I would like to suggest the No. 1 talent for a good interface designer/user experience specialist will never show up as a checkbox on some online resume site.

The talent has different names, but is most often referred to as the child's eye or the beginners mind. What it means, in essence, is that you have the ability to look at something brand new, the ability to wipe out assumptions, to put yourself inside the mind of your user or Web site visitor.

No disrespect intended, but lots of programmers produce lousy interfaces -- not because of a lack of talent, but because they have too much talent. They know too much about computers, too much about the app and too much about the underlying systems.

Designers also can be too clever by a half when designing pages. Things often for taken granted -- click the logo to return to the home page -- are routinely missed by newbies. Just the other day I was watching someone navigate a site that had a you-are-here convention with linked categories -- and it never occured to her that the categories were clickable. Things would have gone faster if she'd gone back to higher-level category pages instead of back to the search box.

User interface work mixes a lot of disciplines, including writing (clear instruction, clear paths), graphic design (matching function and gaze motion) and programming. But truth be told, a combination of common sense and empathy probably delivers the most.

There are long-settled principles (Tschichold) and long-standing conventions (Tognazzini) to guide you in IA/UX work, and there are a lot of experts to quote (Nielsen, Krug, Garrett). But often, it's the ability to not be an expert, to understand and anticipate the actions of your users, that really moves the needle.

BOTTOM LINE: You can learn a lot by watching users. You can learn even more by analyzing the paths they take and the keywords they use to find you. The goal is to not be driven by opinion, but be driven by data. And your customer will always be your best source of information.