Latest Research in Web Site Usability Friday, full day session Jared M. Spool, Latest Research in Web Site Usability If bridges were built the same way web sites are built, we'd build the entire bridge, send a car across it, watch it inevitably plunge into the depths, and declare that the bridge needs revision. Fortunately, bridges aren't built that way. Thousands of years of bridge engineering has given us fundamentals that allow us to buildquality bridges almost every time. The web needs the same fundamentals. And research groups, all over the world, are working to provide those fundamentals. One such group, User Interface Engineering, is a leading producer of breakthrough web site research. They have focused their work on understanding just what it takes to make web sites more usable. In this full-day workshop, Jared will review some of the recent breakthroughs that have occurred in the area of web site usability. You will learn: Why the 'scent' of information is one of the most fundamental concepts in web design How many users are *really* enough for usability testing (and new strategies for dealing with large numbers). Why download time isn't the big culprit we all thought it was and why users who complain about it are actually telling you something completely different Why the best sites prevent their users from using the site's Search facility The seven types of navigation pages and how each one functions What makes an interface 'intuitive' and how you design for it If you've ever seen Jared speak about usability, you know that he's probably the most effective, knowledgeable communicator on the subject today. What you probably don't know is that he has guided the research agenda and built User Interface Engineering into the largest research organization of its kind in the world. He's been working in the field of usability and design since 1978, before the term "usability" wasever associated with computers. View the Preconference Schedule

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