Making forms easier, and how to improve usability
University of Strathclyde Web Transformation Project
The University of Strathclyde is currently building a new website. This blog shares their experience. They are taking an interesting approach, so it will be worth keeping an eye on it to see how it progresses.
So rather than asking an agency to go away and refresh our site, we are running the project with a team into which the agency is embedded. This collaborative team will draw in expertise from across the university as we build the site from the ground up.
Taking our lead from the award winning gov.uk site, we have adopted an Agile project management approach and are building incrementally – using sprints – and will run a beta site which will grow and develop over months ahead.
The beta version of their new website is publicly available to visit.
Form design quick fix: group form elements effectively using white space
Some tips on how to make forms easier for users to understand.
A CRAP way to improve usability
There are at least four key principles of visual design that have an important impact on usability. These four principles — contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity — were originally given the engaging acronym CRAP by Robin Williams (the visual designer, not the comedian). You can exploit these four principles to make user interfaces both more attractive and easier to use.