How good design can make users effective

A little formal fun fiction.

Selecting the wrong chart, like bad chart design, can obscure the data. Here is a simple model pick the right chart for your needs.

To an expert user, it is easy to forget the obstacle that registration and login pose to many users. Here are a few tips that can make the process easier.

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.

Advanced 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. A progressive disclosure approach can enable users to use precision advanced search techniques to refine their searches and pinpoint the desired results.

From April till December 2006, I conceived, designed, and coded survee.com in the evenings. Though I dropped the project, it was very satisfying and taught me some harsh, but useful lessons.

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.

Realistic wireframes are easier for users to understand and respond-to in wireframe tests. Published at BoxesAndArrows.com

A whitepaper on a way to improve usability in website navigation.

A whitepaper on financial services business challenges and solutions.

A presentation at the 2006 Boston Usability Professionals Association Mini-Conference

This presentation summarizes research and workflow techniques for designing complex applications, and was presented to the Intranet Benchmarking Forum. As always with presentations, much more was said than appears on the slides.

Use these lazy techniques and spend your time on more interesting problems than lining up little boxes! Published on BoxesAndArrows.com

Project management techniques can determine the success or failure of an outsourced project. The discussion of IT outsourcing has been dominated by the advertisements of the companies selling it and the concerns of US workers. Less discussed is whether it makes sense for a US company to actually outsource major software projects.

Some tips on arguing, and how to avoid common logical errors.

Our products solve physical problems, not intellectual problems. Intelligent devices won't be useful until they can take action to achieve their tasks. This may be more difficult than making the device intelligent.

What food additives say about us as consumers.

A short paper on login best practices.

by Gavin Shepherd, with Stephen Turbek
This report is a discussion of the issues regarding using audio elements and sound tracks in modern interactive environments.

by David Neier, with Stephen Turbek
The 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.

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.

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.

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

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?

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

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

Digital media can be easily duplicated, making it difficult to control the supply. A new model for commerce must emerge.

Games illustrate what a good interactive experience can be.

The French culinary technique, the 'Gallantine'.

Notes from the work of the master of information graphics.

by Ben Kleinman, Mary Quandt, Stephen Turbek, Neil Werhle
Tacit knowledge is used in all communities to keep people informed and engaged.

by Ben Kleinman, Stephen Turbek
Timezone dataviz to highlight the best times to call global offices