Usable Usability -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- Introduction -- What is "usability"? -- Does it do what I want it to do? And what I expect it to do? -- Why does it matter? -- Who cares? -- Make it useful, too! -- Bogo Vatovec's three-stage usability plan -- You don't need a big budget -- A note about the non-English website examples -- I'm messing with your brain -- Part One: Ease of Use -- Chapter One: Functional -- The three keys to functionality -- From click to conversion: making sure the buttons work -- Browser wars, hardware headaches -- Don't sweat the home page. Fine-tune your forms. -- Four keys to creating functional forms -- Required fields -- Forms and business rules -- Interdependent forms -- Instructions and functionality -- Navigation: Getting folks where they want to go -- My crappy new TV -- Understand your goals and keep them in focus -- A true story about a fairy tale -- Functionality can change over time -- A complaint is a gift -- The Donation that couldn't be made: A tale from the trenches -- Chapter Two -- Chapter Two: Responsive -- The myth of two-way communication -- Three traditional keys to responsiveness -- A fourth view: "Responsive design" -- "Wake up, you stupid machine!" -- FUD: Fear, uncertainty, doubt -- A closer look at transitional techniques -- Transitional techniques and physical objects -- Response mechanisms in the online environment -- Response mechanisms in physical objects -- Oops! I just ordered three Rolls-Royces: A tale from the trenches -- Chapter Three: Ergonomic -- Henry Dreyfuss: Introducing ergonomics to industrial design -- Buttons: Why bigger sometimes is better -- Milliseconds count -- Bring on the scientists -- "First word after the bullet" -- Tabs and other keyboard shortcuts -- Provide clearance -- "Go to the back of the line" -- Improve work organization -- Eric and the IRS.

The "silent usher" -- Flowers that bloom on the screen: A tale from the trenches -- Chapter Four: Convenient -- Giving inconvenience a positive spin -- Eric's advice for the lovelorn -- Multimodal experiences -- Switching routines -- Why I hate calling my bank -- Switching interfaces -- Switching from on- to offline -- Unfamiliar situations highlight convenience -- Personas and other useful tools -- Context is the kingdom -- Make everything people need available -- "Three clicks and you're dead" -- Buying vacuum-cleaner bags sucks: A tale from the trenches -- Chapter Five: Foolproof -- How the RAF can help win your battle -- People forget to do stuff. So help remind them. -- Alerts and other warnings -- The "boy who cried wolf" syndrome -- Forcing the issue -- The dangers of personalization -- The magic of redundancy -- Write helpful error messages -- Helping people make better decisions -- Not everyone can spll -- People don't read instructions -- Don't make people memorize your messages -- Sometimes you do have to state the obvious -- People don't remember things from one time to the next -- Physical deterrents -- Exploding Chicken Alfredo: A tale from the trenches -- Part Two: Elegance and Clarity -- Chapter Six: Visible -- Four ways things become invisible -- The mysterious "fold" -- People do scroll! -- Why we can't pinpoint the fold -- When the fold is important -- When the fold isn't important -- Creating scroll-friendly pages -- Unfriendly scroll-friendly pages -- Scrolling, menu length, and mobile phones -- Don't make important stuff look like an ad -- USATODAY.com and banner blindness -- Blocking out the sum -- Eric's Enlightening Elevator Examination -- Sherlock, Edward, Don, and Ch'i -- The "perks" of business travel: A tale from the trenches -- Chapter Seven: Understandable -- What is "shared reference"? -- A word about words.

Eric's "light bulb" test -- Five keys to creating effective "shared references" -- Creating a comfort zone -- Don't be afraid to tell your story -- Photos and other visual aids -- Icons and other troublemakers -- "As big as a breadbox" -- The sun never sets on the World Wide Web -- Audio and video -- For whom the ringtone tolls: A tale from the trenches -- Chapter Eight: Logical -- Three basic types of logical reasoning -- The magic word-"why" -- Functionality and logic -- Responsiveness and logic -- Ergonomics and logic -- Convenience and logic -- Foolproofing and logic -- Design dissonance -- Use cases -- Linear processes -- Six detours on the road to usable navigation: A tale from the trenches -- Chapter Nine: Consistent -- A caveat -- Seduced by synonyms -- Keeping things homogeneous -- Retroductive inference revisited -- Standardization promotes consistency -- Don't take consistency for granted -- One button, one function -- One icon, one function -- One object, one behavior -- Speed limit signs in Denmark-putting brains into top gear: A Tale from the Trenches -- Chapter Ten: Predictable -- Six ways to enhance predictability -- Knowing what to expect -- Branding, customer satisfaction, and expectations -- Helping set expectations -- Instructions revisited-but never visited -- Telling folks what you expect -- Let folks know how many steps are involved -- Let people know which process they are actually in -- Put things where folks expect to find them -- Warn of invisible conditions -- A short introduction to McDonaldization: a tale from the trenches -- Chapter Eleven: Next steps -- Guerilla-style usability -- Formalized think-aloud tests -- Making usability part of the business case -- Invention or innovation? -- Accidents can never be attributed to a single cause -- Don't draw a conclusion based on an isolated incident -- Bibliography -- Index.