcome in the design process.
> Read Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox: main trends in this design annual
> See sample chapter as thumbnails
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Best Practices
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Some of the key areas for which best practices are presented in the report are:
- Progressive disclosure
- Dialog boxes
- Modal vs. non-modal dialogues
- Registration for Web-based apps
- Error messages
- "Ribbon" design vs. traditional menus
- Context menus
- Pinnable menus
- Toolbars
- Icons
- Buttons
- Labels and command names
- Drag-and-drop
- Tooltips and click-tips
- Online help
- Presenting complex features
- Wizards
- Linear vs. freeform task flow
- Narrative flow
- Dashboards
- Data visualization
- Drill-down
- Filtering
- Alerts
- Mobile versions of PC apps
- Visual style
- Direct manipulation, drag-and-drop
- Innovative controls: when to break with accepted standards
- Standards and guidelines for corporate cross-app UI look-and-feel
- Desktop metaphor
- Slider controls
- Zoom
- WYSIWYG
- UI for real-time resources
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
- Usability process for application development
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Table of Contents
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301-page report with 206 screenshots
- Executive Summary
- Business-Oriented Interaction
- Freeform vs. Linear Task Flow
- Office 2007 Ribbon Sees Fast Uptake
- Modal Dialog Boxes: Yes or No?
- Lightbox: Interaction Design Technique of the Year
- Double Usability Challenge
- User Assistance
- Emotional Design
- Usability Methods: Cheap but Contextual
- Overview of the Winners
- Five Countries
- Domains
- Team Sizes
- In-House or Design Consultancy
- Common Themes Among the Winners
- Designed to be Quickly Comprehensible
- Telling a Simple Story, and Communicating Well
- Using Interface Elements in the Way That Users Expect
- Helping Users Learn
- Campaign Monitor
- Company Information
- Overview
- What Does It Do?
- The Application
- Information display
- Interface Elements
- Innovation vs. Convention
- Usability Process
- Team
- Why They Were Chosen
- CMSbox
- Company Information
- Overview/Motto
- What Does It Do?
- Who Is The User?
- Narrative/Walkthrough
- Choice
- Interface Elements
- Usability Process
- New Version and Future Plans
- Team
- Why They Were Chosen
- FotoFlexer
- Company Information
- Overview/Motto
- What Does It Do?
- Who Is The User?
- The Application
- Interface Elements
- Menus
- Button Design
- Dialogs
- Help and Error Messaging
- Innovation vs. Convention
- Usability Process
- Team
- Why They Were Chosen
- PRISMAprepare
- Company Information
- Overview/Motto
- What Does It Do?
- Who Is The User?
- The Application
- Interface Elements
- Buttons
- Menus
- Information display
- Innovation vs. Convention
- Usability Process
- Team
- Why They Were Chosen
- Seating Management
- Company Information
- Overview
- What Does It Do?
- Who Is the User?
- The Application
- Interface Elements
- Help and Error Messaging
- Information Display
- Usability Process
- Team
- Why They Were Chosen
- SQL diagnostic manager
- Company Information
- Overview/Motto
- What Does It Do?
- Who Is The User?
- The Application
- Dashboard View
- Interface Elements
- Help and Error Messaging
- Information Display
- Innovation vs. Convention
- Usability Process
- Team
- Why They Were Chosen
- SugarSync
- Company Information
- Overview/Motto
- What Does It Do?
- Who Is the User?
- The Application
- Desktop Application
- Clarity and Choice
- Web Application
- Mobile
- Interface Elements
- Help and Error Messaging
- Innovation vs. Convention
- Usability Process
- Team
- Why They Were Chosen
- SuperSaaS
- Company Information
- Overview/Motto
- What Does It Do?
- Who Is The User?
- Narrative/Walkthrough
- Navigation Paths/Choice
- Interface Elements
- Innovation vs. Convention
- Help and Error Messaging
- Usability Process
- Team
- Why They Were Chosen
- Wufoo
- Company Information
- Overview/Motto
- What Does It Do?
- Who Is The User?
- The Application
- Templates
- Navigation Paths/Choice
- Information Display
- Help and Handholding
- Innovation vs. Convention
- Usability Process
- Team
- Why They Were Chosen
- Xero
- Company Information
- Overview/Motto
- What Does It Do?
- Who Is the User?
- The Application
- Navigation Paths/Choice
- Interface Elements
- Buttons
- Menus/Breadcrumbs
- Dialogs and Messaging
- Help and Handholding
- Information Display
- Innovation vs. Convention
- Visual Design vs. Functionality
- Usability Process
- Team
- Why They Were Chosen
- Applications Not Selected: Common Issues
- Unclear Goals
- No Apparent Focus on Users
- Poor Use of Interface Elements
- Spotty or Non-Existent Assistance
- Selection Criteria and Process
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How Can We Sell This Report So Cheaply?
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Most other consulting companies and analysts would charge a thousand dollars or more for a report like this. A mid-sized company could increase employee productivity by tens of thousands of dollars if its enterprise apps benefited from even a single good idea from this report. Help desk costs can be cut, saving even more money. Big companies stand to gain millions.
If you produce software for sales, just a few ideas from this report will improve your user experience, leading to more favorable reviews, fewer support calls (and thus lower costs), and increased customer satisfaction. All of which spell sales.
Despite investing half a year's effort and the work of several of the world's most experienced usability professionals in the project, we can sell the report at a dramatically lower price than other companies who put much less work into their reports, because we distribute it over the Web, with a much leaner cost structure than having an army of salespeople to schmooze you.
Our only plea is that you help us continue publishing low-price reports by buying a site license if you have colleagues who will read the report. If you only need it for yourself, then that's obviously what the single-user license is for. If somebody "gives" you a copy, then please buy a download anyway to keep prices down in the future.
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Who Should Read This Report?
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Anybody in charge of an application's user experience.
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Download Report (from eSellerate)
$124 for the PDF file (301 pages, 206 screenshots), single-user license.
$248 for a site license to make
copies and place on your intranet.
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 Alternative Payments |
If you do not want to buy online, we accept other forms of payment:
- Check
- Bank transfer
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- Faxed or mailed credit cards
We can also send you a paper invoice if your company requires that.
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| Download Time |
| The PDF document is a big file because of the many illustrations (18 MB). Downloads will take about
3 minutes with a broadband connection.
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| File Format |
| The report is a standard PDF file, formatted to print on both 8.5x11 and A4 paper. Any recent version of the Acrobat Reader will suffice to read or print the file. No special software is needed. The file is not copy-protected: we trust you to buy a site license if you are going to have several people read the report.
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