(Comments added for week ending Sun 01 Sep 2002) | View Other Weeks
| last updated:09 Sep 2002 06: 28 Webword time, or 09 Sep 2002 11:28 UK time |
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| Webword Statistics - Recent Comments (Comments added for week ending Sun 01 Sep 2002) | View Other Weeks |
| WebWord Comment | Sun 01 Sep |
| This morning I was in Virginia Beach with my wife for the Rock N Roll Half Marathon. I finished 3,879th out of 10,982 finishers. It took me two hours, nine minutes, and thirty-eight seconds (2:09:38) to run the race. Im now back in little old Owego NY recuperating; it took about nine hours to get home. It is good to be back. |
| Sun 01 Sep 23:02 | John S. Rhodes | So, my posting has nothing to do with usability. Sorry 'bout that. Sometimes it is nice to let people know that a real person, or real people, are here at WebWord. I think it is nice to add some humanity once in a while; a touch of personality. One of the most interesting things that happened was that three people behind me in the race were also originally from Owego (they were together). The went to Owego Free Academy (OFA) and grew up there. In fact, two out of the three people still live in Owego. Wow, small world. I've been thinking about the 'small world' phenomenon all day. Obviously the world has not shrunk yet at the same time, our technology, particularly our communication and transporation technology, have made it possible to meet people we know in distant locations. I think that is the most obvious part of the 'small world' phenomenon. The more interesting part deals with the mathematics. It is mathematically puzzling that I would see people I know from Owego. It is just a little town in upstate New York. For example, less than 200 people graduate from OFA per year. I guess I am impressed by the 'magic' of coincidences. Then again, I shouldn't be that impressed. Why? Here is something I often think about: 'How many people must be in a room for the odds to be better than even that one of them shares your birthday? The answer is 253. Now change the question to how many people must there be for the odds to be better than even that at least two of them share the same birthday? The answer is surprisingly low: 23.' - Birthday Attack Life is much more regular and predictable than most people realize. Coincidences are just that: Things that happen at the same time. Not that rare, actually. Still, the situations are interesting and fun. Our minds are social, not mathematical. It is easier to feel like something magical happened versus mentally calculating that the liklihood of the situation is feasible. That's all for now. Usability news will kick in again tomorrow. |
| Sun 01 Sep 23:15 | Jack Schonchin | I'm confused. It took you 2 hours and 9 minutes to run a 13.1 mile marathon. That's 0.10 miles per minute. Then it took you 9 hours to travel from Virginia Beach, Virginia to Owego, New York. Assuming you planned your running route online through one of the many map services using GDT, Inc's map data, (such as maps.yahoo.com), you likely had 545 miles to run. That's about 1 mile per minute! You must be in fantastic shape, John. I don't mean to cast dispersions on your physical ability. I genuinely believe you ran home. I believe you have six-pack abs and buns of steal. My problem is that some dummy is going to claim you flew home on a plane. Well, that's 370 miles as the crow flies. That would mean 0.69 miles per minute. We know John ran 0.11 miles per minute in the marathon. Do you expect me to believe a jet only flies 0.69 miles per minute? Yeah, right. I bet even the crow flies faster. |
| Promote Usability by Saying Thank You | Fri 30 Aug |
| (upassoc.org) we have not teamed with our natural allies and that we have been too inwardly focused within our field. (Mac comments: Who would you say thank you to?) |
| Fri 30 Aug 11:31 | Jack Schonchin | 'Use a credit card to pay just $15 to cover materials and shipping.' I give thanks to Aldus for creating Pagemaker and to Adobe for creating Photoshop, tools that allow me to create my own certificates of appreciation. I give thanks to Staples, Inc. because it provides me a store where I can buy high-quality official-looking blank certificates that I can use out-of-the-box, or modify to appear even more impressive. I give thanks to Microsoft Corporation for creating Microsoft Word, which allows me to write a memo of thanks to whomever I please. I give thanks to my mother for not being addicted to alcohol, cigarettes or crack during her pregnancy so that I have a fully functional shoulder blade, arm and hand that I can use to personally thank people with a handshake. |
| Fri 30 Aug 12:57 | JB | I applaud the initiative to try and do something different, but if I got one of these I would be scratching my head and thinking why? Take me out to lunch if you want to say thanks...damn...you charge enough :) |
| Fri 30 Aug 13:27 | John S. Rhodes | Certificate of Abuse I showed this to some developers. They made fun of usability and the friends of usability. Next time I'll just mumble something about Flash or Uncle Jakob and walk away. |
| Fri 30 Aug 13:44 | Jack Schonchin | The problem is that a certificate is only as prestigious as the person or organization that gives it to you. If you're giving an award to curry favor with someone more powerful than you, I think you're embarrassing yourself. |
| Fri 30 Aug 13:56 | Mac | Thanks John, now I can't get 'Friends Of Dorothy' out of my brain. |
| Fri 30 Aug 14:08 | Ron Zeno | Bravo Jack! I'm finding it very difficult to determine why anyone at UPA would think this is a good idea. Some of it reads like bad satire. However, I did notice an annoying amount of self-promotion for UPA and one of its members! |
| Sat 31 Aug 13:00 | Daniel | How about resources on how to better 'sell' usability into corporations? Perhaps there are already pointers provided by UPA on this. |
| Sat 31 Aug 21:27 | Jack Schonchin | Back to Mac's question. I guess I would have to thank Filbert for being the first person to give a name to this thing called 'web usability.' (Not that he coined the term, just that he was the first person I came across online.) Do you think Filbert would put my UPA certificate on his wall? |
| Sun 01 Sep 01:30 | Daniel | Who is Filbert? |
| Sun 01 Sep 08:55 | Jack Schonchin | A few weeks ago some of us decided not to mention Filbert by his real name, or link to the articles he posts on his web site every other week because we felt his articles have been increasingly less useful in teaching usability issues, and more aimed at selling his company's research reports. e.g., the good thing that spurred his rise to power now longer exists. He is less King Richard and more Prince John. We long for a Robin Hood to take up our fight. We do not wish to do anything further to promote this person as a usability guru. |
| Sun 01 Sep 11:11 | Daniel | Jack. Gotcha :) *small giggle* |
| Sun 01 Sep 22:34 | John S. Rhodes | Jack, well put! |
| WebWord Comment | Fri 30 Aug |
| I just wanted everyone to know that I have repeatedly tried to get in touch with someone from eBay. However, I have been entirely unsuccessful in my efforts. I have submitted at least three emails and I have called both eBay and Half.com several times. The emails have done me absolutely no good. They have gone into the void, lost forever. In my first phone call the customer service representative insisted on sending me to eBays contact page, which is just a form. I did not get a response from eBay using this form. In another call to Half.com, the customer service representative refused to put me in touch with an account executive (e.g., sales guy) despite the fact that I stated I was interested in potentially listing hundreds of thousands of dollars of captial goods on eBay. (Im not kidding.) Instead, after waiting for several minutes on hold, she asked for my name, phone number, and company. I supplied that information to her and my email address too. She then told me that someone would be in touch with me later that day. That was Wednesday, today is Friday. No response yet, and I dont expect one. In my mind it is insane that it is so hard to reach people within eBay. It took me about an hour just to find real eBay phone numbers. I have found that it is impossible to find direct phone numbers and email addresses on the eBay web site. The only real contact page for eBay that I can find is here. Isnt it funny that a company that rules the online world forces users to contact them using postal mail? In summary, getting in touch with eBay is impossible. That is sad because I have a real business problem that I thought eBay could help me solve. |
| Fri 30 Aug 16:01 | Jack Schonchin | Your KORN CD collection doesn't count as capital goods, John. Anyhow... that's one thing I stress in my job, swift response to e-mail. In this sad world it's an easy way to impress people. Hey, you know what, I think I'll make low bids on weird things just so that when snoopy people look up my bidding history, their brains will melt. |
| Fri 30 Aug 16:19 | John S. Rhodes | Sometimes people share the same user id. That brings up several usability problems. For example, Amazon is always trying to get me to buy books from Nora Roberts. I don't read romance novels so Amazon's recommendations are dead wrong. In fact, I am sick of getting these recommendations and alerts by email, and I am sick of seeing recommendations on the Amazon web site. With eBay, the same problem surfaces. When Jack goes sifting through my bid history, he finds things that I don't care about even though my user id seems to reflect that I do care about things. For what it is worth, I did a quick netcheck but couldn't find anything useful about how single user ids are used by multiple people. |
| Fri 30 Aug 17:45 | Jack Schonchin | Ahhh, two separate issues. When I (used to) visit Amazon, I would see all my wife's recommendations because she had logged in last. That's a cookie problem, because I do have my own separate login ID. If you snooped at my activity on Ebay, you would see only my purchases, because my wife maintains her own login ID. We also maintain separate e-mail accounts. I suggest using a login ID other than your e-mail address, because it's natural for people to assume your e-mail address represents you. It can cause quite a bit of trouble if it doesn't. |
| Fri 30 Aug 23:43 | Jack Schonchin | I have a real business problem that I thought eBay could help me solve. Big companies are typically interested in your business only if you're a multi-million dollar account, or they can handle your transaction with minimum fuss. I'm guessing your need for human interaction exceeds their fuss level... sort of like how my bank wants to charge me a fee if I want to go inside the bank to talk to someone. 'Use the automated ATM and don't cause a fuss.' |
| Sat 31 Aug 13:16 | Daniel | Would be interesting to know other example companies that do their best to hide their customer support and email contact information. Someone once said to me 'a web site should be, at a minimum, as useful as a business card, with easy access to the company contact information' So the question is why do companies insist on hiding this information? IMHO emails should be answered as quickly as you would a phone call or a phone message. |
| Sat 31 Aug 13:43 | Matt Round | They hide the contact details because they don't want to be contacted; they just don't have staff to deal with enquiries. Some probably genuinely believe their sites are so wonderful noone will ever need to contact them anyway. |
| Sat 31 Aug 13:50 | Daniel | Indeed. Think www.yahoo.com may be another site that hides the contact details beautifully. Its just so frustrating given the web is 'meant' to be a 'channel' to your customers. |
| I quit, you stinkin' pile of rubbish! | Wed 28 Aug |
| Scott Adams summarizes the life of a corporate web designer in three frames. (Jack requests: Share links to your favorite comic strips that define your professional existence.) |
| Wed 28 Aug 14:42 | John S. Rhodes | Three of my favorites... |
| Wed 28 Aug 15:46 | Jack Schonchin | 1) 'Penny Arcade' takes on Macromedia Site of the Day 2) 'Broken by Design' looks at documentation lifecycle 3) Classic 'Broken by Design' strip about Flash usage (monkeys!) 4) Not a comic, but an interesting diagram about interaction |
| Wed 28 Aug 15:52 | Ron Zeno | I don't have any that 'define your professional existence', but I'm always able to find a few Dilbert comics not completely unrelated to usability. The week of August 12th is noteable and still online: http://www.cafeshops.com/cp/sotd.aspx?storeid=dilbert&date=08/12/2002 Note: The Dilbert store has a 90 day archive while the archive only goes back 30 days! |
| Thu 29 Aug 03:09 | Daniel | Have to agree Jack ... Its Gary Larson for me everytime - http://www.thefarside.com/ Are their special tags to make a link to a web site? |
| Thu 29 Aug 03:10 | Daniel | I mean John ... *whoops* |
| Thu 29 Aug 03:20 | Mac | No, Im not going to work on that ! The Future ? Engineering Final Exam Keeping a healthy level of insanity in the workplace |
| Thu 29 Aug 03:40 | Mac | Jack, if you squint your eyes when looking at your diagram about interaction you can actually see a real user ! Although they do seem to be asleep. |
| Thu 29 Aug 20:47 | Eszter | Mac, that's funny about the user in the diagram.:) I can't find one of my favorite Dilbert comics, here's the text: [Dilbert is sitting at a table] If you were hired, what would be your long-range career goal? [Woman at desk] I'd have your job in six months, in a year you'd be working for me, you big pile of dinosaur dung. [Dilbert] I see you attended an all women's college. Does that experience really make you more confident and assertive? [Woman] Either arm. Let's go. |
| Fri 30 Aug 03:58 | Mac | Re: Dilbert I used to laugh at Dilbert a lot, but always with a certain sense of unease at the 'victim' role that most of the characters take on. Dilbert's mockery of office workers, couched in pretenses of universality, insists that stupidity and selfishness are central to who we are—and must be. So, readers are encouraged to believe, there's little need to explore how we ought to be relating to each other in more ideal circumstances that can never really exist. The Trouble With Dilbert By Norman Solomon |
| Fri 30 Aug 09:30 | Jack Schonchin | Most comedy revolves around problems, negative issues, things that are wrong. Comedy often revolves around us. If we can't laugh at ourselves, who can we laugh at? Oh yeah, Norman Solomon. |
| Fri 30 Aug 13:34 | Ron Zeno | Um, Jack? Did you mean what you said, 'Share links to your favorite comic strips that define your professional existence'? If so, then Mac's reference to Solomon's articles are not only appropriate, but necessary. Dilbert may be humorous, but mostly by being belittling and degrading. Certainly not something upon which anyone should 'define your professional existence'. (Just one of the reasons why I qualified my first response). |
| Fri 30 Aug 14:56 | Jack Schonchin | In my most recent reply, I was referencing the author's apparent attack on Dilbert because the characters are victims. We are all victims. Comedy is life. Comedy is truth. The Dilbert link I posted does indeed define my professional existence -- the idea that I am unhappy in my job, my only alternative (short of relocating my life) is to freelance, and if I freelanced my biggest client would likely be my employer. |
| Fri 30 Aug 17:47 | Ron Zeno | 'We are all victims.' I'm sorry you feel that way. Please don't include me in your group of victims. |
| Fri 30 Aug 18:01 | Jack Schonchin | Let me get my eraser... |
| Meet Mr. Anti-Google | Fri 30 Aug |
| (salon.com) A crusading webmaster says the popular search engines page-ranking algorithm is undemocratic. (Jack comments: This guy runs Google-Watch.org. I love underdog agitators. They keep powerful people and companies on their toes.) |
| Fri 30 Aug 10:19 | Jack Schonchin | Ahh, nuts. I just saw /. ran this article yesterday. I don't read /. much anymore, sorry for the duplication. |
| Fri 30 Aug 13:00 | JB | I thought the whole premise of Google was that based on what people are viewing is what gets ranked best. Sure it conflicts with a democratic process from the search engine going out and bring back results, but not from a democratic “the people have spoken and here is what they have said/look at” approach. Maybe this guy has just misunderstood the way in which they are using the word democratic? |
| UI Design Update Newsletter – August, 2002 | Thu 29 Aug |
| There are about 1,000 usability-related articles published each year. My guess is that less than 5% ever have any practical, long-term value to most usability practitioners. In some cases, the topics being studied are of little interest to practitioners. In many cases the research results are simply too hard for practitioners to find. |
| Fri 30 Aug 11:38 | Ron Zeno | What's hard to find are the research results that matter. I think Bob's needs to update his numbers: 1,000 articles per year seems far short of the mark while 5% too high. Besides, who cares about research results? (Trolling for discussion...) |
| Lorem Ipsum | Thu 29 Aug |
| Lorem Ipsum, or Lipsum for short, is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lipsum has been the industrys standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. (Jack comments: You too can generate fake text for space filler in your draft web designs. See also these alternates: Subterranes generator and Dreamweaver extensions.) |
| Thu 29 Aug 11:39 | Jack Schonchin | I realize John linked to the Subterrane generator in May 2001. I thought the one at lipsum.com was noteworthy because it allows you to generate lipsum in paragraphs, instead of one long text block. |
| Thu 29 Aug 17:17 | (the other) JS | Based on the idea implied by 'content driven', is filler text a bad idea? |
| Thu 29 Aug 17:18 | Shane | I fancy the Lipsum Generator myself. Much more 'random' than Subterrane's. |
| Fri 30 Aug 11:15 | Mac | hmmm, I must admit I don't like Lipsum as I always read it looking for hidden messages. |
| 10 Tips on Writing the Living Web | Thu 29 Aug |
| (A List Apart) Some of these sites change every week; many change every day; a few change every few minutes. Daypop’s Dan Chan calls this the Living Web, the part of the web that is always changing. |
| Thu 29 Aug 18:47 | Jack Schonchin | 1) Write for a reason. This is the one succinct message from the author. 2) Write often Bzzzt. You have no obligation to this conjured idea of a 'living web.' You owe nothing to your users. They owe you for providing free content. If what you say has value, it doesn't matter whether you write daily, once a week, or once a month. We can all think of people who write maybe 1 to 4 times per month and yet droves of people flock to those writings upon their release. 3. Write tight In other words, write well. 4. Make good friends In other words, don't be an a-hole. 5. Find good enemies Finally, someone appreciates me. 6) Let the story unfold This is a bunch of hoo-ha. What's the alternative? Write and publish your life's work in 24 hours? I say, don't jerk your users around. If you have something to say, say it and get it over with. 7) Stand up, speak out In other words, your positions must be defendable. If they are not, they're not worth having. People will know. 8) Be sexy. This is so, so very wrong. If you're a cam grrl, be sexy. If you're John S. Rhodes, keep your pants on. Sheesh. 9) Use your archives In other words, practice sound web design. Make information accessible. 10) Relax! In other words, do what makes you happy. |
| Thu 29 Aug 23:51 | MadMan | Oh no, not ANOTHER bloke laying down rules for personal sites and blogs! Why won't these people disappear? |
| WebWord Comment | Mon 26 Aug |
| This was a failure. |
| Mon 26 Aug 22:35 | Jack Schonchin | The idea was good, but your scope was too narrow. Think up some questions and post them for our critique. Then submit a refined group of questions to a group of recognized and/or budding professionals. Limit the word count on each response. Slap up their words side-by-side for us to read. The pros who are in this fighting for the users won't turn down an Q&A session simply because they'd have to share the spotlight. I'd be very interested in seeing the list of gurus who don't respond. Better yet, make it a gala affair. Assemble a group of usability bloggers to each submit a question. Have all the bloggers reproduce all of the responses on each of their respective sites. |
| Tue 27 Aug 17:31 | Jack Schonchin | What a bunch of inactive hoddy doddy clodhoppers! Fine. John, ask me the questions. I will channel the gurus and speak in their tongues. |
| Tue 27 Aug 19:23 | JB | I don't think it was a failure if you learnt something about your user base. Also, as a total idiot that I can be, I added questions to it and also added at the end that some of these could be answered by the webword.com community...as Jack suggested. Take the best questions out of all the serious ones that were asked and post one a day...see what happens... |
| Tue 27 Aug 20:01 | Lydia | Better yet, John, why don't you answer the questions or get someone cool like Steve Krug? |
| Tue 27 Aug 20:02 | Lydia | Wait, that came out weird. I didn't mean to say 'someone cool' as in John is not cool. I was just commenting that Krug was cool and could be an alternative to John, whose coolness doesn't need to be expressed here. Open mouth, insert foot! |
| Thu 29 Aug 20:28 | Jack Schonchin | Does Krug wear leather and ride a hog? |
| WebWord Comment | Tue 27 Aug |
| Im looking for a turnkey credit card solution for a web site project I am working on right now. I want it to be as simple as adding a link or a button to the site with a mimium amount of fuss. The fees should be as low as possible. It isnt necessary to be able to accept international orders, but it would be nice. It would be nice to be able to customize the form and the thank you page. There is only one (electronic) product for sale so there isnt much need to have a jazzy shoping cart. Once the user buys the product, they should be able to immediately get to it. Theyll need an email confirmation that contains their username and password, along with some other information. I think that is about it for the high level requirements. The best solution I have found is 2CheckOut. What other solutions have you used? What do you recommend? Why? |
| Tue 27 Aug 23:00 | MICK | My company used skipjack on a project, the developers seemed to like the easiness of setting it up |
| Thu 29 Aug 19:42 | James Robertson | We use Order1.net for our e-commerce ordering. They handle everything, including credit card authorisation, downloads, cheques, purchase orders... (We did a comprehensive review of most of the providers, and these guys came out top of the pile.) We have had a few small glitches, but I don't think anyone else would be better. They certainly provide plenty of features. The only problem we've had is getting to the money to Australia, but that is a banking problem you won't have. |
| Nice map | Mon 26 Aug |
| (Eszters Blog) Bad examples of usability abound so its nice to come across Web pages that are extremely user-friendly. I found NYUs online map a pleasure to navigate. Granted, it would be helpful to have a bit more information about whats in the various buildings, but graphically it is very well done. |
| Tue 27 Aug 04:45 | Mac | I wouldn't necessarily call this extremely user-friendly. The zoom in/out function does not work in a natural way, the focus point for the zoom seems to be very arbitrary. Also, it is not possible to zoom out and view the whole map withour scrolling. The print facility does not print what is on the screen, and the selected building is not highlighted on the print out in any way. However, I don't want to discourage someone who has clearly made an effort to produce an interactive map, and I would like to see how they imrpove it in the future. |
| Tue 27 Aug 14:16 | BJ | Other issues: * It is not immediately obvious which areas of the map (if any) are interactive. Maybe I didn't read the instructions. I didn't see any. * Scrolling is not necessary. The entire map could have been displayed in a readable size in a single image. Scrolling would have been useful if the map was much larger, in which case a name search feature would probably also have been necessary. * The scrolling arrows are very small and close, thus difficult to use even for an experienced mouser * The map scrolls when I'm moving the mouse across the screen towards the zoom buttons (over the scroll buttons.) This is not a problem because the map scrolls so slowly. However, somehow I get the feeling that this is the reason why the map scrolls so slowly. |
| Thu 29 Aug 13:10 | Manuel Razzari | The zoom-in is pretty bizarre. Instead of zooming into the building I've selected, it zooms into coordinates which are not even visible when fully zoomed out. Arrows in the menus 'drop-up' menus act on rollover instead of click, proably the most annoying use of flash since '90s intros. Flash text can be selected. Should be easily fixed. Bad icons: uses +/- to zoom instead of the classical magnifying glass. Uses a sheet for 'print' instead of the standard printer icon. The 'drop-up' menus display no cue to indicate they are menus and can be clicked. PS. Keep in mind that it might have been designed by a student under time pressure with some bureaucratic jerk over his shoulder. |
| Sony ejects Betamax at long last | Tue 27 Aug |
| Betamax, held up as an example of how the first to market is not guaranteed commercial success, had already been pulled from overseas markets in the 1990s (MadMan comments: Another superior product that didnt make it) |
| Tue 27 Aug 16:20 | Jack Schonchin | Reminds me of the Atari Lynx. While the Nintendo Gameboy was piddling around in monochrome, Atari had a 4096 color handheld playing in stereo, multiplayer capable (with daisy-chained cables) and allowed left-handed play (duplicate buttons and a reversible screen). It doesn't matter how much your product kicks the competition's ass. Marketing is everything. |
| Tue 27 Aug 18:46 | Ron Zeno | Marketing is everything. It certainly seems like it at times. Good marketing can certainly overcome minor problems in a product, and its far easier to change a marketing campaign than the product itself. Of course, the Internet boom and bust shows that marketing isn't quite everything... |
| Tue 27 Aug 19:55 | Lydia | I always think of that ('Marketing is everything') when I see movie trailers. Like the recent Star Wars (Attack of the Clones) - one trailer painted it as a sappy love story for the chick set, another as an action-adventure shoot-em-up (to be played before similar movies) and a third as a tense political drama. Frankly, I was kind of impressed at the third version, since that was really not in the movie. But, I digress. |
| Tue 27 Aug 19:59 | Lydia | Did anyone else notice how there is no URL link that shows in your status bar when you mouse-over the monitor advertisement? I wonder if they are deliberately trying to deceive by inserting a JavaScript with a blank reference for the status bar? I tried to check, but I can't view source on the page, either. |
| Tue 27 Aug 21:42 | Jack Schonchin | I can view the source. The first full window is blank. Scroll down a bit. |
| Tue 27 Aug 23:06 | MICK | A compony I do some work for creates ideas for new products and then tracks them for success. There theory of success is a product that still sells 3 years after creation. The reason being: Marketing can sell any crappy product for 2 years, after that people figure out that it's crap |
| Wed 28 Aug 08:23 | Nagarjun | > Marketing can sell any crappy product for 2 years, > after that people figure out that it's crap Very evidently, you do not have a clue about Marketing - you equate it with selling. But you are not alone in teh geek/usability community. Just so we do not lose perspective, here is a formal deifinition of Marketing, from the guru Philip Kotler: “The analysis, planning, implementation,and control of carefully formulated programs designed to bring about voluntary exchanges of values with target markets for the purpose of achieving organizational objectives.' |
| Wed 28 Aug 09:27 | Kung Pao | Hey Nagarjun, does this Kotler guy speak English? That sounds like it came right out of the Bullshit generator. What's wrong with making things simple? Why do these MBA/lawyer types have to resort to such obfuscation? Is it to conceal their lack of knowledge or to decrease the chances of their bullshit being caught? Before Kotler can be a called a guru in my book, he needs to make people understand what he's saying. |
| Wed 28 Aug 09:33 | Anonymous | I dont ever heard of Philip Kotler. He no guru to me of us! Nagarjen can eat up my short! Ha he he. |
| Wed 28 Aug 13:29 | Ron Zeno | I'm unaware of any clear and concise definitions of marketing, but here are two short articles that I've found useful: 'What Is Marketing?' - http://www.onlinewbc.gov/docs/market/mk_what_is.html 'Introduction To Marketing' - http://www.bizmove.com/marketing/m2a.htm |
| Thu 29 Aug 03:37 | Mac | ..the process of marketing begins with discovering what product customers want to buy From: Ron Zeno Link What Is Marketing Isn't this a big problem with Marketing. Asking the customers what they want to buy. I want to see things I would love to buy, but haven't imagined yet! |
| Thu 29 Aug 12:55 | Lydia | Duh! Thanks, Jack - I guess I didn't look at it closely enough. :P |
| Palm faces suit on m130 color claims | Tue 27 Aug |
| Handheld maker Palm is facing a class action lawsuit for misstating the number of colors that can be displayed by its m130 handheld. |
| Tue 27 Aug 23:11 | MadMan | You mean you couldn't care less, right? (Common usage error. Don't fret.) Regardless of whether people actually use all the features of a product, it's about meeting your spec. When I buy a product with X number of features, I'm entering into a contract with the manufacturer. By the terms of that contract, the manufacturer must provide all the features advertised. Simple as that. I would think this is more of a PR nightmare for Palm than anything else. Next time they release something, you can be sure people will be wondering if they included everything. |
| Tue 27 Aug 23:38 | Ron Zeno | I agree with MadMan. It's an issue of responsiblity. In this case, legally actionable. |
| Wed 28 Aug 08:17 | Nagarjun | Just because you have a *legal right* to sue, does not mean you have an *ethical* right to. If the usuability does not suffer, and it wasn't intentional, why sue the poor buggers? It's not as if they are serial offernders or anything... What was that again about the spirit of the law and not the law itself? |
| Wed 28 Aug 09:32 | MadMan | That is America, nation of litigants. If a woman can sue McDonald's over hot coffee on her lap, well... |
| Wed 28 Aug 09:49 | John S. Rhodes | MadMan, speaking of hot coffee and McDonalds, I actually worked with a woman who was the human factors expert witness on that lawsuit. She stated that while many people were outraged about the lawsuit, many things were brought to light about ergonomics and usability. She stated that while the woman was mostly to blame, McDonald's product wasn't well designed. For example, the structural integrity of a McDonalds cup is substantially decreased when it is filled with hot coffee. It is meant to be used with the top on it to reduce spilling and keep the cup in the proper form. Like many other people, the woman took the top off to let it cool down. By doing this she made the walls of the coffee cup much weaker. She didn't actually spill the coffee; the cup collapsed when she took it out of the cup holder. Before you laugh, consider that McDonalds deliberately created a low cost coffee cup with weak walls. It was argued that if the integrity of the cup was compromised by taking the top off, then the top should be fixed in place. Or, the walls of the cup should be thicker. I'm not saying that I agree with any of this, but it is interesting to hear the other side; the human factors side. |
| Wed 28 Aug 10:16 | Ron Zeno | What about Palm's ethical responsibilities to make truthful claims about the capabilities of its products? Also, the supposed 16-bit color was a major differentiator between Palm's product and its competition. It's easier to imagine that Palm deliberately gave erroneous information about its product to receive better reviews and higher sales, than it is to imagine that Palm is operating at a level of incompetence that would allow such errors. Of course, the error is most likely the result of both incompetence and unethical behavior. |
| Wed 28 Aug 11:44 | MadMan | John, if that is truly what happened, then McD deserves to be sued for not meeting the 'fit for purpose' criteria. I was led to believe that she spilled the coffee and sued McD for making the coffee too hot. I'm too lazy right now to dig up related links and verify it. If the cup itself was unstable, and it was reasonably foreseeable that people would a) take the top off the cup and b) the cup out of the coffee holder, then McDonald's should have designed for it. That said, there is a lot of weird litigation in USA, wouldn't you agree? |
| Wed 28 Aug 11:55 | MadMan | Ron is right. Tomorrow, Seagate could ship 80GB hard drives, advertise them as 100 GB, and say that most people don't use more than 40GB on their hard disks, so what difference does it make? I rarely use my floppy drive, but that doesn't mean a PC vendor can get away with not installing one if I've paid for it. If companies start believing that they can mislead people and get away with it... oh wait, they already do. Enron, Worldcom, Xerox, [insert favourite big company here] It's improbable that a big company like Palm could let such a limitation slip by 'unintentionally' and at the same time use it as a big selling feature. Nuh uh. A wee bit too much of a conincidence, don't you think? I'm with Ron on this one. |
| Wed 28 Aug 11:58 | MadMan | Your honour, please also note that the defence does not plan to offer any refunds to customers who bought the device. I quote from the linked story: The company is apologizing for the problem but is not planning to offer refunds, Somsak said. Palm will also change the packaging and advertising for the m130 to address the discrepancy. Aha! Truly the sign of a repenting company. |
| Wed 28 Aug 13:13 | John S. Rhodes | McFacts abut the McDonalds Coffee Lawsuit -- Doesn't mention anything about the cup integrity but does offer other interesting facts. Telling It Like Is Is... Even If It Isn't -- 'The woman was sitting in the passenger seat of a car driven by her grandson. They went through a drive through, then he pulled to a stop out of the way of the next car behind them so she could open the coffee. It was then, in a stopped car, that the coffee spilled. One myth of this case is that she was driving the car and tried to open the coffee while the car was moving.' (Comments: Hmmm. Still no mention of the cup integrity.) My quick netcheck does not reveal anything about 'cup integrity' so now I wonder if I was fed a line of crap. I often wonder what people can and cannot say regarding a trial. In related news...Obese Man Sues Fast Food (And yes MadMan, I agree that there are too many lawsuits in the United States.) |
| Wed 28 Aug 13:22 | John S. Rhodes | For some reason, this whole thing reminds me of the False Advertising Gallery. |
| Wed 28 Aug 13:53 | JB | I think the point that should be held up here is... would you notice any difference in the performance of the product if the claim and the actuality are different. With Palm - I doubt it...with a hard drive, most definitely. When did a lack of common sense and a right for revenge be the key criteria for litigation? |
| Wed 28 Aug 20:26 | Lydia | Didn't check out the link provided on facts about the McDonald's case, so this might be there, but I wanted to point something out about this case that is continually overlooked because it was so sensationalized to start with. This woman only sued because McDonalds wouldn't cover her medical bills, a few thousand dollars. Their basic feeling was that she was in the wrong and had to live with the consequences of being a dope in the first place. She admitted her judgement lapsed, but repeated that all she was asking for was a few thousand dollars of recompense. The answer in a nutshell: shove off, we are a large corporation with many lawyers and little time. So, they took them to court with a hugely blown out-of-proportion case in order to generate some media attention. Unfortunately, they got the wrong kind of attention, but at least she got a hearing. I do think that the US has too many frivilous lawsuits, but I am frankly behind anyone who makes an example of a company that won't play ball. That's why I don't feel like Palm deserves what they are getting. It seems like an honest mistake, and they acknowledged and apologized. A refund seems ridiculous - how does the loss of a few color impair use of the device? Are they outputting color from it or using color in some critical way other than to make everything look pretty? |
| Thu 29 Aug 01:17 | Lyle Kantrovich | While customers may have a legitimate *case* against Palm - what real damages can they truthfully claim? Was the product unsuitable for use? What real benefit wasn't delivered or what cost was incurred due to the absence of a few hundred colors in a color palette of thousands? They are looking for a settlement -- most of which will go to the lawyers...who will grease the palms of politicians to stave off any serious tort reform legislation so they can blackmail more companies in the future. Ironic that companies settle (pay plaintiff's lawyers) to avoid legal fees (paying denfense lawyers) -- net result is having more lawsuits benefits all lawyers everywhere in the end. Who cares? You should since any future Palm products (or products from any company) will cost you more...you get to pay to feed the 'sharks.' Palm should have learned from Intel's (Pentium?) chip scandal -- they should have allowed customers to *exchange* their devices for new upgraded ones or provided a way to return them (maybe pro-rated based on when they were purchased). I'd bet that few people would make the exchange -- just like very few people did with their Intel chips a few years ago. Can't say I believe they would have knowingly made a false claim to the 16-bit capability -- after all, you'd have to know that some geek somewhere would figure it out and blow the whistle. Likely was an honest mistake by some engineer somewhere - or a component that got switched and impacted the total result (a lack of change management and testing). Now it's their PR firm that's blowing it. Maybe Palm will sue their PR firm next year for damages... |
| Thu 29 Aug 11:40 | Ron Zeno | While customers may have a legitimate *case* against Palm - what real damages can they truthfully claim? I suspect they will claim Palm deceived m130 customers into purchasing it by making false claims about its capabilities - specific, unambiguous capabilities that made the m130 appear to be better than its competitors. I hope some of the facts will come out from the lawsuit. Having worked with computer manufacturers, I'd like to know: 1) Are all the hardware components in the m130 capable of 16-bit color? 2) Is the m130 hardware engineered for 16-bit color? 3) Is the m130 software engineered for 16-bit color? In order for the m130 to support 16-bit color, the answer to all these questions must be 'Yes' and can be ascertained by examining different documents created, reviewed, and authorized by different people. |
| WebWord Comment | Thu 22 Aug |
| List the questions here that you would like to ask Jakob Nielsen. Ill compile them and send them off. Lets see if he responds to the WebWord Community Interview. |
| Tue 27 Aug 12:38 | JB | Yes...set up a chat for webword people and have Filbert come on. I would be there and it would give Webword huge exposure. Questions.... - Why the change in attitude towards flash? - Do you think your eventual guidelines will change designer behavior? - Why the change in strategy on your useit web site....why did you believe it should be used as a vehicle for business and has it been successful? - Do you intend to revisit some of your prediction that you have made and address why you think they did not materialize? - Do you think usability as a profession is heading in the right direction and what do you think it will take to make it more mainstream? - How do you counter the argument that studies have shown that up to 50% of usability experts cannot agree on what are the major usability issues on a site and that based on their recommendations do not know which ones will have a positive impact? - How do you counter criticism that your methodology is sometimes, how shall we say, shallow, and is used to back your own arguments as opposed to discovering the truth...even to the detriment of your arguments? - when will usability develop its own ROI metrics and what do you think they will be? - what do you think has been the single biggest contribution to the advancement of the science of usability? And anyone here can answer these if they want. |
| Thu 29 Aug 08:55 | Stephen Downes | Do you think people took this item seriously? |
| WebWord Comment | Mon 26 Aug |
| I have written many unfinished articles. I get started and then I stop before I am done. Im not sure why I do this so often. I guess maybe I get bored. Ive included some examples in the comments section if you want to see what I am talking about. |
| Mon 26 Aug 22:42 | John S. Rhodes | Unfinished Thoughts About .NET -- Almost An Article, But Not Quite .NET is way ahead: http://www.adtmag.com/article.asp?id=6505 'Even worse--there are more real Web services applications in production built on .NET than on any alternative platform. The .NET platform is ahead in tooling, middleware services, integration services and process management services.' .NET has sunk like stone: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/134497760_paul22.html 'Case in point: What happened to .NET? Microsoft's flagship strategy for 'any time, anywhere computing from any device' has sunk like a stone. By now we were supposed to be seeing initial .NET applications, but the new rallying cry seems to be for Palladium, a security initiative that has met with the same skepticism and resistance from the developer community that .NET inspired.' I see two scenarios. (1) Microsoft is way ahead of competitors or (2) Microsoft is way ahead of competitors but the web services arena is vapor. In scenario one, Microsoft is the alpha wolf in an important new market; the stakes are high because this is the future. In scenario two, Microsoft is the leader but it just doesn't matter because web services are smoke and mirrors. In this scenario the market is suffering like a little puddle in the middle of a hot, dry parking lot. I'd like to see some real .NET inspired services. I've been poking around looking for some examples but I've had no luck. I will assume that the web services tool people are building are behind corporate firewalls. But maybe that is a bad assumption. Maybe nothing is happening at all because developers are wandering around their cubicles trying to figure out what they should be coding. I did a few searches on Google for .NET applications but I came up with nothing interesting. The .NET story isn't completely mysterious. For example, you can use the .NET envrionment to internationalize you ASP applications. http://www.devx.com/dotnet/articles/oc022102/oc022102-1.asp But that doesn't show me show .NET makes the web services magic work. It just sounds like a better environment in which to write code. If you hunt around and squint your eyes, you can find some web services. However, isn't it interesting that only just recently people have begun to figure out how to even have one web service find another web service? For example, I was just reading an article over at IBM Developer Works about how to make this happen using Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI). http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/ws-uddi4j2.html If that isn't confusing enough for you, consider that UDDI itself is generally defined as a web service. Oh boy! How much more confusion can we add to the mix? Web services are for geeks still. Perhaps they will always be for geeks since web services is about internet plumbing. Things like XML, UDDI, .NET, J2EE, and so forth make 99% of people glaze. Indeed, are you sleeping as you read this? The point is that web services, from Microsoft or any other party, are not here yet. The whole concept isn't even understood by developers and other geeks. The articles will keep rolling for a while since there isn't much else to talk about in the software world and it will be fueled for time being with Microsoft and IBM marketing dollars. I'm wondering when the hype about the hype will stop. I don't really give a damn about what companies are doing to promote web serices. I don't care about their plans to dominate this space. Who cares about what development language is used? Instead, I am waiting to see some real benefits. I want to experience this great thing they call web serices. |
| Tue 27 Aug 01:39 | TimW | >>I get started and then I stop before I am done<< I think that about explains my entire life... :) |
| Tue 27 Aug 02:36 | Matt Round | I find if I can't polish off a project within a couple of days then it'll take some real effort and organisation to get completed. Hence me using my weblog as a dumping ground for all sorts of miscellaneous stuff, it lets me get trivial ideas out there quickly before I get bored with them. (as for .NET, well Microsoft doesn't really care if Web services don't take off for a while. Yes, it damaged .NET by getting it mixed up with Hailstorm and all sorts of confused marketing messages, but the developers out there who have been using plain ASP are now either moving to or looking at .NET. As long as developers make the move MS know they'll achieve a certain level of success) |
| Wed 28 Aug 08:18 | Nevermind | Writing is a underestimated craft. It is difficult to write good articles just like it is difficult to design a good product. When it is done well, people wonder how it could have been otherwise. When it is done poorly, everyone notices. Don't feel bad about having unfinished work. |
| Thu 29 Aug 08:48 | Stephen Downes | I find that I hardly ever set out to write an article. My articles tend to grow from short comments - like this one would, if I let it. Here's how I approach it: I always plan to write a 100 word article. That way I always finish (usually they become links in my newsletter). The 100 word article has now become my preferred way to communicate. I make one point - just as most articles do - but without the extra 500 - 2000 words. If the article gets longer, then I promote it from a 'link' to an 'article' and post it in my articles base. And voila! I'm a writer. |
| ClickTracks | Mon 26 Aug |
| ClickTracks is a new way of seeing website user behavior. ClickTracks graphically presents each page of your site together with behavior patterns - where people click, how long they stay, when they leave the site, and much more. |
| Mon 26 Aug 22:56 | faderisimo | it crashes when rerunning the reports additionally it can't handle flash, and the activex control never lines up the stats to the navigation |
| Mon 26 Aug 23:59 | jmarshall | 'Crashes' is bad...we take that very seriously. Can you give us more specific info ? I don't quite follow what 'rerunning' the reports means. I'd like to know more about the problems you're seeing so we can include a fix in 2.0 Can't handle flash : correct. A flash object is opaque to ClickTracks, and the web server log. We felt flash was not worth analyzing ( how much analysis of 'skip intro' does one need ? ) but MX changes the landscape. We're seeing what we can do. Not sure I follow the comment about ActiveX & navigation ? You're thinking ClickTracks uses activex, or the site you're analysing uses it ? John M ClickTracks. |
| Tue 27 Aug 04:58 | Mac | What happens when the web-site changes? Does this tool allow you to see 'user behaviour' at your site as it was a year ago (assuming you had been using ClickTracks that long). If not, then it is a type of LogPorn which would be very useful for busy marketing executives. |
| Tue 27 Aug 07:12 | John S. Rhodes | Hey folks, take notice of something here; very important. John Marshall, the second poster above, is the CEO of ClickTracks. Be sure to ask him good questions! We've got his attention. |
| Tue 27 Aug 08:16 | Matt Round | It's a nice variation on log analysis and probably useful for getting a quick and simple impression of traffic flow through a site. I might give it a try sometime. Mac's point about changes is a valid one, perhaps the next version could include some kind of site-spidering tool to help the user keep & browse copies of the site as well as past log files..? |
| Tue 27 Aug 08:26 | Mike Boyink | Actually the percentage of people who choose the 'skip intro' link would be, to me, one of the most interesting stats on a site that uses a Flash intro. |
| Tue 27 Aug 11:52 | jmarshall | We did think about the site spidering concept and eventually decided it would be too unreliable in action. Dynamic sites, etc. etc. The problem remains with changing the site. We're not unaware of this issue. My comments : 1. We try to position the product as something interactive and responsive and focused on the most recent data. We really don't give access to meaningful data more than 1 month old because the feedback we got suggested this wasn't useful in the broader context. Probable disagreement, but we made certain design decisions and those define what ClickTracks does. 2. If you really really do care about this, you could keep a cached copy of the 'old' site and point ClickTracks there with the old log data. You can persuade ClickTracks to treat domain xyz.abc.com as equivalent to www.abc.com, so you stick the old content on another server. 3. Most realistic : print the stuff to a .pdf. Really. does this cut it ? not sure. Tell me. John M. |
| Tue 27 Aug 12:30 | Mac | John M, the fact you've responded to these points in such a timely, straightforward manner has already made your product more appealing to me! |
| Tue 27 Aug 14:08 | Lydia | Plus, I like the no-nonsense attitude (such as the Flash comment). I do get so tired of people pussy-footing around things. I'm intrigued - I've asked my team to look at the 60 second demo. |
| Tue 27 Aug 16:36 | jmarshall | You make me blush. We try to listen carefully and speak plainly. Please do tell me how ClickTracks can be made better. It's software, so *anything* can be done. It's just so hard to say 'no' to these 95 things so you can deliver these 5 things. Help us choose the right 5 things ? Version 2.0 is just around the corner...days way ( hours away ? almost ) John M. |
| Tue 27 Aug 19:32 | JB | As a guy from the web management side...I am intrigued. And yes your openness and honesty only adds credibility. I will wait and see v2.0 JR...referral fees? |
| Tue 27 Aug 19:33 | JB | |
| Wed 28 Aug 06:46 | Mac | Is it possible to 'replay' a single users session using the tool? It would be interesting to be able to see the route a specific user had taken through a site in simulated 'real' time. Is it possible to exclude certain 'tagged user', from the system. For example: it is often useful to exclude employees who access a company internet site from their workplace? |
| Wed 28 Aug 20:08 | jmarshall | Good questions. Let's say you could follow an individual user. First, how would you identify them within the log file ? Second, what would you do with the data ? Usually the answer to this is to compare them against other users...and then of course you'd need to do this for many users...and then you're back at what we do now. So we conclude that looking at a single user is not useful within ClickTracks because all we have is the log file. If you could somehow also interview the individual, of course that would be useful. Tagging could work for eliminating the employee requests based on IP address but this is so common we have a mechanism inside 'options' to do it more simply. John M |
| Infertility websites fail to meet quality standards | Sun 25 Aug |
| The sites were tested to see whether they named the people accountable, including editors, for the content; cited references and copyright information; provided information on sponsorship, ownership, funding, or any other type of support for construction of the website or its pages; and posted the date that content was first uploaded or last updated. |
| Mon 26 Aug 10:07 | Ron Zeno | Very basic quality information. Thanks! How about trying to review usability-related articles (which are becoming hard to find on WebWord recently) against these criteria? I recall John recently complaining how Jared Spool doesn't give publication dates, for instance. |
| Wed 28 Aug 17:15 | Dennis G. Jerz | A former student of mine, Anne Wendt, who is now in grad school, did her senior Capstone project on the [un]reliability of medical websites. http://www.geocities.com/medreliability/ |
| How to turn on a computer! | Tue 27 Aug |
| Hello, folks! Im CoAx, the Time Warner Cable Cat. If youre ever frustrated by computers, dont feel alone! (Jack comments: How many cable Internet customers are computer illiterate? How many reading a web site are still struggling with the question, What is On?. I would like to react to this site with some colorful language, punctuated by a question mark. Instead, Ill ask: who is the target audience and how old are they?) |
| Tue 27 Aug 22:08 | Jack Schonchin | Before you answer, consider that on the site's front page they link to the Apple Quicktime movie trailer web site, which contains links to such films as One Hour Photo, Fear Dot Com, and Road To Perdition. Or, take the HBO link that leads to HBO's front page, promoting Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, Band of Brothers, etc. Mmmm, wholesome family viewing! |
| Wed 28 Aug 07:07 | Mac | This site is aimed at teachers and parents. The Cable Companies are doing their best to catch those consumers young, by producing as much 'edu-mercial' material as possible, and promoting their portals as safe walled gardens for the kiddies. Also: If I need help turning my computer on, then how do I get to the internet page? And anyway it should be the kids publishing web pages to help their parents ! Well I'll be de-clawed! and neutered, put into a sack with a concrete block and thrown into the nearest river. Meeeeeowwwwwww - splash - glug glug |
| Wed 28 Aug 11:49 | JB | Their first point is 'what is on?' Ummmm... don't you already need to be conntected, and turned on, to interact with CoAx?!?!? |
| Buggy software still takes a toll | Tue 27 Aug |
| (CNET) Imagine buying an energy-saving dishwasher and seeing your monthly electricity bill double, and youll understand how a growing roster of executives feel about their decision to install expensive business software. |
| Tue 27 Aug 23:59 | Ron Zeno | For those who have access to the Wall Street Journal, they have an interesting article on how SAP lost a major software deal with Lego to Oracle, then won it back because of the bugs in Oracle's software: 'Fight for Lego Software Deal Is No Fun for SAP, Oracle' http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1030469302393762715.djm,00.html |
| Wed 28 Aug 11:47 | JB | I am surprised that there are not more lawsuits around this side of business. If I buy a car and the steering wheel falls off...I don't just accept it. Is it because they spend millions on this and the fear is that if they go public and say Oracle screwed me, their share price will get worked over? |
| Afghanistan Equipment Reviews | Tue 27 Aug |
| While Army troops were generally satisfied with the equipment issued to them for the fighting in Afghanistan, they did have a number of complaints. |
| Wed 28 Aug 09:50 | Ron Zeno | Interesting article, though it appears to be gone today. Can someone find it? They missed probably the most notorious piece of equipment used, the Precision Lightweight GPS Receiver: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A8853-2002Mar23 |
| PredictionTracker.com? | Tue 27 Aug |
| (37signals) Wouldnt this sort of stuff make a great web site? A site that tracks the predictions of pundits and other experts (in all areas of punditry, not just usability) to see who really knows what theyre talking about. PredictionTracker.com perhaps? Viva accountability. |
| Tue 27 Aug 23:17 | MadMan | Ahem, I do believe I proposed that idea on this site. Those guys just ripped it off. ;) |
| Tue 27 Aug 23:25 | Morris Cox | Just to let you all know, I registered seedblog.com so that we can do that Seed Blog thing. I just need to figure out how to do that. |
| Wed 28 Aug 07:32 | Mac | I promised to do something in that post, and it's still on my list, honest! Maybe it should also discuss 'facts' that are presented as true, but with no real evidence. (The number of people how've never made a phone call, 7+-2, both of which have already been discussed.) Regarding Amazon 1-Click Ordering: I have tried to find out how many people regularly use it, but can get no information from Amazon. I know that I never use it, as I need my online-transactions to have a clearly defined closure point. I predict that less than 1% of Amazon Customers regularly use 1-Click Ordering, and that Amazon use it mainly to illustrate their 'innovative culture'. Maybe I should try the question out on Google Answers? |
| Wed 28 Aug 08:00 | Mac | RE: SeedBlog, does anyone have any experience with MTs TrackBack ? |
| Wed 28 Aug 09:42 | Anonymous | madman indeed. oh did I rip that off too? |
| Choose Your Usability Approach Wisely | Tue 27 Aug |
| (.pdf file) Online Usability Testing is all the rage these days and usability professionals are fiercely debating the relative merits of online testing vs. traditional lab-based testing. In fact, Jakob Nielsen calls these online systems voodoo usability, but we think that online testing can be a valuable element of a total usability program. They key issue in all cases is picking the right tool for the job at hand. Our article in Quirks Magazine offers help with this decision. |
| Wed 28 Aug 00:08 | Ron Zeno | Here's some real help with the decision: 'High-Tech vs. High-Touch: Some Limits of Automation in Diagnostic Usability Testing' http://www.htamler.com/papers/techtouch/ |
| Wed 28 Aug 09:07 | Mac | Thanks Ron, I have never thought of Usability Engineers as Psychotherapists before. I would agree with this article (Ron's link) that a combination of automated methods and skilled moderation could be the best solution, but I fear that when an organisation makes a choice then automation seems to win, mainly because it can produce prettier graphs and can 'appear' to be more cost effective. |
| peterme, Abnormal American | Sat 24 Aug |
| See, I lead a fairly simple life. I rent an apartment. I dont own a car. I dont make extravagant purchases on a bunch of different credit cards. And because of this, the computer doesnt know what to make of me. |
| Mon 26 Aug 20:17 | Lydia | Exactly. I've never understood that, and I've seen friends run into the ground for trying to play the game and get credit. It's just not a sound way to manage money, but you can't get along without it! |
| Tue 27 Aug 13:59 | jan | Obtaining credit need not be difficult. And you really don't need more than one credit card from a well-known company to do it. Just charge everything you buy to your credit card. Write and subtract every purchase price in an account book, and pay off the credit card bill at the end of the month. Do this for a couple of years and you will have a sterling credit rating without creating a lot of debt. |
| Tue 27 Aug 14:25 | Lydia | Jan, this is a good suggestion, but paying it off at the end of the month doesn't look as good as paying it off over time - creditors want to see that you can make consistent payments to pay DOWN a loan, and if they are glancing at a credit summary, they will completely miss all the ones that get paid in full each month (since the only thing summarizes is payoff over time). A better alternative would be a car loan w/ a co-signer or deliberately carrying a small debt for six or more months. It doesn't matter how MUCH you have paid back, what creditors look for is that you did it over time and that you did it ON time each month. |
| Banner ads we'd like to see | Mon 26 Aug |
| and page 2 and page 3 and page 4 and page 5 Whatever happened to so-called truth in advertising? Take a look at these fake banner ads and see if they arent a bit closer to the reality of high-tech. (Jack comments: ValleyOfTheGeeks.com wants you to use these ads to link to them. If I saw these banners in the wild, Id ignore them as easily as the real thing.) |
| Mon 26 Aug 21:44 | Jack Schonchin | ValleyOfTheGeeks could really use an index page too, so that inbound visitors realize this is a running feature. |
| Mon 26 Aug 21:57 | John S. Rhodes | Jack, I suffer banner blindness when it comes to these ads. If anything, they reinforce the brands. How many people actually read banner ads, let along glance at them? I'd argue that these are just as (in)effective as any other banner ads. |
| Tue 27 Aug 01:04 | Lyle Kantrovich | So what would a parody of a Webword banner ad look like? ...a banner ad.(?) |
| Tue 27 Aug 14:19 | Lydia | I do like the National Lampoon parody banner ad (buy an RFTM hat or we shoot this dog). |
| Emotional Selection in Memes: The Case of Urban Legends | Sat 24 Aug |
| (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology) This article explores how much memes like urban legends succeed on the basis of informational selection (i.e., truth or a moral lesson) and emotional selection (i.e., the ability to evoke emotions like anger, fear, or disgust). |
| Tue 27 Aug 06:25 | Mac | John, just to let you know I love this kind of post that exposes me to stuff I wouldn't normally see. But it's going to take me another week to finish reading it and looking at some of the references. No Comments definitelt doesn't mean no interest. |
| www.sue-it.com | Sun 25 Aug |
| The USAILC is a successful corporate law firm preparing to specialize in another area. We expect to be at the forefront of suits featuring the invention widely known as It. (MadMan comments: The Segway isnt even available for mainstream use yet, and already this law firm is preparing to sue Dean Kamen for incidents from its use. Among the problems attributed to the Segway on their site, a particularly funny one is this: Americans already get too little exercise. The last thing Americans or any other nation for that matter needs is a device that causes laziness. Suing the manufacturer of a transportation device because it makes people fat... (sigh) only in USA) |
| Mon 26 Aug 00:15 | Morris Cox | You mean, like the guy who's suing because fast food places made him fat? He has agency, he wasn't dragged in and forced fed. I think he wanted to indulge himself and then blame someone else. It's sorta like speeding and then blaming the cop because you got the ticket. |
| Mon 26 Aug 09:00 | MadMan | OK, poll time: would you buy a Segway if it became affordable? If yes, why? If not, why? And what price would you consider 'affordable'? |
| Mon 26 Aug 14:33 | jan | I like to walk, so probably would not buy a Segway. However, I can see tremendous benefit to people who have difficulty walking. I can also foresee my children begging me for one of these when they become readily available. But because I think children should be regularly frustrated so they become accustomed to it (maybe if more parents thought this, we would have fewer lawsuits), I would not buy one for them. |
| Tue 27 Aug 06:18 | Mac | I spilt some coffee on my lap, while laughing at a webword post. Have I got a case against John? |
| WebWord Comment | Sun 25 Aug |
| Go check out this article on MarketingProfs.com. It asks you to register before you can read it. If that annoys you and you close your browser window, the persistent site pops up a window offering to show you the article without registering. If theyre that desperate to make you read the article, why not just do away with the darn registration process? This pop-up window also appears if you just press the Back button. Isnt that silly? |
| Mon 26 Aug 00:55 | Lyle Kantrovich | Shane has a good point about comments. I tend to get more from the the ones on the home page when they are short, otherwise I want to click on the Comments link. One issue with the standard Movable Type comments link is Comments (0) looks an awful like Comments (10) so it's hard to tell where the conversations are happening -- would be great if we could make Comments (0) a non-link or something that said 'Add your comment'. Geez, that's a great idea. I should patent that -- or maybe BT has beat me too it... :) Madman, I visited a bi-directional site once. It responded to http requests one byte at a time just like every other site I know. As a matter of fact, I thought *I* was bi-directional once, but then someone explained to me that 'right way' and 'wrong way' are not considered directions. Personally, I like the guest posting idea -- so far, so good. Keep it up guys! |
| Mon 26 Aug 01:07 | MadMan | Shane, I'm not clear what you mean by 'One thing I don't like is seeing comment text embedded in each post that has comments.' Could you please explain? Thanks. Lyle, let's not discrimate sites based on their orientation, eh? ;) I'm a strong supporter of equal rights to bi-directional sites. OK, Crocmaster, how about this: No comments posted Add your comment Some comments posted Add your comment (5 so far) Nice and consistent labelling, what? It should be easy to hack MT to make this happen. As for guest posting, I seem to have barged in. Jack has only posted one link, and Chris is yet to make an appearance. What I really want to avoid is dominating the site and John getting drowned. Think of us as a side dish, not the main course. A bit of chilli paste with your noodles, if you will. |
| Mon 26 Aug 14:36 | Lydia | My suggestion would be to use something other than MadMan comment at the beginning, because John could be typing that in reference to one of your e-mails. What about activating the 'Posted by' note at the bottom of each post, before the 'Permanent Link' link? This way, people can easily pick out which ones are posted by whom, since that is an area where most people are used to seeing who posted when it is a blog where more than one person posts (like IAslash) |
| Mon 26 Aug 14:41 | MadMan | Excellent suggestion, Lydia. I was just trying to follow John's style. A 'posted by' note would be the best solution. John, how about it? |
| Mon 26 Aug 16:45 | John S. Rhodes | Right on!! 'Posted by' works for me. Of course, I could turn on this functionality right in Movable Type, but as we all know, I don't like to tweak *anything* once it is operating properly. |
| Mon 26 Aug 17:35 | MICK | what about opening the site up for posting by any registered user? you'd have to leave movable type (maybe use the metafilter system?) though. |
| Mon 26 Aug 19:52 | Lydia | Oh, and thanks for being so open to ideas, MadMan. I think within the current guidelines, you are making it pretty clear when you post. |
| Mon 26 Aug 19:52 | Lydia | John, I think that was the idea - using the 'Posted by <$MTEntryAuthor$>' tag (I think that is the one, anyway) before the 'Permanent Link' link at the bottom of each entry. That way, guest authors don't have to put their name on the post and readers know exactly where to look each time if they want to know who posted. |
| Tue 27 Aug 06:13 | Mac | I haven't posted anything for two reasons: 1) Deer in headlight syndrome 2) I keep getting knocked out as an invalid user! John can get in using the account information he sent me, but I can't get no satisfaction yet! |
| Interface critique #2 | Sun 25 Aug |
| (MadMans Weblog) Exposing users needlessly to the innards of your system is always a bad idea. |
| Mon 26 Aug 08:28 | Anonymous | Tried three times but couldn't load the link. 'Fabsmart-seacrh.gif' kept choking my browser. (IE 5.1.4 Mac OSX, DSL) |
| Mon 26 Aug 08:44 | MadMan | Hi Anonymous. Apparently, my site chokes on IE for the Mac. Don't know why, and since Macs are a rarity in India, I can't even verify it for myself. :( |
| Mon 26 Aug 16:20 | Jack Schonchin | When I view fabmart-search.gif in Windows Picture Viewer is looks OK. When I load it in Photoshop it looks like I stuck it in my back pocket and forgot about it until it had gone through the washer and dryer a couple times. It's definitely funky on the junk. |
| Tue 27 Aug 06:05 | Mac | Maybe Autocomplete should be renamed Autocompete |
| Dave Winer Says | Sun 25 Aug |
| On Blogroots, Jesse James Garrett takes the position that weblogs are not journalism, and I, of course, say hogwash (politely). |
| Mon 26 Aug 03:33 | Mahesh Shantaram | It does matter for those who want to study blogging a little more deeply, an academic interest maybe. OJR.org and Poynter do it, and it isn't silly or meaningless effort. So, the point is: Are we just criticising Dave because he's Dave Winer? |
| Mon 26 Aug 05:33 | Matt Round | I'm just tired of 'prominent' bloggers going on and on endlessly about blogging... is blogging this, is blogging that, this journalist hates bloggers, hey cool this one loves us, blogging is the future of journalism, blogging will save the universe, etc. etc.. It's all very inward-looking, self-obsessed and boring. I've stopped reading sites that are full of self-congratulatory hype and found more interesting places to go online. |
| Mon 26 Aug 05:36 | Daniel | ...or more interesting places to go offline :) |
| Mon 26 Aug 08:11 | MadMan | Hear, hear, Matt! To me, a weblog is a personal site with one's views. I couldn't give a rat's arse about what's more 'correct' - journal, blog, pig's poo... To-may-to, to-mah-to, etc. I too tire of this 'blogger clique'. Sick of it, I tell you. I don't want to be part of the 'cool gang' or any 'A list'. So many 'A list' sites churn out crap, and people put up with it because, hey, it's an 'A list' site. I just want to do my own thing, and not indulge in almost incestuous inter-linking. 'Hey look, Tim posts about his pet frog, Janice posts about her new car. Oh and over there, Harry is talking about the women in his life...' Bah! And no, I ain't buying no 'Indian blogger' t-shirt either. Like I said, I don't want to be part of any clique. Related reading: Why do weblogs have to follow a formula? |
| Mon 26 Aug 11:43 | JB | It is journo's seeing the death of their industry and profession...basically everyone is a journalist today. Only the best will survive See I am one right now...hehe |
| Mon 26 Aug 14:29 | Lydia | Well said, Matt. My friend and I were discussing this the other day. I asked him why he still does his blog. 'It's more for me and my closer friends now,' he said. He doesn't put his e-mail address online and doesn't have comments. The people he cares about know how to get a hold of him. I agree, weblogging isn't necessarily journalism. It can be, but it isn't automatically so. Too many of the blogs I see are simply a way to self-aggrandize. |
| Mon 26 Aug 15:06 | Vicky | I think all those 'elite' bloggers are just doing this to each other: |
| Mon 26 Aug 17:37 | MICK | well, I didn't expect to ever stumble across that at webword. |
| Mon 26 Aug 19:22 | JB | This is a first for Webword.com.... do you get special porno classification or something. Shouldn't this site have a MA rating on the homepage for all the kiddies out there? |
| Mon 26 Aug 19:55 | Lydia | Ew - thanks a lot, Vicky. I'm not a prude, but I do work in an open office and I am horrified to think who may have seen that (including my boss). I come to Webword because it does not have content like that. |
| WebWord Comment | Sun 25 Aug |
| Scary, scary, scary. |
| Mon 26 Aug 11:41 | JB | Singapore and Malaysia fight over this every year....or is it every election year. The Malaysians hold it over the Singaporeans out of envy for letting them secede and become fabulously wealthy, and the Singaporeans are so sick of it that they are now building their own desalinization plant so to be less reliant. Many times they have threatened economic embargos and the talk of future conflicts have been voiced...but at the end of the day the person who brought it up wins the election and they are all friends for another 4 years. |
| Mon 26 Aug 12:35 | Richard Lehoux | The way North America exploit water, we should definetly have a big tax on water usage. We don't have the 'right' to have extra green grass and shinny car. Why not make a certain amount of water be a right and above that, a need ( or luxury )? |
| Mon 26 Aug 12:49 | Thad Pasquale | Not only is that article pretty scary, but so was the AMEX ad I got with the tennis balls bouncing all over the screen. Yikes! |
| Mon 26 Aug 14:26 | Lydia | The article makes a good point about bottled water in particular. We need to do more to capture and reuse water. |
| Mon 26 Aug 14:57 | MadMan | Hey, in space stations and rockets, they recycle water from your shower and even from your pee. Ugh! |
| Mon 26 Aug 19:26 | JB | MadMan which uni in Australia did you go to? |
| Gloves that talk | Sun 25 Aug |
| A signer wears gloves that are connected to a computer that has been taught to tell the signs apart and can translate the signs into written words on a monitor. |
| Mon 26 Aug 16:15 | Jack Schonchin | Gloves that talk? The porn industry will be all over this idea. |
| Diamonds are forever-you could be too | Fri 23 Aug |
| A Chicago company says it has developed a process for turning cremated human remains into diamonds that can be worn as jewelry. |
| Mon 26 Aug 16:14 | Liz | Give a whole new meaning to 'man made' diamonds! |
| Megnut Says | Sun 25 Aug |
| Why cant businesses organize themselves around the customer? |
| Mon 26 Aug 12:25 | Kung Pao | Meghan has a valid point. |
| OneLook | Sun 25 Aug |
| Search dictionary web sites for words and phrases. |
| Mon 26 Aug 10:21 | Jack Schonchin | Webster's 1828 Dictionary: Jack, n. a. A nickname or diminutive of John, used as a general term of contempt for any saucy of paltry fellow. b. The male of certain animals, as of the ass. c. A large wooden male screw, turning in a female one. It ain't all bad. |
| Mon 26 Aug 10:22 | Jack Schonchin | Webster's 1828 Dictionary: Jack, n. a. A nickname or diminutive of John, used as a general term of contempt for any saucy of paltry fellow. b. The male of certain animals, as of the ass. c. A large wooden male screw, turning in a female one. It ain't all bad. |
| Mon 26 Aug 10:23 | Jack Schonchin | Anytime I have connectivity problems (no response from server), double-posts occur. @#$%^&*! |
| They Keep Growing ... and Growing | Sun 25 Aug |
| The U.S. Department of Commerce... says that second-quarter 2002 retail e-commerce sales were an estimated $10.243 billion, an increase of about 24 percent from the second quarter of 2001. (MadMan comments: ...and yet Amazon cant turn a profit. From a meagre $5 million dollar profit in the quarter ending December 2001, they have plunged and have been bleeding again in the last two quarters. Have they expanded too much into too many unrelated areas? What can they do to actually make money? If the no. 1 e-commerce retailer, with billions in annual turnover, cant make a cent in profit over the course of 7 years, isnt that pathetic business management? Incidentally, their much-praised user experience hasnt saved them.) |
| Mon 26 Aug 01:57 | MadMan | John, I posted my comment without reading your linked article, but after a casual glance, I found this statement: I would bet that users would be more likely to buy books because they were easy to purchase and had reviews readily available, than if they were 30% off versus 20% off. Saving a couple of bucks, for the majority of users, is significantly less compelling than a good review and a good overall shopping experience. I strongly disagree with that statement. If I'm buying a commodity like a book, the quality of the product is consistent from one store to the next, and if I can buy one for $15 versus $20, hell I'm going to buy from the $15 shop. If I'm buying more books and the price advantage is significant, I'll put up with fewer site features. JB, I never said that user experience is limited to the web site. That's why I don't call myself a 'usability person'. I've advocated the importance of sound marketing and business strategy many times on Webword. To me, user experience is a combo meal - content, IA, interfaces, usability, marketing & branding, CRM, and Net strategy. For instance, if I were working with a client, I wouldn't just limit myself to improving the usability of a section. I would actually question whether the section should even exist. (Simplified example to fit into this space.) I'd also wonder if promoting ProductX on the home page instead of ProductY makes business sense. I incorporate management wisdom into my work, which is the only sensible way to do things. Making that deep discount item easily findable is not that important if it's going to bleed the company. |
| Mon 26 Aug 02:07 | MadMan | I hate to rub it more in your face, John, but you also say: I'll give you some Year 2001 Predictions. Here are today's closing stock prices of the customer focused companies I mentioned above. Come back in about a year and see if I am correct. See if these companies are doing significantly better, and see if their stock prices are higher: Amazon: 15 3/16 Yahoo: 25 5/8 AOL: 37.66 Ahem, looking at current stock prices, we find: Amazon is about the same Yahoo is less than half of that year's level AOL is about a third of the price then Wither user experience benefits, John? (I'm from India and so don't use AOL, but do they really offer a great experience? Isn't this the company that shipped a crummy browser and an even crummier email client, tried to confine net access to its own network, and displays waves of pop-up ads? Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.) |
| Mon 26 Aug 07:27 | John S. Rhodes | MadMan, you made my point exactly. I was thinking about my predictions just the other day and how I was dead wrong. Granted, the market has been taking a beating. But still, does a good user experience really help more than other measures? Marketing, operations, and so forth. Don't worry folks, I still believe that there are many benefits of usability! I just want everyone to know that there are other things to consider than a good user experience. No usability professional should tell you that usability is the answer. There are many paths to success; always many factors. |
| Dasher | Sun 25 Aug |
| Dasher is an information-efficient text-entry interface, driven by natural continuous pointing gestures. Dasher is a competitive text-entry system wherever a full-size keyboard cannot be used... |
| Mon 26 Aug 05:39 | Matt Round | I tried this a while back, it's a very interesting idea, but the continuous zooming would probably make me feel queasy after a while. Also, it's seriously flawed where pen input is concerned - there's no way you'd want to keep the pen on the screen and slide it around constantly, you'd have to maintain constant pressure but not too much otherwise you'll damage the screen. If you're right-handed the pen will often obscure an important part of the screen. |
| Feds doing elementary e-gov | Sun 25 Aug |
| The San Francisco State University survey showed that 87 percent of federal Web sites still fail to meet accessibility standards despite being required by law for the past 14 months. |
| Mon 26 Aug 03:57 | Jack Schonchin | Let me guess. The government passed the law, with no provisions for training its web designers. Then we're surprised that the sites are still inaccessible. |