Round-up of useful usability resources

Some people collect stamps; I collect URLs of interesting sites, products, etc., some of which are related to usability and accessibility. Here’s the latest batch garnered from Twitter tweets and some technical writing discussion lists I monitor:

• 15 Valuable Usability PDFs You Never Heard Of (W. Craig Tomlin): http://www.usefulusability.com/15-valuable-usability-pdfs-you-never-heard-of/
• 10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines (Dmitry Fadeyev): http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/09/24/10-useful-usability-findings-and-guidelines/
• Usability Testing Demystified (Dana Chisnell): http://www.alistapart.com/articles/usability-testing-demystified/
• 6 Ways to Test Icon Usability (Colette Mason): http://www.thinklikeauser.com/6-ways-to-test-icon-usability/
• AccessColor — online tool for checking color contrast: http://www.accesskeys.org/tools/color-contrast.html
• Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool: http://wave.webaim.org/toolbar and a presentation on how it works: http://webaim.org/presentations/2009/easi/
• What video games can teach us about web usability: http://www.atlanticbt.com/blog/6-things-video-games-can-teach-us-about-web-usability/
• The myth of usability testing (Robert Hoekman Jr.): http://www.alistapart.com/articles/the-myth-of-usability-testing/
• Guide to low-cost usability tools (free ebook from Peter J Meyers): http://www.usereffect.com/topic/guide-to-low-cost-usability-tools
• Massive list of links for anything to do with web accessibility: http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/support/Training/Online/webdesign/accessibility.html

Finally, an EXTENSIVE listing of resources on “Recommended Usability, UCD, UX Links and Tools” here: http://www.paulhibbitts.com/usability-ucd-ux-recommended-links-and-tools.html

[Links last checked November 2009]