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Column: Good Questions

UXmatters has published 18 editions of the column Good Questions.

Top 3 Trending Good Questions Columns

  1. Readability Formulas: 7 Reasons to Avoid Them and What to Do Instead

    Good Questions

    Asking and answering users' questions

    July 29, 2019

    If you’ve ever had your computer give you a readability score or a grade level for something you’ve written, you’ve run a readability formula. Readability formulas are easy to use and give you a number. This combination makes them seductive. But a number isn’t useful if it isn’t reliable, valid, or helpful.

    In this article, we’ll explain how readability formulas work and give you seven reasons why you shouldn’t use them. We’ll also show you better ways to learn whether the people you want to reach can find, understand, and use your content. Read More

  2. 7 Basic Best Practices for Buttons

    Good Questions

    Asking and answering users' questions

    A column by Caroline Jarrett
    May 7, 2012

    Here are my basic best practices for buttons:

    1. Make buttons look like buttons.
    2. Put buttons where users can find them.
    3. Make the most important button look like it’s the most important one.
    4. Put buttons in a sensible order.
    5. Label buttons with what they do.
    6. If users don’t want to do something, don’t have a button for it.
    7. Make it harder to find destructive buttons.

    Nothing particularly revolutionary there, right? Ever since the <button> tag arrived in HTML4, buttons haven’t been especially difficult to create. Despite this, it’s rather easy to find buttons that don’t comply with these basic best practices, so I’m going to dig into them a little deeper in this column. Read More

  3. How to Test the Usability of Documents

    Good Questions

    Asking and answering users' questions

    May 4, 2020

    Does usability testing work for documents? Our answer is a resounding yes.

    In this column, we’ll give you three techniques for having people try out documents or any other stand-alone content. These techniques apply whether your document is on paper or online—for example, as a Web page or a PDF. They apply for both in-person and remote usability testing—especially with moderated remote testing.

    What Is a Document?

    We’re talking about functional documents that provide information to people—not fiction or poetry. Functional documents include informative banners—such as the ones on many Web sites about how an organization is dealing with COVID-19—legal documents, manuals, notices, official letters, press releases, privacy policies, terms and conditions, and more. Read More

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