Useful Usability at Usability.gov

Usability.gov, a Handy Usability Resource

Did you know there are useful usability tips, templates and user-centered design information available for FREE at a easy-to-use .gov site? The one that stands out in my mind, and there are a few that stand out, is http://www.usability.gov/.

http://www.usability.gov/ is a useful place to find easy and helpful information about usability and user centered design. Intended primarily for Government agencies and contractors, it nevertheless has excellent content for anyone interested in usability.

Usability.gov has an easy and useful information architecture. Major sections walk you though the usability process with a Step by Step usability guide. Sections include; Plan, Analzye, Design and Test & Refine.

Another way to get to specific content is through the Usability Topics sections, which are:

• Usability & Government - A section designed to help Government employees or contractors create or optimize government websites.
• Usability Basics - Provides an overview of usability along with answers to many usability questions.
• Research-based Guidelines - A treasure-trove of almost 300 pages of PDF guidelines on how to design user-friendly web sites including topics on navigation, content, search and plenty more.
• Templates & Examples - Free downloadable templates that can be used to manage just about all aspects of usability, usability testing and user-centered design.
• Usability Methods - A list and definition of various usability and user-centered design methods.

The site also has newsletters, alas the last and only 2008 edition was published in April. There’s an RSS feed, again not used very often at all in the past year or so, and information about meetings and events, which is current.

Advanced usability gurus may not find anything new or different there, but beginner usability practitioners could find it a real help as they begin conducting user-centered design. Even experts should find it refreshing to review the information just to see what’s there and how it’s presented. By the way, for all you who are interested in Search Engine Optimization, you’ll find that the web site itself offers plenty of best practices demonstrated quite well for you too.

Be sure to save http://www.usability.gov/ in your favorites or bookmarks, I’m betting you’ll find it a handy resource to refer to from time to time. Enjoy!