Nielsen on copying website designs

In this interesting article Jakob Nielsen considers whether it's a good idea to copy approaches used by successful websites. Worth a read if you've ever been told by a manager or customer, "I want one of those".

Agile development & usability session in Edinburgh

This month's Scottish Usability Professionals Association session is on integrating user experience design into the agile development methodology.

Prototype sketching

A great how-to and case study article on a protyping technique called sketchboarding.  And an overview of the different purposes and benefits of sketching.

Online feedback tools

A list of tools to use to get feedback on your website. Unfortunately it does't contain an appraisal of each, but it's a good starting point to see what's available.

User centred design - free e-book

A short e-book covering three key attributes of user centred design. If you prefer a narrative storytelling approach to the textbook theory type, this is worth a look.

Homepages - good signposting is critical

Regardless of content, features and design, visitor behaviour on university unit homepages is pretty much the same. They're looking for a link to click and they do it very quickly.

Search & search interface resources index

A tremendous index of articles, presentations and resources relating to website search and the user experience. It kicks off with 7 top tips.

SearchTools.com's index of search and search interface-related resources

Higher Ed digital marketing commentary

Usability company Webcredible posted an article this month full of tips and tricks for university web marketing and how higher education should be getting in on the social web/digital marketing act.

Analytics, site search & understanding user behaviour

A selection of podcasts and interviews in which experts outline the least you should be doing with your webstats. Also, how understanding and acting on search patterns can significantly improve your site. The final podcast includes a fascinating case study.

Diary studies & cultural probes

Diary studies - also known as cultural probes - are usability studies undertaken over longer periods of time and involve the participant self reporting.

I've been considering running a diary study, so did a little research into the advice and case studies available.

Track short URLs with bit.ly & goo.gl

If you share URLs via email, Twitter, newspaper ads or print publications, and you want to know if anyone following up on them, bit.ly is a great way to monitor them. It's free too.

Twitter intro for business

If you don't know what Twitter is, or why people are using it, or how using it could benefit your organisation, this is a good place to start.

Justinmind prototype tool free trial

I've just come across Justinmind, a prototyping tool that at first glance looks similar to Axure. If this doesn't mean much to you, it's a way to prototype with a fairly simple drag-and-drop interface.