Search usability links and resources

The list of websites and books that follow are resources that were referenced in When Search Meets Web Usability as well as some extra resources.

• Findability
• Website usability
• Searcher behaviors
• Associations

Findability

• Findability.org
  A selective and evolving collection of links to articles, organizations, and other content related to findability.

• Designing for the Scent of Information
  Learn how to not lose your user by incorporating the scent of information into your website.

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and the Scent of Information
  To truly understand web searcher behavior, many search engine optimization professionals should know how searchers locate, discover, and follow the scent of information.

Website usability

• Card sorting resources
  Card sorting allows users to group website content in a way that makes sense to them.
  http://usability.gov/design/cardsort.html
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Card_sorting

• Data gathering and testing techniques
  A handful of usability tests from Eric Schaffer’s Institutionalization of Usability: A Step by Step Guide.

• Jared Spool’s 5-second usability test
  Use the 5-second test to understand what happens during initial moments of the first interaction a user has with your page.
  

Searcher behaviors

• Don't Forget SEO for Navigational Searches
  Don't make the stupid mistake many search engine optimization (SEO) professionals make - not optimizing for searchers' navigational queries.

• Optimizing for Re-finding Search Behavior
  Re-finding search behavior is common in web (text) search, image search, and video search. What is it, and how can you make it easy for web searchers to re-find your site's content?

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Searcher Mental Models
  Do search engine optimization (SEO) professionals architect websites to match searcher mental models? The answer might surprise you.

Associations

• The American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIS)
  Society for information professionals leading the search for new and better theories, techniques, and technologies to improve access to information.

• Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES)
  Founded in 1957, this group promotes the knowledge, discovery, and exchange of knowledge about humans (users), machines, and achieving the compatability in design of interactive systems of people, machines, and their environments.

• Information Architecture Institute (IAI)
  Professional organization dedicated to advancing and promoting information architecture.

• Interaction Design Association (IxDA)
  Volunteer organization focusing on interaction design issues.

• Society for Human Computer Interaction (SIGCHI)
  International society for professionals, academics and students who are interested in human-technology and human-computer interaction (HCI).

• Society for Technical Communication (STC)
  Individual membership organization dedicated to advancing the arts and sciences of technical communication. Members include technical writers and editors, content developers, information architects, usability and human factors professionals, visual designers, Web designers and developers, and translators.

• Usability Professionals Association (UPA)
  Supports usability specialists, people from all aspects of human-centered design, and the broad family of disciplines that create the user experience in promoting the design and development of usable products.

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