(Comments added for week ending Sun 19 May 2002) | View Other Weeks
| last updated:16 Aug 2002 13: 32 Webword time, or 16 Aug 2002 18:32 UK time |
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| Webword Statistics - Recent Comments (Comments added for week ending Sun 19 May 2002) | View Other Weeks |
| Jared Spool, a Man with a Task | Sat 18 May |
| Hes been able to show that download times are (within limits) irrelevant to users satisfaction in using the Web. Satisfaction correlates with successful task completion – not in itself surprising – but he has found that so does the belief that the sites are faster and, for ecommerce sites, also cheaper. |
| Sun 19 May 13:11 | MadMan | He also thinks search isn't as important as IA on sites. Just imagine Amazon.com with a well-designed taxonomy but no search facility. I rest my case. |
| Sun 19 May 21:20 | Frank Lynch | IIRC from his fuller paper, Spool (or his firm) said that search was more important in some instances than in others... Sites where offerings were complex or very numerous were among the instances. I -don't- recall whether or not he said search was more important than IA in those instances. A well-rounded perspective, I think, would rely on the O'Reilly perspective in 'IA for the WWW'. That is, site designers should support both browsing and directed tasks. You need a good IA for those who want to browse, and you need good search for those who *want* to search. Spool's arguments that search is bad because it frequently works badly (e.g., doesn't support synonyms or misspellings) isn't really an indictment of search so much as its implementation. On my site, people use both the IA and the search function. I can't complain about them choosing one or the other - - a couple levels down, you hit a very detailed architecture (there are abut 500 pages) - - but reading my logs I can frequently figure out what people are after, and having both seems to help. Getting rid of search is not an alternative. Not on -my- site, anyway. |
| Hyperlinks in Email | Sun 19 May |
| (WebWord) Email usability can be dramatically increased or decreased by how URLs are designed and placed in messages. An example of one problem is described in detail in this article. Also, a couple of simple tips are provided to help you improve the URLs in your email messages. |
| Sun 19 May 18:15 | MadMan | Speaking of 404 pages, here's how to create useful 404 pages. |
| Slashdot egotrips over Flash webcam features | Sat 18 May |
| (Flazoom) Yesterday a post about the new Flash 6 plug-in webcam/microphone features showed us two things about the Slashdot community. First, they spread FUD faster than Microsoft when it comes to Flash. Second, these folks think that Macromedia needs their support for Flash to become a success (Not that having the most downloaded piece of software in the history of the Internet is a success story). |
| Sat 18 May 10:29 | Anonymous | Most downloaded? Yeah, right. If you want to believe the word of the company that is pushing its own product. |
| Sun 19 May 10:25 | Anonymous | I do not believe Macromedia's statistics - that they have the penetration they claim, or that the majority of people with Flash have an up-to-date version installed. Average people shun installing anything when prompted to on a web page. |
| Employees See a Need For Cellphone Manners | Fri 17 May |
| When we leap to answer a cellphone, its with the wan hope the next call will change our lives, even if its usually just mom. When it rings in a meeting, it says we matter. A call in a toilet stall says were indispensable. |
| Fri 17 May 09:15 | Alan Fisher | There's an obvious solution if a colleague's mobile rings when they're not there. Switch it off, then tell them you did so because it was distracting the rest of the office, but you didn't think you should answer it for them. And how did Jakob Nielsen get in on this? Can't get away from him... |
| Fri 17 May 11:43 | Anonymous | I'll never carry a mobile phone or a pager. I'll never accept a job that requires me to be reachable all of the time from everywhere. I've seen a celluar TV commercial where a guy is relaxing on the beach and he gets a business call. WTF? That's a selling point now? |
| Fri 17 May 13:11 | Berna | I realize that cell phones are required at times. It's sometimes important to let your family members know that you're stuck on the train for some unknown reason.. or in traffic.. or that you have a flat tire in the middle of nowhere.. fine. But seriously, at work? Or at 6:45am on a dead quiet train talking about your party plans with every single person you know? Nope.. I totally fail to understand that one! As I fail to understand: What does Nielsen have to do with this? Like Alan says, no getting away? |
| Fri 17 May 13:49 | foo | Dang it! I'm even sick of people ringing me on my home phone. I've just ripped it off the wall. If dear old mom wants to talk to me she can damn well hike on over and sit in my living room and talk to me. That goes for any friends that want to talk, even if it's just to organise an afternoon beer. So what if they work on the other side of town. I'm starting to get ideas about that mailbox out front too... |
| Fri 17 May 14:41 | MadMan | [In Borg voice] We are the Uncle Jakobs. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated... [end Borg voice] [In Skeletor voice] Give in to Uncle Jakob's omnipresence, puny mortals! You are but worms compared to his $10000 per day fee. [end Skeletor voice] [In Darth Vader voice] Alan, Jakob is your father... Join him and he will complete your training and together you can rule the Internet [end Darth Vader voice] Gawd it's late. Enough silliness. Where's Jack? |
| Fri 17 May 14:43 | MadMan | And if you want more sillyness, read this article on CNET by a guy who loves to read spam. http://news.com.com/2010-1076-915523.html No, I'm not kidding ya'. Yes, this is 2002, and no, it isn't 01 April. Makes those morons prohibiting deep linking look like Einsteins. >:( |
| Fri 17 May 14:46 | MadMan | Bugger, doesn't MT automatically hyperlink? Greymatter did. Here's the link again: Why I love spam: by Mr. Clueless |
| Fri 17 May 15:29 | Berna | Ok MadMan... I've read that article and I'm totally !#$@$^@$%&#%^*@$%^#@.. and birds.. and stars.. lots and lots of question marks! Yes, this is 2002, and how can anybody ask for more ads or unsolicited (e)mail? And thanks for that Star Wars bit, had a nice Friday afternoon laugh.. |
| Fri 17 May 17:26 | Anonymous | The most notable piece of that 'I love spam' article is the writer's job. He's some bonehead marketing consultant and his living obviously depends upon annoyances like SPAM. Here's a letter he wrote in to ClickZ where he claims that '...the Internet is just another marketing channel'. http://www.clickz.com/feedback/reader/article.php/994701 By the way, his email address is BDennis410@AOL.com. I'll make sure I remember to type that in whenever I'm asked for a random address. Please do the same. He's literally asking for it, after all... |
| Fri 17 May 18:08 | JB | Bary and Jackob have to be two of the biggest idiots around today. |
| Sun 19 May 06:43 | MadMan | That article by Barry Dennis inspired me so much that I just had to write a companion article. So... here it is: Why I love pop-up ads by MadMan. |
| Dashed hopes for dashboard electronics | Fri 17 May |
| (CNET) If the automobile industry proceeds with current business plans, the car of the future will include an outdated, malfunctioning jumble of incompatible electronic gadgets. |
| Fri 17 May 09:19 | Alan Fisher | 'We had some hubris', 'we recoiled and reinvented our approach', 'We shifted paradigms' - come on, you're making this up! No-one actually talks like that, do they? Do they? |
| Fri 17 May 12:51 | Anonymous | You obviously have never synergized compelling infrastructures for web-enabled experiences. You've got to evolve your plug-and-play content to utilize world-class e-business relationships. The time is ripe to seize cross-platform mindshare. |
| Fri 17 May 12:52 | Anonymous | P.S. Thank you Dack. |
| Fri 17 May 15:36 | one of them... | Now I know where people around here get their 'pieces' for meetings! yay! I'm one of them now.. seriously, thank you Dack! ;o) I'll be able to prepare myself for the next meeting, and be on top of everything! heh. |
| Sat 18 May 00:27 | Morris Cox | Read Dilbert and you'll get plenty of it. Jargon like that annoy me because if you don't get your message across, what's the point? The intent of it seems to be to confuse rather than communicating. |
| Sat 18 May 05:36 | MadMan | To all you folks, I highly recommend watching one of my favourite movies, Office Space. If you work in the tech industry, you will enjoy it. |
| UBS Warburg Makes History with JetBlue | Tue 14 May |
| Experts could not recall the last time an investment bank that helped underwrite an initial public offering (IPO) came out so soon afterward with a recommendation for investors to unload it. |
| Thu 16 May 22:17 | Toby Thain | Given the documented history of corporate crimes, injustices, negligence, destruction, deception etc etc - classic high profile examples being Microsoft, Enron; but a new headline every day - one has to wonder how many companies are HONEST? (If any.) |
| Is the Best Shopping Deal Really Online? | Tue 14 May |
| An admittedly unscientific survey of prices on leading e-tail sites and at brick-and-mortar stores found that it is often a toss-up when it comes to where the best prices can be found. |
| Wed 15 May 13:31 | MadMan | Ah, but can I do a price comparison in 5 minutes of 10 physical shops? No. Have they visited Amazon lately? Amazon's book prices are usually 20-30% lower than retail, and some are even 40% lower. |
| Thu 16 May 08:45 | Anonymous | Don't buy anything major online. Find the lowest price online, then get a brick 'n' mortar store to price match it. That way you get an easy return guarantee, and avoid shipping charges. Have you visited your local bookstore lately? Amazon has slightly lower prices, but those savings are lost in shipping fees (at least in the USA). The only time buying books online saves you significant money is in December when they sometimes offer free shipping. Even then, I'd rather my money go into local pockets, instead of some far-off corporation. |
| Why someone should be in charge of your website | Tue 14 May |
| (Gerry McGovern) The Pope heads the Catholic Church. George Bush is the President of the United States. Steve Ballmer is CEO of Microsoft. Paul E. Steiger is managing editor of The Wall Street Journal. Yet in a great many websites, particularly intranets, nobody is in charge. |
| Wed 15 May 13:29 | MadMan | Good one, Gerry. A big DUH! |
| Cries to open up IM have quieted | Tue 14 May |
| (CNET) Indeed, ownership of the customer is the single reason why AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo have kept their public stance on interoperability relatively quiet in the past year. |
| Wed 15 May 07:35 | Shane | Isn't it possible to still 'own the customer' using an open, standardized client interface over a standardized messaging protocol? Given that I own a telephone (open, standardized technology)that I bought from an appliance store and am a customer of AT&T, I know the answer is yes. If IM generated a revenue stream for AOL, Yahoo! and Microsoft outside of banner advertising, I believe we'd have an open standard. As a user, I care about interoperability. Right now I'm forced (I'm using that term loosely) to own/manage accounts on each of the three major IM platforms to simply keep in touch with friends, family and associates. Trillian helps me manage these accounts in a single interface, but they're not interoperable. I can't pull Tom, Peter and Mary into a chat unless they all use the same service. That's not user friendly or easy. Now imagine having to own/manage an account on Sprint, AT&T, Cingular, etc. in order to talk to one of your friends or family members who happen to be their customers. The true power of the telephone was realized when it became open and interoperable. IM will be no different. |
| Wed 15 May 11:52 | Matt Round | I don't yet use IM due to the lack of interoperability. I guess noone's learned anything from 'phone/email/SMS, where usage rocketed once systems were able to talk to each other. |
| WebWord Comment | Sun 12 May |
| Today I ran in the 2002 Tom Bugliosi Trail Run. It was cold, it was raining, and the trail was very, very muddy. It was also 13K and the longest distance I have ever run. I dont train very much and I am not trying to be a champion runner. Instead, I have two goals when I race: I never stop and I try not to finish last. Basically, I run to exercise and I run for the personal challenge. (If you are curious, I ran the race in 1:27:16.) One interesting thing is that during the race it was very hard for people to stay on the trail. A few people lost their way. The trail was fairly well marked but since the run was through the woods, and it was necessary to watch your footing, it was not easy to stay focused on the overall course. I think most people were more concerned with falling or tripping than staying on the trail. This reminds me of using the web. Most people want to follow the scent of information but much of their cognitive resources are spent simply using their browsers, fumbling with the navigation, and scanning pages for relevant content. |
| Tue 14 May 05:01 | A. Rhodes | I got lost on the race, but I knew that I was back on track when I saw you1 |
| Top Ten Guidelines for Homepage Usability | Sun 12 May |
| A companys homepage is its face to the world and the starting point for most user visits. Improving your homepage multiplies the entire websites business value, so following key guidelines for homepage usability is well worth the investment. |
| Mon 13 May 02:18 | Anonymous | Book for sale. Anyone want to buy Jakob's book? |
| Tue 14 May 00:59 | Chad Lundgren | I have the book. About every 4 pages, it plugs the PDF reports available on his web site. Very annoying, to be dunned to buy reports that contains text saying online users hate to be dunned by a bunch of ads. Jakob Nielsen's level of self-promotion is getting out of hand. Relax Jakob, you've made it. Are you shooting for $50,000 a speaking engagement or what? |
| WebWord Comment | Sun 12 May |
| Happy Mothers Day! Unfortunately, I did not like any Mothers Day web sites that I visited. Too many banners, too many pop up ads, and too much pink and purple text. I was also sad to find out that almost every site was commercial and most of the information was lame or plagiarized. |
| Mon 13 May 09:10 | MadMan | Too commercial... just like Mother's Day, Father's Day, Christmas, etc. perhaps? Here's a tip, folks. If you want to tell your mom you love her, don't wait for a particular day in a year. |
| Mon 13 May 10:00 | Alan Fisher | Why is Mother's Day in the USA on a different day from the UK? We had ours 2 months ago. At least that's one thing we manage to do before the Yanks do... Now, you do have Christmas on 25th December, don't you? |
| Mon 13 May 11:12 | AMom | Yeah, I am a mom and it sort of saddens me when people ask, what do you want for Mother's Day? It is nice to be remembered I guess, but I never really thought of it as a gift giving holiday. I appreciate a home made card or token, or and a little pampering and appreciation by family members so much more... |
| Mon 13 May 12:46 | John S. Rhodes | The MadMan is back...excellent! And, thanks to every other person here at WebWord. You folks really inspire me. Happy WebWord Poster Day! |
| Lost in Translation | Sun 12 May |
| As of April 2002, translation software is almost good enough to turn grammatically correct, slang-free text from one language into grammatically incorrect, barely readable approximations in another. But the software is not equipped for 10 consecutive translations of the same piece of text. The resulting half-English, half-foreign, and totally non sequitur response bears almost no resemblance to the original. |
| Mon 13 May 05:56 | Anonymous | 'Webword Usability Computing' becomes 'Analysis of the use of the cost of webword'. Not quite right... I always thought that the point of these translation utilities was to amuse yourself on a dull Friday afternoon. No-one takes them seriously, do they? |
| Mon 13 May 11:55 | Anonymous | I use these services when I receive a foreign language e-mail. The author's example is dubious at best. Stand 10 human translators in a line and send a message through the line. I bet what comes out the other end is as screwy as any computer translation. |