Streamline Training & Documentation: Usability Professionals' Association

Monday, July 09, 2007

Usability Professionals' Association

The Usability Professionals' Association's (UPA) website is of interest both for the wealth of resources it provides access to and as an example of usability principles in action.

As you would expect, the organization of the material included on the site, or linked to from the site's pages, is clear from screen layout.

The main sections of the site are listed on navigation tabs arranged horizontally below the home page header.

The rest of the home page is devoted to a brief explanation of UPA's purpose, a prominent search box, news, a list of most-visited links, membership links, a link to a SurveyMonkey feedback page, links to UPA publications, a link to information on the value of usability, several links aimed at helping organizations access the services of usability professionals, and links to UPA's sponsors.

Once you click on a particular navigation tab — say, "About UPA" — you are taken to the appropriate overview page, where you find that navigation to subsections is handled by a vertical menu on the left, below the search box.

Links are used judiciously. For instance, since the meaning of "usability" is of central importance, a link to the "What is usability?" page is one of just three links included in the main portion of the page giving an overview of UPA.

You are never surprised by finding a link opening in a new window rather than overwriting the window you are already in.

Browsing the UPA site is well worth the time required to become familiar with the types of information they have assembled. I'd particularly commend attention to the ROI tools.

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Labels: Usability

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