Usability goes all the way. It starts right at the database design. Or actually even at the design of the programming language. Most people, working on system that can use a grain of usability, tend to think that usability is only and merely a magical trade of arranging elements on an interface. But, if the database architecture is wrong, the code will be wrong. If the code is wrong, the behaviour is wrong. And if the behaviour is wrong, then no javascript can ever solve the real problem.

- Bèr Kessels

Information architecture. Usability. Accessibility. Web standards. If you don’t know about these things, stop designing websites until you have learned. Competence in graphic design is merely a baseline; it does not qualify you to create user experiences for the web.

- Jeffrey Zeldman

On any given Web page, users will either...

• click something that appears to take them closer to the fulfillment of their goal,
• or click the Back button on their Web browser.

Mark Hurst

Interesting new article by Nick Usborne over on A List Apart explaining how to overcome the reluctance of users to fill in forms by imparting a little more energy into the process.

A great deal of research has been done on shopping cart abandonment. Typically, when a hundred people start buying something online, of those who do not complete the purchase, seventy gave up somewhere while on the shopping cart pages.

Why? Too little energy. Too much friction.

As a formula, it is easy to visualize. In order to maximize the success of your site you need to increase the energy you transfer to your readers, and reduce the friction within the page or pages on which the reader has to do something.

Yahoo! (god I hate that punctuation) have released a collection of user interface controls and core utilities (calendar, tree-view, drag and drop, event access) under a BSD license for the world to enjoy.

If that wasn't enough they've also published the first batch from their design patterns library, under a Creative Commons license, in what they're saying will become a monthly release cycle.

If you're not familiar with design patterns they are a way of describing the optimal solution to a common problem, the best way to design a breadcrumb trail for example. There is more on design patterns over at the IAWiki.

This is interesting move by Yahoo! (yep, still hate it), but one that fits in with the 'community-led' ethos that seems to have become the norm over there with the recent acquisitions of flickr and del.icio.us.

I'm looking forward to spending some time exploring this new resource.

Update: I forgot to mention that there is also a new blog to go along with these releases, the Yahoo! User Interface Blog.