Userfocus Usability Newsletter, January 2009

Happy new year and welcome to 2009's first edition of the Userfocus usability newsletter.

• Message from the Editor
• Feature Article: New standards in usability
• Ebook update: ISO 9241 for Beginners
• Upcoming training courses

Message from the Editor

As the recession deepens, one way to protect your career in 2009 is to remind your organisation about the importance of usability. So this month we have an article that provides an update to the ISO 9241 standard, the most important international standard in our field. If you find that usability is being marginalised in your organisation, pointing to an international standard can often reverse that trend. This is because standards are serious business and whereas many organisations pay little regard to research findings, few organisations can afford to ignore standards.

Another way to improve your knowledge of usability is to attend one of our training courses. In 2009, we have courses planned on web usability, expert reviews, web surveys, GUI usability, usability testing, contextual inquiry and Intranet usability. I hope to see you on one of them.

Have a successful 2009.

Feature Article: New standards in usability

2008 saw the release of several international usability standards, many within the influential ISO 9241 series. Two of these standards focus on accessibility and another provides guidelines for usable web sites. This article explains why usability standards are important and summarises the 13 new parts of ISO 9241. Read the article in full: New standards in usability

ISO 9241 for Beginners — Major update

We have updated "ISO 9241 for Beginners" with details of the new parts of the standard. As with all our eBooks, this is a free update for previous purchasers. If you bought this in the past, you should have already received the download link in an email. Read the article in full: ISO 9241 for Beginners.

Usability Training: Now Booking

2009 Training Schedule

Web Usability Training, January 27-28 2009, London

For web designers who want hands-on experience with usability tools and techniques, "Web Usability" is a 2-day immersion seminar that shows delegates how to boost sales and conversion rates, increase usage and improve customer satisfaction. Unlike shorter introductory courses, this in-depth workshop covers the entire design and development lifecycle. More information about this training course: Web Usability training.

How to carry out a usability expert review, February 17 2009, London

For people in design teams who need to spot usability problems in prototypes and finished products, "How to carry out a usability expert review" is a 1-day seminar that teaches delegates cost-effective methods to evaluate designs. Unlike courses in usability testing, this seminar teaches delegates how to find and fix usability problems without involving end users. More information about this training course: Expert review training.

How to design and implement web surveys, March 10 2009, London

For user experience researchers who create web-based questionnaires, "How to design and implement web surveys" is a 1-day seminar that shows delegates how to create and analyse valid and reliable web surveys. Unlike standard courses on questionnaire design, this seminar shows delegates how to avoid the specific bloopers, biasses and pitfalls that bedevil most web surveys. More information about this training course: Web survey training.

Hungry for more?

Read previous newsletters.