Web Usability Handbook, 2/e

Description

Since the first edition of the Web Site Usability Handbook was published in 2000 there have been numerous changes in the technology world. After the Dot-Com bubble burst, corporate training and education budgets were cut severely and investment in new technology businesses slowed down. But today things have turned around again and behind the scenes at technology companies, usability specialists are still quietly working to make the electronic world easier to manage. This second edition provides the new insights and guidance needed to help make usability an effective and enjoyable journey.

Every word from the first edition of this book has been revised, or at least heavily reconsidered; and in many cases, whole sections have been removed or rewritten entirely, while other sections are completely new to this edition. The casual and conversational tone of the first edition has also changed because the current wave of usability specialists embodies a much higher degree of training and knowledge of basic science.

The goals of the book, however, have not changed: to train those concerned with usability how to understand it as one piece of the large technology puzzle that is affecting and shaping the human and natural worlds. Usability is an art and a science, but it is also an obligation we have to society. Accessibility and usability form the foundation of human-enabling technology; that is, technology that serves us, rather than technology that we serve.

Everything from understanding the human factors of design and how to generate user-centered designs to accessibility, usability metrics, heuristic evaluation, and testing are detailed. Whether you are a usability professional seeking methods for transforming data into change or a web designer seeking guidance for making your sites easier to navigate, you’ll find information and practical tools you can apply to your own sites today.

自2000年第一版《網站可用性手冊》出版以來，科技界已經發生了許多變化。在互聯網泡沫破裂後，企業的培訓和教育預算大幅削減，對新技術企業的投資也放緩了。但是今天情況再次好轉，在科技公司的幕後，可用性專家仍然在默默地努力，使電子世界更易於管理。這本第二版提供了新的見解和指導，以幫助使可用性成為一個有效且愉快的旅程。

這本書的第一版的每一個詞都經過了修訂，或者至少經過了深思熟慮；在許多情況下，整個章節被刪除或完全重寫，而其他章節則是本版的全新內容。第一版的隨意和對話式的語氣也發生了變化，因為當前的可用性專家具有更高程度的培訓和基礎科學知識。

然而，這本書的目標並未改變：培訓那些關心可用性的人如何將其理解為影響和塑造人類和自然世界的大型技術拼圖的一部分。可用性既是一門藝術，也是一門科學，但它也是我們對社會的一種義務。可訪問性和可用性構成了人類使能技術的基礎；也就是說，服務於我們的技術，而不是我們服務於技術。

本書詳細介紹了從理解設計的人因素和生成以用戶為中心的設計，到可訪問性、可用性指標、啟發式評估和測試等方面的內容。無論您是一位尋求將數據轉化為變革的可用性專業人士，還是一位尋求指導使您的網站更易於導航的網頁設計師，您都可以在本書中找到可以應用於自己網站的信息和實用工具。