Online course ‘User Experience for the Web’ – introduction

Here is the start of several posts where I write down some notes from the free online courseUser Experience for the Web‘ (WebUX) provided by the @Open2Study platform.

This first post is short and gives elements of the course introduction.

Global summary – What will I learn?

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Notes about the online course ‘Intro to the design of everyday things’

I’ve attended to the free online course Intro to the Design of Everyday Things on the @udacity platform. Here are some notes:

Lesson 1: Affordance and signifier

Affordance: the relationship between an object and a person. It enables an interaction between the person and the object.

 

Definition of affordance

Signifiers are communication devices. They tell people what to do and where to do it.

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Weekly digital resources #30: HTML, CSS and UX

This week I provide only four links, however your appetite to learn should be fully satiated… At least for the quality of the content, and also for the quantity of knowledge. And more important, for all opportunities it gives: think about personal projects, career move or improvement, …

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Weekly digital resources #29: User Experience, HTML templates, WordPress

‘Motley’ is the perfect adjective to qualify this weekly bunch of digital resources.

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How to write documentation that matters for your audience

man stay focused

Image source:
http://blog.invoiceberry.com/2012/07/how-to-stay-focused/

1) Write short, very short content

Even the shortest as possible, provided that it still delivers exact information. Indeed, users browse documentation when they look for solution or help. So, they are in a hurry to find it, and conversely they do not have time for reading, especially not for fun.

2) Provide screenshots, infographics, diagrams

or even mockups. There are plenty of studies showing that images retain attention and are far better memorized than plain text.

3) Make all its content searchable and provide a searchbar

Users barely read chapters or sections titles, but they first want to search for specific terms. So, make their search more convenient with a search function flexible and powerful enough to work with a large kind of queries.

4) Get some statistics

about which are the most read topics (of your documentation). Then, highlight them with a direct link on the homepage or other means of featuring. Users will thank you to make them earning time.

5) Invite users to send you feedback, question or comment

This is the most important, and you can do it by this simple way: on all pages, display a one-click button (or image, or link) that opens a form, where users enter address email and feedback. Only these two fields, this is quick and easy.

Weekly digital resources #22: cognition, Design Thinking, quiz builders

Although I give the name ‘DigiTools‘ to this blog, there are some periods where my posts barely provide “tools“. By “tools”, I mean primarily “software”, “application” or “web service”, like I share with the DigiTools community on Google+. Indeed, I think that “digital resources” are also related to web trends, eLearning, usability, content management, user experience, psychology.

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Weekly digital resources #17: UX, WordPress, Facebook Feed

This weekly bunch of digital resources is quite eclectic. The awesome hongkiat.com website provides four UX methods to enhance Persuasive Design, and 12 free, beautiful and usable WordPress themes, which is still useful for many of us.

Back to some web programming with a nice tutorial on how to create a ‘hidden’ or ‘hamburger’ menu with only HTML and CSS, I mean without any Javascript.

And for more analysis and reading, I share blog posts about Social Media and EdTech. First, slate.com gives some clues regarding how the Facebook Feed is implemented and, more important, who are its stakeholders. Second, @Rachelle Dene Poth writes about some tips and tools she uses to get connected with her students in a fluent way.

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Weekly digital resources #9: HTML, CSS, Javascript, eLearning

This week brings more digital resources than usual, in particular thanks to the awesome MOOC Learn HTML5 from W3C provided by edX.

Aside these resources for web development, you find links for various digital resources about eLearning, accessibility, Dropbox, search on Google.

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