The Secret to User-Centered Web Sites: Cheap, Easy & Effective Usability Techniques with Erica Reynolds

Technology, Social Networking Web Conference Tuesday, October 21, 2008 1:00 pm ET One Hour Member: $75.00 Non-Member: $95.00 Tech Tuesdays: Talking with Techies Series Effective usability studies start before you ever write a line of code or design a single graphic. By using a variety of card sorting techniques and paper prototypes you can save tons of time, money, and stress. Discover the super-secret advantages for creating useful and usable Web sites and engaged staff and users by doing iterative testing. Take away tips to save you time and apply the results of your tests. Who Should Participate: Anyone involved in Web site or intranet design, content or development--no programming knowledge required. The Key Benefits For Participants: Web teams want to create designs that work but often get bogged down in endless debates about what works. In this session, pick up easy usability techniques that any library can do whether you have a Web team or you're just a solo Webmaster. Discover how to develop user-friendly Web sites and intranet. Find out the super-secret advantages of patron and staff testing (it's not just about a better Web site). Take away concrete ideas of how to do your first set of tests and interpret the results. Key Topics to be Explored: Quick card sorting techniques and lessons learned Paper prototyping techniques and lessons learned Usability studies for public Web sites and library intranets Interpreting and reporting your results Erica Reynolds With experience in public, special, and academic libraries, Erica Reynolds currently serves as the Web Content Manager for Johnson County Library in the suburban Kansas City area. The Johnson County Library was one of the first public libraries to build and staff a Web Content Team—a team of seven information professionals with the sole responsibility of developing locally-relevant Web content for the library and community partnership sites. Erica has over ten years of experience in Web development and is regularly invited to present on topics such as Web content, usability, on-line programming, community partnerships, and grant writing. Developed for the Education Institute by Darlene Fichter’s Northern Lights Internet Solutions, Inc. in Saskatchewan.