Responsive design is a content management issue

Responsive design - a single design that changes to suit the size of the screen - is an increasingly adopted approach. Karen McGrane explains why this is a content issue first and foremost, and shares a few anecdotes.

Content planning for responsive websites

A presentation by meetcontent.com's Georgy Cohen looking at the challenges to content being presented by the trend towards responsive website designs. Includes lots of examples of responsive designs around US universities.

Mobile in Higher Ed survey results 2013

We all know use of mobile touchscreen devices is on the rise, but little is written specifically about the university sector. Karine Joly has repeated her annual survey of US Higher Ed web managers to provide a summary of analytics data and colleges' approach to accommodating these visitors.

Omni channel experience management

UX consultants Webcredible released a report last year analysing the performance of ten UK high street retailers against what it calls 'omni channel' experience criteria. Many companies have strategies for particular communications and commerce channels - online, mobile, in-store etc. Webcredible class omni-channel as the customer experience across channels.

Responsive design strategy

Jared Spool has written a really nice article pulling together the key considerations when devising a strategy to achieve a responsive design - a site layout and content structure approach that adapts according to the device your website visitor is using.

Mobile needs content strategy

Just received my copy of Karen McGrane's new book: Content Strategy for Mobile. Only it's not really about mobile as such. But as she says - "holistic enterprise content strategy" doesn't have quite the same ring.

CMS design needs content strategy

I've pulled together some excellent materials that identify the challenges around thinking back from the user interacting with the organisation online, through the content, and back to the root - the content management system and the people who use it.

Google cross-platform research findings

A new study conducted by Google and research partners reveals how we conduct online tasks across platforms, beginning on one device but completing on another.

iPad user trends survey

An interesting summary of a survey of iPad users conducted by YouGov. Tablets, perhaps unsurprisingly are identified as leisure devices and not particularly mobile.

Mobile user experience briefing

I went along to another of User Vision's excellent breakfast briefings today; the topic was mobile UX.

Content strategist talks responsive design in higher ed

Sara Wachter-Boettcher in conversation on the College Web Editor website, talking about topics her forthcoming book Content Everywhere, and the challenges facing the HE community.

Nielsen mobile recommendations provoke design community rage

Usability expert Jakob Nielsen recently wrote an article summarising his recommendations for mobile website, which prompted quite a degree of anger in the design community. So much so that he responded to some of the feedback via an interview in .net magazine.

Why mobile matters

There's an awful lot of talk about what we need to be doing with regards to mobile. This is a great article - thoughtful, informed by data and best of all, holistic in its outlook.

Mobile website strategy

There's more to a mobile site than simply reformatting your existing website to suit a small screen. Jakob Nielsen and Gerry McGovern explain why.

Website usability for mobile users

Jakob Nielsen has done a couple of studies in recent years that reveal a lot about user behaviour on websites when using mobile devices. Some companies are very aware of these differences and develop strategies accordingly.

US HE mobile websites - technical review

An interesting overview of who is doing what in the US university sector with websites developed specifically for mobile devices.

Readability & comprehension of webpages - mobile implications

Jakob Nielsen talks through the difference between readability and comprehension of online content and introduces the Cloze Test - a really easy way to score how easy your content is to understand. He relates this to a study of mobile user behaviour.

Screenreader usage survey

A survey of over 1000 European screenreader users in December 2010 by Web AIM.

Students & smart phones session in Edinburgh

This month's Scottish Usability Professionals Association session is "Student attitudes towards mobile library services for Smartphones" on Tuesday 15 March in Edinburgh.

Xbox Kinect interface usability

Nothing to do with university website management, but an interesting article nonetheless. Jakob Nielsen's appraisal reminds us of the underlying usability principles that apply to all interfaces. Plus you may have bought one this Christmas.