While there is lots of research and analysis time spent on the Web or in libraries, most usability specialists agree that there is nothing like going into peeping Tom mode to really learn how users act and think.

While browsing Boxes and Arrows just now, I rediscovered this 2004 review of the Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner's Guide to User Research

I had almost forgotten it is on my bookshelf. It has become a textbook at some colleges, so I feel safe in recommending it to anyone who is new to usability work.

Labels: methods, tools

Whether you are assessing usability of a site or designing a site, there are always times you get stuck wondering if there is a better way to design a menu, a search form, or almost anything else.

Pattern libraries are often used by development teams to reuse code and to provide consistency across multiple sites or products. Yahoo! even publishes their pattern library so people creating Yahoo! stores and such can make use of their code and designs.

In the pattern library at Welie.com, Interaction Design Pattern Library - Welie.com, you get patterns from a variety of different sources that Martijn van Welie at Phillips Design has collected.

Each pattern is shown as a solution to a problem and there are sections on when, how, and why to use the pattern. There are also additional examples.

Unless a particular pattern is clearly marked as free for you to use, consider all of these simply inspiration.

Labels: interface, tools

Usability guru Jared Spool and Robert Hoekeman, author of Designing the Obvious, announce their new weekly podcast, Userability.

You send in questions Userability: Seriously Seeking UX Questions and they answer them during the podcast.

Labels: Jared Spool, podcast