The Little Blue Book

"How human beings interact with machines is a complicated topic.  It touches on psychology, ergonomics, human senses and our mental and physical makeup.  This book is my take on how a website or web application should work to give the best for users.  It’s based on the hours I’ve spent testing with them, and the years (it feels like) I’ve spent arguing with managers, other developers and stake holders about whether something is usable.

Some of what’s in here is general and could apply to applications, smartphone apps and so on but mostly it is web-focussed.

The structure is pretty straightforward: I’ve tried to go into advice on when (and when not) to use particular controls to solve particular problems.  There are also HTML and code samples where appropriate.  Human beings are funny things, so depending on how much data is involved, what the data is and what the user can actually do with it we might have to use very different controls.

I see ‘Usability’ as very much a trendy, catch-all for research; ergonomics; psychology; physiology and convention applied to the world around us.  It’s both a Science and an Art: the point where the raw emotion of the designer meets the discipline and functionality of the engineer.

It’s also at that point that human beings sit: between the beautiful and the mathematical.

Ultimately a great UX is hard to foster, there are no guarantees here.  User experience is a feeling and that feeling is based on reality, perception, expectation, utility and beauty.  All we can do is try and influence that.

Ultimately, something will only be usable when it has a good user experience.  I hope this book will help you to enjoy creating great user experiences.

I look forward to seeing your efforts out online!"

Kaylee Elúvian is a senior software developer and Usability specialist at a large, UK based company with over 30,000 employees.  She has years of experience creating and testing multimillion pound user interfaces.