We have a special treat in this issue. John Brooke has written an essay about the history and current status of the System Usability Scale (SUS), a usability questionnaire that has become very popular with user experience professionals for the measurement of perceived usability. John relates why he created the scale more than 25 years ago and how he and his colleagues, at what was the Digital Equipment Corporation, developed it and then made it available to the user experience community. It promises to remain an important part of our toolkit for the foreseeable future.
Our peer-reviewed article, by Alison Doubleday, makes a clear and compelling case for iterative card sorting. Card sorting has often been used to integrate users’ input into the information architecture of a website. In this case study, the design of a new website was informed by the data from an open card sort. Then, one year later, the site was redesigned with data from a semi-closed card sort, demonstrating the value of the method in later stages of product development.
