| last updated:14 Aug 2003 07: 14 Webword time, or 14 Aug 2003 12:14 UK time |
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| Webword Statistics - Recent Comments (Comments added for week ending Sun 10 Aug 2003) | View Other Weeks |
| Usability Professionals Must Disappear | Fri 08 Aug |
| (Mark Hurst) Instead of singing me me meeee about their job title (and, for that matter, their peculiar UX-centered research methods), usability professionals should disappear - like any good interface - and just serve the company and the various groups inside it. |
| Fri 08 Aug 16:04 | Ron Zeno | Other than the facilitator comments at the end, I'm in agreement with Mark. Plus, all the talk about names and titles demonstrates some real incompetency in design skills: it's like redesigning a product by only changing the labels. Sure, you can improve the product, but only in a very trivial way. |
| Fri 08 Aug 20:36 | Anonymous | Yea. Another 'What is art?' rehash. I don't subscribe to Mark Hurst's point of view. Become facilitators?! We're designers, not therapists. Therefore we must be advocates. And until such time excellence is the norm, rather than the exception, we must be chew iron ore and spit nails. As for titles, I don't care one bit. My only care is that my product's help my users succeed in their endeavors. Grant me that and I'll let you call me anything you want. |
| Sat 09 Aug 01:53 | daniel szuc | I think we do need a consistent term to represent what we do. Also think there is still much work to do on helping business improve the usability of their products and educating them on the core benefits of usability, without venturing too far into the total 'customer experience' thing. However, can also see why this is becoming more important as business/product marketing folks are now expecting products not only to be usable but to satisfy, please, excite and also re-enforce the customer's 'brand experience' (depending on the product of course :) Can see this happening in the mobile space, but unfortunately at the expense of usability. Do agree that like any job, we need to demonstrate value and a positive impact on the product development. |
| Sat 09 Aug 11:41 | Ron Zeno | 'I think we do need a consistent term to represent what we do.' But you're assuming that what we do is consisent (or consistent performance doesn't matter). As long as we don't have some minimal, consistent performance, attaching a label to it is a con. |
| Sat 09 Aug 11:49 | daniel szuc | Tell me more. How do we aim for more consistency? |
| Sun 10 Aug 11:23 | Ron Zeno | 'How do we aim for more consistency?' There needs to be a common set of knowledge, skills, beliefs, etc. The easiest way (still very hard) is for everyone to have the same education and training - a standard curriculum. Searching for an existing, common set of knowledge etc is a waste of time unless you're willing to exclude people right away. This is the downside of having such a diverse group of people, having no entry requirements, and much of the work being low-skill. |
| Common Mistakes | Sun 10 Aug |
| There are several common mistakes made by those conducting usability tests. Most of these, once identified, are easy to avoid. |
| Sun 10 Aug 11:12 | Ron Zeno | 'Failure to run a pilot test...' That alone covers so very much. |
| Converging on the Couch | Sat 09 Aug |
| (Scientific American) Fun is a hard quality to design, especially for computer engineers. Fun things just work; they do not frustrate. |
| Sat 09 Aug 06:21 | Mac | With my experience, maybe I can get a job with them. |
| Sun 10 Aug 06:03 | daniel szuc | I think you might be on to something here Mac. I am a big fan of the cue stick. |
| When good software goes bad | Sat 09 Aug |
| (CNN) Malfunctioning software glitches have become harder to escape as billions of lines of code much of it, experts say, hastily written and poorly tested control cell phones, cars, stoves, cable boxes and personal computers. |
| Sat 09 Aug 11:36 | Ron Zeno | It usually comes down to marketing. A difference that makes no difference is no difference. I've always found Don Norman's 'jnd' (jnd.org - just noticeable difference) to be ironic. Just noticeable differences rarely make much difference... |
| Sun 10 Aug 00:28 | daniel szuc | Asking yourself what do you really need something for and making sure it supports those tasks is important. Many are price driven and often do not get a chance to try before buy. There have been many occassions where a product impresses on first looks and you get dazzled by the marketing fluff, but on use ... disappoints. |
| Sun 10 Aug 02:32 | Eric Scheid | To pay more means having to work harder/longer/more/smarter to earn the extra money first. Developing an interface which has an iomplicit expectation of expecting users to work harder/longer/more/smarter is pretty well doomed to failure, isn't it? 'Don't make me think!' |
| A flashlight with no batteries! | Sat 09 Aug |
| The light is shaken for about 30 seconds to recharge a capacitor and it will then provide about 5 minutes of light. As the light is shaken, a magnet passes through a metal coil generating electricity. (Dans Comments: Thanks Jason) |
| Sat 09 Aug 07:20 | Mathias | Great item if you have nothing to do with computer or electronics. What you are shaking is a VERY VERY strong magnet. |
| Sat 09 Aug 11:23 | Gerald | Perfect solution for your car or if you want to make camping ;-) And it seems less vulnerable to water/wetness or mechanical abrasion, as in case of a dynamo solution. |
| Sun 10 Aug 01:48 | Dennis G. Jerz | How many times have you shaken a flashlight when its batteries are dying? It's such a natural action, even though usually it never does any good. This sounds like great design to me. Does anyone know how the light compares to, say, the focused beam of a Mini MagLite? I have a blue LED on a flexy neck that plugs into my laptop's USB port. It casts out a fairly nice general light, with a little spot that I aim at the keyaboard (particurlay at the navigation keys, which are in different locations on every keyboard I use, so the light really helps when I'm up late typing and don't want to disturb anyone else). |
| Long regarded as the 'king of usability' | Sat 09 Aug |
| Ultimately, we all need to take our own fate in our own hands and demand usability. Refuse to use Web sites that are complex or that pop up too many annoying ads. Only buy consumer electronics products that have been reviewed as being easy to use. Vote for politicians who promise to simplify the tax forms. |
| Sat 09 Aug 22:54 | daniel szuc | I see advances in voice recognition and video communications. What do other webworders predict about the future and use of technologies? Ah yes, Sunday, a cup of coffee and webword :) I need to get out more ... |
| All over for blogs? | Fri 08 Aug |
| (Bill Thompson) In fact, I had stopped paying careful attention to the lists and the blogs even before I left the country. It seemed to me that the number of useless postings and blog entries was starting to increase and there was less and less there that was really of interest. |
| Fri 08 Aug 14:12 | Mac | Three items a day on WebWord seem about right. |
| Fri 08 Aug 16:31 | Matt Round | Bill Thompson is a bit bored with the Web, so he's written a rambling article about being bored, extrapolated to suggest blogs are on the way out (why does everything have to be 'hot' or 'not'?). I suggest a break from technology journalism. |
| Fri 08 Aug 17:31 | John | I wish it was all over for broad, sweeping generalizations... |
| Sat 09 Aug 16:15 | mcw | Most blogs are pretty bad - - poor writing, uninteresting topics, and self-absorbed. Predictions were that everyone would blog, this turned out to be as accurate as 'everyone will write a novel' or 'everyone will write for the local newspaper.' Writing is a skill and not everyone has it, just as not everyone can hit a major league fastball, code programs, or pick out clothes that look good together. |
| WebWord Comment | Fri 08 Aug |
| WebWord is 5 years old. What did we say last year? |
| Fri 08 Aug 23:05 | daniel szuc | Technology by and for the people. |
| Sat 09 Aug 05:04 | Mac | Happy Birthday John ! (2 days late...) |
| Field Studies: The Best Tool to Discover User Needs | Fri 08 Aug |
| (Spool) While techniques, such as focus groups, usability tests, and surveys, can lead to valuable insights, the most powerful tool in the toolbox is the field study. Field studies get the team immersed in the environment of their users and allow them to observe critical details for which there is no other way of discovering. |
| Sat 09 Aug 04:33 | daniel szuc | Completed a site visit for a customer in Hong Kong and it was extremely valuable. As with Usability Testing, setting objectives and preparing the right investigation questions was very important. I am hoping we get more opportunity to conduct more site visits in the future :) While we do not always get a chance to do this, we try and conduct some small amount of analysis or user research when we get access to the real customers. Even if this means slotting in some questionning before a Usability Testing session. |
| News writing: The 100 worst groaners | Tue 05 Aug |
| A groaner is a hackneyed, overblown, stuffy or just plain silly cliché that turns up time after time in news scripts. Groaners show laziness on the part of writers, disrespect for the folks watching, and a general contempt for lively English. Here are some of the worst offenders. You’ll recognize them immediately, so get ready to groan! |
| Tue 05 Aug 05:24 | Philip Chalmers | Would be excellent if the author had been satisified with 50. The silliest item is: In The Line Of Duty - Coptalk. Noble as it may sound, this is not normal conversational English. What’s wrong with saying the police officer was killed on the job? Does the author know the alternative meaning of 'on the job'? |
| Fri 08 Aug 22:00 | Frank Lynch | The writer of this list struck me as peevish. In broadcast journalism, I think you need variety, and these cliches, alternated with more straightforward expressions, provide variety without asking the audience to think too much about what they're hearing. A listener has to process serially, and something too original will get in the way of later information. Take these cliches away, and the audience will be left with a very dry newscast; and the station's ratings will fall. |
| An Open Letter to Tog | Tue 05 Aug |
| (Croc o Lyle) My suggestion would be for people to get active in UPA or SIG-CHI or AIGA-ED or aifa or whatever and make an impact in the direction of those organizations. Help them better acheive their stated goals. Start a local chapter, volunteer for a board position, start a SIG, plan an event around ID/IA thats sponsored by an existing organization. Its a hell of a lot less work than creating a whole new organization, and you wont be competing with related organizations either. (Comments: Fix what weve got or fork it?) |
| Tue 05 Aug 08:40 | Mac | Being a lefty member of various groups I am used to seeing factions attempt to set up their own organisations in an attempt to resolve long standing issues in the wider community. These organisations rarely survive in the longer term, but they can be very useful in forcing the elder organisations to think about how they are responding to their existing members and their potential members. I think that Tog is doing the right thing by attempting to set up the IAA. If there are enough interested people who are willing and able to get it off then ground then there is a need for it. Even if the IAA fizzles out like a match in a puddle, at least it will have sparked a healthy debate within the 'confederation of like minded interfacy type thingy groups'. The uprising of the masses must lead to the overthrow of the domination of one class and to the establishment of the domination of another. Only then have we achieved a revolution. |
| Tue 05 Aug 10:04 | fajalar | I think it is good to see the discussion generated by this. Lyle, Girlwonder, me, and the experiencedesign group on Yahoo!, have all jumped in quickly about this. Thing is, I don't see anyone saying, Go Tog! As I said in my response, coordination needs to happen at the society level, not the 'grassroots' level Tog speaks of. Get those societies working together in an official capacity and you just might have something. |
| Tue 05 Aug 11:47 | Ron Zeno | Nice, Lyle! Mac - I disagree. The field needs cohesiveness and focus to become more effective and thus respected. I see Tog as either ignoring current problems or intentionally detracting from them (he is at NNG, after all)... |
| Wed 06 Aug 03:19 | Mac | Ron, I think's its my cynical optimism showing through! |
| Wed 06 Aug 23:16 | daniel szuc | Instead of repeating the negatives of the past where Usability was ignored or not included as part of budget; develop a list of postitives and stories that show that it simply cannot be ignored anymore. We all agree this is the case right? |
| Wed 06 Aug 23:56 | Ron Zeno | Daniel - Please explain in more detail. CHris MacGregor has some good comments on Flazoom: http://www.flazoom.com/cooler/1060096272,6051,.shtml |
| Thu 07 Aug 06:35 | daniel szuc | Hi Ron, just that sometimes when I am pitching usability into organisation, I can find myself slipping into the 'I am lucky to be invited to the table' mindset. And I ask myself why? I am working to shift this thinking towards, usability cannot be ignored if a product is to be successful and a more positive approach. Understanding of course that usability is only one of many factors. If 'developers', for example, are seen as imperatives in projects, why not usability folks? Does this make sense? Its getting late in Hong Kong :) I guess what I am trying to say is that we should always be invited to the project table. |
| Fri 08 Aug 15:58 | Ron Zeno | Daniel - No, unless you define who 'we' is, and in doing so exclude the incompetent, delusional, and unethical. But if you're just saying that many people are taking the viewpoint of being underdogs and it's detrimental to what they say they are trying to accomplish, then I'd agree with that... Mark Hurst is as fed up with the name game as I: http://www.goodexperience.com/columns/03/0808.disappear.html |
| Fri 08 Aug 19:17 | daniel szuc | I like the word 'Usability' Some of the other terms being thrown around recently are just too 'fluffy' and I see these as sub-sets of an already established profession i.e they all work in tandem to make something more usable. Or perhaps these are specialist roles? Usability = Doctor (Practitioner), Information Architect = Podiatrist (Specialist) Sometimes I feel like I am trying to revive sick products :) I am also in favour of supporting existing organisations to strengthen our part in the projects. This should also include some criteria to 'formalise' what it means to be a Usability Practictioner and Specialist. By the way just as there is an 'eye for design' is there also an 'eye for usability'? |
| WebWorder Sighting - Hacktivism through the eyes of an infiltrator | Fri 08 Aug |
| But Fadia does not impress everyone, particularly hardcore security and cryptography enthusiasts. Some seasoned techies in India dismiss him as just another fad. The press ... are generally tech-illiterate and wouldnt know a digital signature from any other signature. So they print nonsensical sentences apparently said by Ankit, says Madhu Menon, an internet usability consultant. |
| Fri 08 Aug 14:18 | Mac | Why don't you try stalking people through Google News Alerts ? |
| Fri 08 Aug 14:26 | Mac | Madhu Menon - Bio MadMan - WebWord History Superhero Alter-Ego |
| Fri 08 Aug 16:10 | Ron Zeno | Go MadMan! Now, if we can just get MadMan to explain what his point was. You've been edited to a near-meaningless sound-bite MadMan! |
| Study: Linux nears Windows XP usability | Mon 04 Aug |
| Linux, once viewed as an operating system that only computer geeks could appreciate, is today a much more user-friendly software that companies, public administrations and consumers can master almost as easily as Microsoft Corp.s Windows XP. (Comments: Any implications?) |
| Wed 06 Aug 14:29 | Joshua Kaufman | Any implications? It will just look OS X look even better as compared to Linux and Windows. |
| Thu 07 Aug 13:46 | Ralph | I think Microsoft has turned into General Motors, i.e. lost in medicrity. To me XP is so joyless and dumbed-down that I am seriously thinking of trying Linux. |
| Brittan’s Rules of Software Usability | Tue 05 Aug |
| The experience that I and my colleagues have had in these three companies has led me to boil down good usability into three rules about what really matters most... (Comments: Thanks Phil!) |
| Tue 05 Aug 13:03 | Ron Zeno | 'There are plenty of folks who have studied the issues of software usability far, far more rigorously than I have, people like Jakob Nielsen, Tog, and Alan Cooper... 'rigorously'? Tog? Cooper?! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ! |
| Tue 05 Aug 15:26 | Anonymous | Cooper I can understand, Ron. But what about Tog? He's been in the business for a while. |
| Tue 05 Aug 23:45 | Ron Zeno | Tog's borderline - at least he's demonstrated in his books that he knows something about usability and design. Cooper's off the deep end - wat little useful information he has, he says it loudly and at length, a nice and well-known propaganda technique. |
| Design Patterns: An Evolutionary Step to Managing Complex Sites | Sat 02 Aug |
| (Spool) When your organizations web site or intranet has hundreds of contributors, how do you ensure that every page is high quality and extremely usable? Especially, if these contributors have never designed a web page before? This is a problem that many of our clients are facing and theyve tried a myriad of solutions, such as centralized approval processes, standardized templates, and style guides, all without success. However, the one solution that really excites us is now gaining a lot of attention design patterns. (Comment: The Design of Sites: Patterns, Principles, and Processes for Crafting a Customer-Centered Web Experience) |
| Mon 04 Aug 15:16 | Dino DRomero | Good call - 'The Design of Sites' is an excellent book on the subject. |
| Tue 05 Aug 20:58 | Jason Hong | Thanks for the plug for our book! Just some quick news, we're developing one-page versions of the patterns, to make it easier to spread them out over a floor or hang up on a wall. We're also doing some research with patterns, namely a design tool for cross-platform design using patterns and patterns in ubiquitous computing. Here's our book website if you're interested in more details. Some sample chapters and patterns are available online. |
| The Meaning of 'Schedule' | Mon 04 Aug |
| (StickyMinds) Then there is an underground real schedule, which is a period of time that people in the trenches think the project will actually take. In my experience, the real schedule still turns out to be optimistic. But the existence of real schedules shows healthy signs of teamwork, though management isnt a part of it. And a realistic guess from the trenches is better than the Gantt chart mirage. |
| Mon 04 Aug 13:18 | Anonymous | So, in essence, the *information* part and the *technology* part (charting software) never actually meet. The myth of information technology. |
| Tue 05 Aug 05:05 | Philip Chalmers | I'd have said the problem is that information and management seldom meet. |
| Tue 05 Aug 16:02 | Anonymous | Yes, let's blame the people, that'll start defensive reactions and that'll keep us from changing a line of code. And keep this dysfunction going another generation. |
| It's Time We Got Respect | Mon 04 Aug |
| (AskTog) I have taken the first, all-important step in founding the Interaction Architects Association: I have secured the name. Now is the time for one or more people with organizational skill and enthusiasm to become enshrined as founder(s) of the IAA. Are you the one who can launch this profession into a new era of respect and prosperity? |
| Mon 04 Aug 09:11 | fajalar | Again?! We have to go through this again?! How many times will we have a 'call to action' so we can be taken seriously? News flash: I am taken seriously. I don't have any problem with buy-in for doing user profiles, building the interaction (or workflow in client terms) before building the interface. I don't have any problems getting usability in as part of the project life-cycle. And frankly I don't think most of 'us' do have a problem. Yes, we can all be better. Yes, we could get even more acceptance, but come on, Tog! Oh, and one thing missing from Tog's call... making sure that when people inevitably acronym the title, the acronym is different that oh, say Information Architect. I think this is a case for: Professional, heal thyself. Wow, I haven't ranted for a while. @whee |
| Mon 04 Aug 09:32 | Sam | Sounds like another pr ploy by Nielsen Norman Group. Nothing that comes from this group will have credibility with practicioners. These guys are constantly trying to create thrones for themselves. |
| Mon 04 Aug 14:50 | MadMan | Mac says: I'm still calling myself a programmer. But maybe that's OK. Depends. Are you any good at it? ;) Wassup Mac? Haven't been here in a while and miss it terribly. |
| Mon 04 Aug 15:30 | Mac | Are you any good at it? Ahhh, I can't answer that question, but a lot of people use my apps and they don't complain very much. It's been quiet here lately, but I guess there's not a lot to say at the moment. It's weird how you can miss someone you have never met? But you can. |
| Mon 04 Aug 15:38 | Ron Zeno | Respect must be earned. Tog appears to be creating yet another granfalloon. |
| Mon 04 Aug 21:35 | John S. Rhodes | Holy crap! Look @ all of these comments! ;-) 'This is the most important column I have ever written.' I read his opening comment and I shrugged. Then, I read the article. Then I laughed. The most important article Tog's ever written? Then I guess he's only produced piles of dung. Oh, wait, did I actually write that? Oh well. |
| Tue 05 Aug 00:24 | Ron Zeno | Shame on you, John ;) So in the world according to Tog: UPA is a organization for testers. AIfIA and AIGA don't exist. SIGCHI is too research oriented. HFES is too technical. |
| Rick Chapman is In Search of Stupidity | Sat 02 Aug |
| (Joel on Software) In every high tech company I’ve known, there’s a war going on, between the geeks and the suits. Before you start reading this great new book full of propaganda from software marketing wizard and über-suit Rick Chapman, let me take a moment to tell you what the geeks think. |
| Mon 04 Aug 16:17 | Morris Cox | Reminds me of the Battle of the Sexes. :> |