Discussion Archive

What are some unmet needs of interaction designers (professional and personal)?

Hi-

I'm a graduate student doing some initial research for my thesis project.

As interaction designers, we spend a lot of time thinking about user's unmet needs, but I'm wondering if you could share some stories about your own unment needs in your work process or personal life as a designer? (e.g. pool performance of prototyping tools, etc...)

Thanks a lot!

Liu

Distinguishing between UCD, UX, and usability

A friend and sometimes client told me over lunch this week, "I think
of you as the usability guy." I didn't much care for this, because
I think of usability in terms of activities rather than an identity
to aspire to. It got me thinking about related terms, like "user
experience" (UX), and its cousin, user-centered design (UCD).

What's the right default font size for a website?

Is there any research on font sizes? Yes, you should build your site
so users can change the size, but in reality many who would benefit
from doing so don't know that you can, even if you provide the tools.

You need to start with an appropriate default. What should that
default be?
* Nick Gassman - Usability and Standards Manager - http://ba.com *
* I vote for reply-to to go to the list*

Ability to Adjust Font Sizes on Web Pages

Hi all.

I used to see more sites that would allow a user to click icons on a web page to adjust font size through the stylesheet. Now I'm not seeing that as much...even AARP got rid of it and their audience is generally older, and they would prefer larger font. Is it best to just let a user adjust the size within their browser if needed?

Thanks.

Don