resources and bookmarks

Repository of resources and bookmarks that I find useful....feel free to bookmark this page

General HCI and Usability

  • Alertbox contains Current Issues in User Interface Design by Jakob Nielsen at SunSoft.
  • Apple Computer Developer's Guide includes overviews, tutorials, and details on application development with Apple technologies.
  • Applied Ergonomics and Design from Delft University has a lot of information about applied anthropology, usability, and health & environment.
  • Cognitive & Psychological Sciences is sponsored by Stanford University and contains just about all the references to cognitive and psychological sciences on the net. It includes academic programs, journals/magazines, newsgroups, mailing lists, announcements, and has links to everything.
  • Complex Cognition is a set of papers by Lisanne Bainbridge covering human factors / ergonomics, cognitive modeling, cognitive architecture, mental workload, situation awareness, cognitive error, skill and training, interface design, automation.
  • Designing A GUI for Business Telephone Users is a good paper by Pamela Savage
  • FineArt Forum is a great place to see how electronic publishing and technology works in cyberspace. A good place for design ideas.
  • HCI Education Survey is sponsored by ACM SIGCHI. This is Gary Perlman's list of most of the University programs in HCI.
  • The HCI Index is the Home Page sponsored by J. deGraaff at in The Netherlands. The index links to several sites in ergonomics and human-computer interface. There are several categories of information such as: Communication (a good one), bibliographies, conferences, publications, reviews, groups organizations, and other resources. You should check this one out.
  • Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL) at the University of Maryland conducts research on advanced user interfaces and their development processes. Interdisciplinary research teams study the entire technology development life-cycle which includes the initial technology design, implementation issues, and evaluation of user performance.
  • Human-Computer Interaction Resources on the Net An excellent HCI starting site by Mikael Ericsson at Linkoping University. It includes world wide links to all kinds of HCI resources including references, links, people, labs, sites, etc.
  • Human Factors and Ergonomics Society homepage.
  • Interface Design Handbook is a practical introduction to interface design Written by Clayton Lewis and John Rieman at the University of Colorado.
  • Interface Hall of Shame has great examples of bad user interface design.
  • Interactive Screens is an excellent paper about Uniting Depth and Surface by Mark R. Johnson at Georga Tech.
  • Interesting Human Factors Sites is a great list of links to many Human Factors sites.
  • Interaction-Design.org is a free, open-content, peer-reviewed Encyclopedia covering terms from the disciplines of Interaction Design, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Design, Human Factors, Usability, Information Architecture, and related fields.
  • The International Journal of Man-Machine Studies has the complete journal on-line. A great reference source.
  • Jakob Neilsen's "useit.com" has lots of links and includes his book on usable information technology.
  • Microsoft Usability Research has a lot of valuable information about how Microsoft goes about usability evaluation.
  • OK/CANCEL is a User Interface Design site that has interesting cartoons and features. Fun to read.
  • PARC - The Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), a subsidiary of Xerox Corporation, conducts pioneering interdisciplinary research in physical, computational, and social sciences.
  • Tips and Tools from "dotParagon" contain a wide range of HCI links and is a great place to learn what is available online.
  • Usability First - does not emphasize ergonomics, but it does have a comprehensive set of links to collections of computer information, organizations, forums, journals, and projects. The emphasis is on European sites.
  • The Usability Methods Toolbox is a compilation of information about almost all of the methods and techniques used in usability evaluation.
  • The Worlds Project is focused on the development of a next-generation computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW).
back to top

Usability Testing

  • All Things Web contains a section on inspection-based user testing that involves the use of a usability checklist.
  • Information & Design has a wide range of usability testing tools, materials, articles, and downloads.
  • The Guide to Usability for Software Engineering is a collection of pages created by the University of Maryland. The collection is intended for software engineers and usability engineering practitioners to find relevant resources on the Web. A complete Usability Testing Section is part of this site.
back to top

Web Site Design

  • Bobby this free service will allow you to test web pages and help expose and repair barriers to accessibility and encourage compliance with existing accessibility guidelines, such as Section 508 and the W3C's WCAG.
  • Designing for Multiple Browsers Without Being Bland is a commercial site that has a lot of great design tips for multiple browsers.
  • ErgoNetz has a good discussion of Usability of web-based Virtual Reality. The focus is on three-dimensional, interactive applications on the World Wide Web.
  • MSDN User Interface is the Microsoft User Interface Library offering best practices for designing for Microsoft products. The MSDN Library is an essential resource for developers using Microsoft tools, products, and technologies. It contains a bounty of technical programming information, including sample code, documentation, technical articles, and reference guides.
  • Usable Web is a meta site for web site usability issues. Lots of HCI information and a great source of information.
  • Usability.gov is designed to provide current and accurate information on how to make health-related information Web sites and other user interfaces more usable, accessible, and useful.
  • Usability News: Excellent Usability information and news website from the British HCI Group
  • Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (WCAG WG) is part of W3C and is the primary reference for accessibility issues on the web.
  • The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential. W3C is a forum for information, commerce, communication, and collective understanding. This is a primary resource for all web related design.
back to top

HCI and UCD4Development

  • UCD4D Annotated Bibliography :My official reference wiki for User Centered Design for Development Issues as well as our online collabotary for the UCD4D conference at CHI 2007
  • User Centered Design and International Development: Official conference workshop website
  • Caveman's Crib: A really cool online flash viral on Gieco's famous "metrosexual" caveman {Note:-I'm not affiliated to Gieco in anyway =), just thought I'd put this here because if you think about it....it is in a way HCI and Development related ;-) }