Web+Design+&+Usability+Guidelines

Your guide for developing usable & useful websites from Usability.gov []  =Guidelines = Throughout your Web design or redesign project, you should take advantage of what is already known about best practices for each step of the process. The Research-Based Web Design and Usability Guidelines, compiled through an extensive process of research and review, bring you those best practices.

Topics
The guidelines cover:
 * [|design process and evaluation (PDF - 1.9MB)]
 * [|optimizing the user experience (PDF - 9.1MB)]
 * [|accessibility (PDF - 2.4MB)]
 * [|hardware and software (PDF - 2.8MB)]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: auto;">[|the homepage (PDF - 12.1MB)]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #000000; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; none text-align: left; vertical-align: auto; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: auto;">[|page layout (PDF - 21.9MB)]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #000000; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; none text-align: left; vertical-align: auto; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: auto;">[|navigation (PDF - 13.1MB)]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #000000; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; none text-align: left; vertical-align: auto; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: auto;">[|scrolling and paging (PDF - 4.5MB)]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #000000; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; none text-align: left; vertical-align: auto; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: auto;">[|headings, titles, and labels (PDF - 7.8MB)]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #000000; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; none text-align: left; vertical-align: auto; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: auto;">[|links (PDF - 17.1MB)]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #000000; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; none text-align: left; vertical-align: auto; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: auto;">[|text appearance (PDF - 11.2MB)]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #000000; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; none text-align: left; vertical-align: auto; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: auto;">[|lists (PDF - 6.6MB)]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #000000; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; none text-align: left; vertical-align: auto; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: auto;">[|screen-based controls (widgets) (PDF - 15.1MB)]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #000000; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; none text-align: left; vertical-align: auto; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: auto;">[|graphics, images, and multimedia (PDF - 16.8MB)]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #000000; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; none text-align: left; vertical-align: auto; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: auto;">[|writing Web content (PDF - 11.0MB)]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #000000; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; none text-align: left; vertical-align: auto; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: auto;">[|content organization (PDF - 10.1MB)]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #000000; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; none text-align: left; vertical-align: auto; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: auto;">[|search (PDF - 9.1MB)]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: #000000; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; none text-align: left; vertical-align: auto; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: auto;">[|usability testing (PDF - 1MB)]

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Usability Guidelines Book
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: auto;">[|The Research-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines] (PDF, 20.64MB ) includes all the guidelines, the Background and Methodology, the Glossary, Appendices, Sources, and the Author Index. We have included the document for your convenience but we are in the process of presenting the guidelines in a searchable database.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Limitations
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">The Guidelines may not be applicable to all audiences or contexts and are not fixed rules. Although considerable effort has been made to base the guidelines on research from a variety of fields, including cognitive psychology, computer science, human factors, technical communication, and usability; other disciplines may have valuable research that is not reflected in these guidelines.