Usability

Resources on Usability

Usability Testing with Steve Krug —Get started making usability fixes to your website or product.
18F Methods —A collection of tools that describe how teams can put human-centered design into practice.
Usability Starter Kit —Here are some tools and templates to help you create better user experiences.
Fueleconomy.gov – Extended Case Study —Like any valid business decision, User Experience work should produce results and demonstrable impact. To see a list of screenshots from …
Government Usability Case Studies —This list of government usability case studies shows how government sites, mobile apps and other products become more effective, more …

Join a Community of Practice

Web Analytics and Optimization —We discuss strategies, methods, and tools related to analytics, A/B testing, search engine optimization (SEO), and other topics to help the …

News and Events on Usability

50 posts

A/B Testing

How To Navigate Challenges to Successfully A/B Test Your Emails

The article will go over some best practices of implementing A/B testing on your emails.

Jenn Wingerberg

May 21, 2021

User Experience

How Testing Your Documents Can Improve Plain Language Compliance

Come work with Dr. Ginny Redish and learn three techniques for quick, easy ways to test documents’ usability.

Ginny Redish

Katherine Spivey

Apr 14, 2021

USPS

Customer Experience & Continuous Improvement: The USPS Digital Approach

This presentation lays out USPS.com’s continuous improvement approach and how it combines analytics and customer feedback with iterative heuristic reviews, design, and usability testing to monitor, improve, and evolve the USPS.com CX.

Jeff Pass

Alexander Turgeon

Matt Petrowski

Nov 12, 2020

Metrics

Zero Pageviews Is Your Goal: Finding Problem Pages with Website Analytics

Improve customer experience by turning your website analytics upside down to track the numbers for pages you DON’T want visitors to see.

David Kaufmann

Oct 27, 2020

381 views

Video

Short Case Study: A/B Testing for Data-Driven Design

See how our Office of Strategic Communication used A/B testing to resolve a difference of opinion within a cross-functional design team.

Kristal Byrd

Jun 23, 2020

Video

An Introduction to the DHA Usability Lab

Overview, Case Studies, and What’s Next

Dr. Julie Kinn

Apr 16, 2019

An introduction to usability testing, why it’s important, and how to talk about things that aren’t required to do a usability test. — via 18F

Dec 10, 2018

170 views

Collaborating for Better Design, Technology, and User Experience

Overview of initiatives across Federal government that focus on IT design, development and accessibility.

John Sullivan

Aug 30, 2018

Video

Civic Service Design Tools + Tactics

Join us for this hour long webinar to receive an introduction on the Civic Service Design Tools + Tactics, a set of practical ways to gather insights from the people who depend on your services in their own environments.

Caroline Bauer

Emily Herrick

Mari Nakano

Jul 26, 2018

Video

Usability Testing with Steve Krug

Join us for a 90 minute demonstration and talk with Steve Krug, where he will share how you can get started making usability fixes, no matter what your full time job is.

Steve Krug

Jun 14, 2018

Redesigning an Intranet Site: Final Stages, Launch, and Lessons Learned

Helpful lessons from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) on the redesign of an intranet.

Karla Blaine

Mar 07, 2018

Finding Usability Testers: Tips from an Army Recruiter

An Army recruiter shares how her training in the Army has helped in her approach to usability testing, and gives a peek inside how usability testing works for USAJOBS.gov at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

Meghan Lazier

Sep 28, 2017

A Conversation With ITIF About the State of Federal Government Websites

Since it’s been nearly six months since their report was released, we wanted to check in with ITIF and see what they’ve learned, what they’ve heard from agencies and what their future plans are to build on this research.

Andrea Sigritz

Sep 20, 2017

New ITIF Report Inspires a Closer Look at Website Performance and Security—Here Is Where to Begin

The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) recently published a report, Benchmarking U.S. Government Websites, that looks at the performance, security, and accessibility of the top 297 government websites. ITIF is a think tank in Washington, D.C. whose mission is to formulate, evaluate, and promote policy solutions that accelerate innovation in technology and public policy.

Digital.gov Team

Mar 24, 2017

U.S. Web Design Standards Releases Version 1.0

The U.S. Web Design Standards are a library of design guidelines and code to help government developers quickly create trustworthy, accessible, and consistent digital government services. Last month, we announced the 1.0 release of the Standards, a milestone that signals the Standards are a stable, trustworthy resource for government designers and developers. By using the

18F Team

Mar 13, 2017

Analytics Success Series: USA.gov

USA.gov’s Analytics Success: using analytics data to inform design and responsivity to create a better experience for the user Last year, the USA.gov team found themselves facing a challenge. We were in need of a new content management system for our websites, USA.gov and Gobierno.USA.gov, which help people find and understand the most frequently requested

David Kaufmann

Oct 17, 2016