Media: Usability News on Page Design for Screens

Usability News, the publication of the Software Usability Research Laboratory (SURL) at Wichita State University with the same name as us, has again brought out an interesting edition, this time with a section devoted to page design and text layout.

Two papers look at this: "Effects of Line Length on Reading Online News" by A.D. Shaikh and "Is Multiple-Column Online Text Better? It Depends!" by J.R. Baker.

In addition, there is some user participation encouraged. "Perceived Personality and Uses of Fonts: We Need Your Input!" by A.D. Shaikh, J. Slocum, and Z. Zaccagni, is an extended abstract accompanying a survey form.

'Studies have investigated the perceived personality of fonts for printed text; however, similar studies have not been conducted regarding onscreen text. We are investigating the perceived personalities and uses of a variety of fonts used onscreen,' say the authors.

'We are eager to include diverse populations to better generalize our findings to those who are designing and developing for digital media.'

Follow the link below to find both papers and questionnaire.

Associated Link: Usability News! July 2005, Volume 7, issue 2

All change at the top for System Concepts
Source: System Concepts Ltd, 3 July 2009
 
Leslie Fountain has been promoted to joint Managing Director of leading usability consultancy System Concepts.

Life in UCD immortalised in fiction: you couldn't make it up
Source: UN, 2 July 2009
 
Sarah Herman's fictitious book on life in a user-centred design company has hit the shelves and The Guardian's book pages...

Interfaces Magazine - Issue 79: The Education Issue
Source: Interaction Group, 1 July 2009
 
The latest issue of Interfaces is now available as a free download from the Interaction Website.

Two new Behavioural research Tools from Noldus
Source: UN, 30 June 2009
 
Tool updates make on-site behavioural data collection easier.

Cell Phones that Listen and Learn
Source: MIT Technology Review, 29 June 2009
 
New software tracks a user's behavior by monitoring everyday sounds.

Top Six Don’ts for Usability Testing
Source: FutureNow Inc., 27 June 2009
 
Six tips for creating quality usability tests to ensure useful feedback from testers.

Usability: ‘Lovely software. But I can’t work it’
Source: FT.com, 26 June 2009
 
In a recent survey by Global Graphics, 77 per cent of office workers estimate they lose up to one hour a week because business software is difficult to use.

And what do you do?
Source: Dexo Design, 25 June 2009
 
How do you describe your job role? Here are the results of a recent 'Preferred UX/UI Title' Poll.

Most Doctors cite Usability as critical to Electronic Health Record Adoption
Source: TMCNet, 24 June 2009
 
It's all about 'meaningful use'.

Glossy monitors look good but can hurt
Source: QUT, 23 June 2009
 
A new advisory cites research which suggests high gloss monitors make users sit awkwardly.