Our Reading List & Links
Books
Designing Web Usability
by Jakob Neilson
Great basic handbook on everything that has to do with Usability on the web.
Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
by Steve Krug
Learn about how users think "We don't read pages--we scan them" and "We don't figure out how things work--we muddle through." View proper use of conventions and content layout, and the "before and after" examples are great. Great book to give to business content providers to understand the web.
Institutionalization of Usability: A Step-By-Step Guide
by Eric Schaffer
Shows how to make user-centered design and development a routine practice in an organization.
The User is Always Right
by Steve Mulder with Ziv Yaar
A very practical book on creating and using personas for web design and development.
User and Task Analysis for Interface Design
by JoAnn Hackos and Janice Redish
Excellent book that includes tools, templates and examples of conducting user and task analysis.
Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites
by Louis Rosenfeld
Great book about designing and organizing information on the web.
The Marketing Plan: How to Prepare and Implement It
by William Luther
Classic text from the American Marketing Association on creating marketing plans.
The Art of Possiblity: Transforming Professional and Personal Life
by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander
Excellent collection of practical tools that help shift our perspectives and imagine more creative possibilities.
What's Your Story? Using Stories to Ignite Performance and Be More Successful
by Craig Wortmann
Book that demonstrates how leaders can use stories to effectively communicate and create lasting change in an organization.
The Story Factor
by Annette Simmons
Great book about using the art of stroytelling to inspire, influence and persuade.
The Tipping Point
by Malcolm Gladwell
Excellent book describing how a few people in the right role can make or break your product, service or change initiative.
Blink
by Malcolm Gladwell
His latest book describing how our perceptions are formed in seconds and how we then view the world around us.
Unstuck
by Keith Yamashito and Sandra Spataro
Great resource with practical tools that can help individuals and businesses escape whatever rut they might be in.
The Knowing-Doing Gap: How smart companies turn knowledge into action
by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton
Useful and realistic guide for improving business performance and showing how to bridge the gap between having knowledge and acting on it.
Web Sites
Usability First
http://www.usabilityfirst.com/
Good introduction to what usability is, definitions, good explanations and examples.
Useit.com
http://www.useit.com/
Jakob Nielson's site of usability research, reports, information about web site standards. Use this site to search for research or ideas for interface designs, widgets, standard web behaviors etc.
Web Style Guide
http://www.webstyleguide.com/index.html?/
Good tips for standard design on the web.
Usability.gov
http://www.usability.gov/
Good site of easy to use resources for designing good web sites.
Accessibility Guidelines
http://www.washington.edu/doit/
Good site about designing interfaces and web sites for accessibility.
Human Computer Interactions (HCI)
http://www.ida.liu.se/~miker/hci/guidelines.html
Web site of Guidelines, Style Guides and Standards.
Human Factors International
http://www.humanfactors.com/downloads/10tips.asp
Great site of usability research and tips. Offer Usability Certification courses, very good.