Usability

Anything that isn't usable is pretty useless, so avoid creating websites without considering usability.

Page zoom does not mean the end of flexibility

The fact that most browsers now default to zooming the entire page instead of just changing text size does not take away the need for flexibility in web design.

Posted on June 18, 2009

Do not remove the outline from links and form controls

Do not use CSS to remove the visual outline most browsers put on elements that have keyboard focus, and do not use JavaScript to immediately remove focus.

Posted on May 14, 2009

Don’t forget keyboard navigation

Remember that many people do not use a mouse to interact with the web, so you have to make sure that the sites or applications you build work independent of input device.

Posted on May 13, 2009

Let your links look like links

Don’t make your users waste their time by hiding links. If you can’t stand the look of blue and underlined links, there are other ways of making them obvious. But do not rely on colour alone.

Posted on April 22, 2009

Do not create empty links

Always make sure that any links you create have actual text content, or they will be unusable to some of your visitors.

Posted on April 15, 2009

Accessibility is more than “possible to access”

Making web sites and web applications accessible is more than making them possible to access - it also means making them usable.

Posted on April 9, 2009

Don’t duplicate link text in the title attribute

Repeating a link’s text in its title attribute serves no purpose for the end user. All it does is add noise and increase page size.

Posted on March 31, 2009

IE 8 still does not resize text sized in pixels

Internet Explorer’s text resizing behaviour is different from that of other browsers since IE does not allow the end user to (easily) resize text whose size has been specified in pixels.

Posted on February 23, 2009

Sign the petition to save the Swedish National Guidelines for Public Sector Websites

There is still no official word on what will happen to the Swedish National Guidelines for Public Sector Websites, so Jens Wedin has created a petition to save the guidelines. Please sign it.

Posted on January 13, 2009

Reveal new window links and links to non-HTML files with a user stylesheet

By telling your browser to apply a user stylesheet you can highlight links that open in a new window or point to non-HTML documents, making them less obtrusive.

Posted on December 15, 2008

Swedish National Guidelines for Public Sector Websites in danger?

Verva, the agency responsible for the Swedish National Guidelines for Public Sector Websites, is being closed down, and it is unclear what will happen to the guidelines.

Posted on December 12, 2008

Make Safari open targeted links in new tabs instead of new windows

How to use Terminal.app to tell Safari to open links that normally open in a new window to open in a new tab instead.

Posted on December 4, 2008

Quick Tips for web developers and web designers

By starting a new category of posts that focus on quick and simple tips related to front-end web development I hope to help people avoid making some mistakes that I see repeatedly.

Posted on December 2, 2008

Make HTML messages readable in Apple Mail

Two tips that make HTML email messages easier to read in Apple Mail. One makes Mail prefer Plain Text by default, the other sets the minimum font size used to display HTML email.

Posted on November 27, 2008

Remember to specify a background colour

There is no guarantee that web browsers always use a white background, so if your design needs a white background, remember to specify it in your CSS.

Posted on November 13, 2008

Designing Web Navigation (Book review)

Learn the fundamentals of navigation design and design better navigation systems for large and small sites as well as for web based applications.

Posted on March 19, 2008

Specify a maximum width for em-based layouts

When creating layouts with an em-based width, specify a maximum width to avoid horizontal scrolling for users who increase text size.

Posted on March 3, 2008

Make sure your website works with or without www

Make sure your website is available whether or not the visitor has typed www in front of your domain name.

Posted on February 12, 2008

Does advanced search sound too advanced?

Should advanced search be called something else to sound more friendly and inviting, and would it make more people to use it when they need to?

Posted on November 21, 2007

Common usability problems

A number of too common usability problems encountered on the Web.

Posted on November 5, 2007

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