| last updated:26 Sep 2003 05: 14 Webword time, or 26 Sep 2003 10:14 UK time |
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| Webword Statistics - Recent Comments (Comments added for week ending Sun 21 Sep 2003) | View Other Weeks |
| WebWord Comment | Wed 17 Sep |
| I met an American who served in the U.S. Navy for about 25 years, with most of his time spent in Japan. After getting out, he landed a job in Japan for about 5 years. He is now working as a civil servant of the Japanese government, although he is still an American citizen. So, if you add this all up, hes spent the better part of 35 years living and working in Japan. If you talked to this guy and he didnt tell you all of this, you would never know it. Hes even married to a Japanese woman. Despite this exposure, he has no accent, mannerisms, or attitudes that would make you think he has lived and worked in Japan for that long. Do we really become so frozen when we are young? (Research seems to says yes, unfortunately.) |
| Wed 17 Sep 22:05 | Ron Zeno | It helps that the country in question is extremely nativist and xenophobic, and has been so for centuries. |
| Thu 18 Sep 00:48 | John Garside | It also helps that the US military is nativist and xenophobic. They rarely venture off bases that are mostly isolated, and habitually use only dollars. This means the ex-serviceman was well into his forties by the time he was on the outside. Hidebound as an Eagles fan. After ten years in Japan, I was falsely presumed to be American by my fellow Briits and Australian by Americans! The Australians thought I was from N. Zealand. Now I live in Denmark, very few people pigeon-hole me at all. |
| Thu 18 Sep 06:33 | Chi Lambda | I'm an American living abroad for 6 years. I'm 28. I can tell you, without a doubt, that it's very hard to change. |
| Fri 19 Sep 00:39 | daniel szuc | I think it depends how much you want to expose yourself to the culture you are living in. I know many expats living in HK who really have not made any attempt to understand local thinking or just frequent the same places that are predominantly western. On the other hand there are people who make an effort to learn the language, enjoy the foods and conduct themselves in a way that locals understand. It took me about 2 years to begin to understand the differences in HK and of course, I am still learning. I think thats the key, being open to learn and try something new. |
| Fri 19 Sep 00:44 | Ron Zeno | 'it depends how much you want to expose yourself to the culture' And how much the culture is willing to let you be a part of it... |
| Fri 19 Sep 07:55 | daniel szuc | This is true. Its probably easier for me as my girlfriend is Chinese and fortunately I have been invited with open arms into the family. Perhaps its my love of Chinese food ;) |
| Fri 19 Sep 09:38 | Anonymous | I don't understand why we ought to judge this person. Aren't we talking about one's identity? Can't one be comfortable with one's own culture, who one is? John's comment didn't say the guy was a bad guy. |
| Sat 20 Sep 05:24 | Philip Chalmers | I don't think you can generalise - people and situations vary too much. Some people seem to be more plastic than others. A famous example - Henry Kissinger always spoke with a German accent but his brother sounded totally American. The man John Rhodes is talking about had 25 years to practice remaining American while living in Japan. He was probably hired by the Japanese civil service because he was an American so it's probably to his advantage in career terms to remain visibly American. |
| Has Nokia Phone Design Stalled? | Wed 17 Sep |
| Now, the part that make me wonder lately is if Nokia is losing some of that stuff that makes Nokia one of the top brands in the world. What Im talking about is not their business sense or the technology, but the simple question of Design. (Dans Comments: Yes a simple question of Design and Usability. Do webworders think Nokia has lost the plot?) |
| Wed 17 Sep 21:55 | John S. Rhodes | From the article: 'Mobiles have become fashion accessories as much as they are utility items and I'm not sure if Nokia is keeping up with this trend.' I completely disagree with the 'as much' part of the sentence above. In other words, I do not think that the technology aspects of mobiles (i.e., cell phone, camera, radio, MP3 player, etc.) are equally important as their fashion aspects (i.e., color, status symbol, etc.). Technology is definitely still king! A mobile, or even simply a cell phone, is valued by most users because it helps people interact and communicate. The fashion aspects are side benefits only, in my opinion. From the article: 'But seriously, it seems to me much of Nokia's new designs have been simply a combination of wacky keypad layouts and ever-so-slightly differently shaped bodies.' I agree with this observation. However, there are limitations that won't go away, such as form factor. Until mobiles become jewelry or something else we're stuck with the same basic size and shape, although weight and interfaces might change. (But, as I like to say, eggs only come in one basic shape!) From the article: 'However, when *all* your phones have the same exact UI, and you design your phones around it and its static screen size, and that UI stopped innovating over a year or so ago, eventually the design of the phones themselves are going to eventually become stale.' If fashion really is your thing, then your technology might become stale. However, the benefits of standardization and similarity are extremely high. How hard are the buttons and icons to use in Excel once you know Word? Not very. Humans like familiar things. We're wired that way. (Why do you think we form stereotypes? We are inference machines!) From the article: 'So from a business perspective, its obvious Nokia knows what they're doing. They've got over $8 billion in the bank and their market share keeps growing while competitors like SonyEricsson battle for 4-5% of the market and struggle to gain financial viability. From a technical perspective, they've got the amazing S60 platform and functional home-grown CDMA2000 chipsets. But from a *design* perspective, it really looks like Nokia has stalled and I have to wonder how long it will be before that comes to start affecting their bottom line as well.' Um, from what I can tell, Nokia have done things right. They've focused on the right things, and they've focused on people. The author makes it clear that they've taken care of people and technology, and that is what has driven profits. Design? Well, what is design exactly? Tell me that and I'll tell you what usability is. I think rather than designs, Nokia needs to keep an eye on things like standards, new technologies, new infrastrucutres, and so forth. Despite what the author implies, mobile technology is still in its infancy and if you focus on design too much, you'll miss trends at the edges. Those edges can quickly become disruptive. |
| Thu 18 Sep 12:27 | Anonymous | Of course the assumption is that to design is to monkey around with superficial details. Design can be disruptive. The better designs are disruptive. |
| Fri 19 Sep 00:29 | daniel szuc | http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/70/smartcompany.html |
| Fri 19 Sep 08:40 | Alastair Campbell | I switched from a Nokia to a Sony/Erriscon (T68i). I regret the switch. I had thought that other companies would have caught up with the Nokia interface, I was wrong :( [Mostly task-flow details, like not being able to go from received phone calls to the person's details. It also crashes!] I will be switching back asap. -Alastair |
| Fri 19 Sep 10:59 | daniel szuc | I was amazed to read that Sony dont even account for the user as part of their Product Development lifecycle as their products are developed under complete secrecy. So I am not surprised when I hear people complain about poor usability with Sony products. |
| Fri 19 Sep 18:32 | Mac | Talking on Nokia, have you seen this article about 'Usability and Games: Nokia's Guidelines for Greater Fun'. The set of guidelines can be found here. |
| Contempt of Consumer: It's a Real Crime | Fri 12 Sep |
| Were making those people our customers angry. In our race to make as much money as possible (as fast as possible), we take time and resources and esteem and careers and use them up as fast as we can. Weve lost sight of what it means to treat customers with respect. We also disrespect our shareholders, our employees, and our government but its all part of the same problem. |
| Thu 18 Sep 12:39 | Ralph | Voice mail hell comes to mind: Best: An actual human answers Second Best: A short, well-designed tree with escape to a human possible at any time. Worst: One that is confusing, longwinded, has no escape to a human, and doesn't have the choice you want, so your only choice is to hang up. |
| Misunderstanding Micropayments | Mon 15 Sep |
| (Scott McCloud) Free content is here to stay, file-sharing is here to stay, and any attempt to completely wipe out either is doomed to failure (as it should be). But that in no way precludes the co-existence of markets based on the desires of willing sellers and willing buyers. To proclaim without a hint of doubt that such a market will never exist for low cost digital content contradicts everything we know about the Web’s inexhaustible capacity for variety and adaptation. (Comments: I think never is a strong word. On the other hand, Im not willing to buy content online right now at the micro level. What I think is being missed is macro payments for electronic material. For example, I know that people were willing to spend $4.95 for WebWord material that I put together. Note that this material was already freely available on WebWord yet people still bought it when I packaged it up and threw a price on it. This leads me to believe that people would rather spend $4.95 for 200 pages of material than $0.02 or $0.03 for a page of content, or even $0.25 for a full blown online comic. My recommendation: Forget micro payments and aim for macro payments. For some reason it seems to make more sense to pay more and get more, than to pay less and get less. Or even more. Consider Nielsens insanely expensive usability reports. Setting prices is a black art. Both McCloud and Shirky need to look into pricing research. And read more about the psychology of buying. And more. I think I can explain a lot of this pricing stuff, but I would need to write an article. Is anyone willing to pay me to write the article? :-) Thanks for the pointer, Frank.) |
| Tue 16 Sep 11:37 | Jim | How about 2 or 3 cents? :) |
| Tue 16 Sep 15:05 | pb | $50-$250 for Nielsen's reports is not 'insanely expensive' under any definition. That's jsut a cheap (inaccurate) shot at a competitor and questions your credibility. |
| Wed 17 Sep 21:03 | daniel szuc | I think Micropayments may be difficult to track or manage. It reminds me a little of mobile providers charging by data transfer. People perhaps dont understand how it works so they are less inclined to buy into it. |
| Wed 17 Sep 21:34 | John S. Rhodes | pb wrote: '$50-$250 for Nielsen's reports is not 'insanely expensive' under any definition. That's jsut a cheap (inaccurate) shot at a competitor and questions your credibility.' Partial correction. Nielsen's reports are expensive for most people and most small organizations. In my opinion, most people and small organizations will get 90% of what they need from reading Don't Make Me Think (Krug's book). In this context, Nielsen's report are 'insanely' expensive and a waste of money. If you don't agree, that's fair. |
| Wed 17 Sep 22:06 | Lyle Kantrovich | I'd also say that NNG reports aren't insanely expensive. If you compare them to the cost of Forrester research reports or running your own study, they aren't outrageously priced. That doesn't mean I find all of their reports worth buying unless they relate to a direct business need. I wouldn't buy them just to hone my skills, but I'll buy them if they relate to a project or application I'm involved with. Lower pricing or a subscription pricing option would likely change the number of reports I'd buy. |
| Crafting a Powerful Executive Summary | Mon 15 Sep |
| (HBS Working Knowledge) If you think a proposal’s executive summary is really a summary, you’re missing the point. Here are six tips for turning your blah conclusions into an effective, well-substantiated pitch. (Comments: Might require free registration, blah blah blah.) |
| Wed 17 Sep 21:24 | daniel szuc | Let people read first then if they like ask them to register their interest. Why create the roadblock first? |
| Your website is for your customer, not for | Mon 15 Sep |
| you (Gerry McGovern) But the public website is on the outside. It is for the public, not for the organization. It should be written in the language your target readers feel most comfortable with. Troubled artists may get away with saying that they only write for themselves. That approach gets you nowhere in business. |
| Wed 17 Sep 20:51 | daniel szuc | I think the same applies to our profession. The need to explain in easy terms what we do and how we do it. This will also assist the sales process. This is where Krug's book has been so well received as its written in an easy digestible style. |
| WebWord Comment | Mon 15 Sep |
| I get email from people from around the world. I really enjoy this communcation. It opens my eyes and keeps me thinking about topics I would otherwise ignore. However, one thing drives me crazy. I would say that about 50% of the emails include a disclaimer, something to the effect of Im sorry my english is so bad. The reason it drives me nuts is that nearly every person who writes this has excellent English skills. In fact, much better command of English than the native speakers I interact with on a regular basis. So please, if you write me, dont feel that you need to apologize for your language skills. Ive only ever received 2 or 3 emails I couldnt parse. Keep one more thing in mind. My language skills are terrible. I am only fluent in English. If you know two languages, youre a million miles ahead of me. |
| Tue 16 Sep 00:11 | Casper Milquetoast | Mcomonusicaimtin Jhon. Tsohe ppoele are unisg 'bad' as aonyntm snalg. Wehn tehy say 'bad' tehy maen 'good.' Tehy are mcinokg you harcrode! |
| Wed 17 Sep 06:15 | Michael | I get lots of email about my sites and have noticed the same thing. Those who apologize always have a fine, or at least serviceable, command of English. Those who write incomprehensible gibberish never apologize (and sadly, most are native English speakers from the US). |
| Wed 17 Sep 09:20 | Kyle Winthrop | i like to blame everything on dumb americans. |
| Uzilla | Sat 13 Sep |
| Heuristic Review is a process for expert review of web/software usability. uzReview is a Mozilla sidebar designed to facilitate this process. It supports the logging of heuristics against a URL or a keyword. The keyword facility is designed to allow the review of processes or workflows. Additionally, theres a rich text editor which supports drag and drop of content from the browsed pages for comments, ui improvements, etc. (Comments: Thanks Andy Edmonds @ Uzilla, LLC.) |
| Mon 15 Sep 19:35 | Ron Zeno | From the poster: 'Heuristic review is a proven usability method for for expert evaluation of a software based upon a small set of guidelines.' Obviously not reviewed for accuracy, meaning, nor correct grammar. :( |
| SAP | Sat 13 Sep |
| is an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning System) and a whole lot more. Unfortunately, it is difficult to implement and configure, and novice users find it to be overwhelming. The good news for SAP is that just about any person who has used it will tell you that it is very powerful. Furthermore, once it is installed and configured, and users are properly trained, it can provide significant ROI for a company. I have direct experience with SAP. The user interface has frustrated me very much, although I keep telling myself that it is a good system. I know that expert users love it. So, I stick to it and keep learning. But, I need to express some frustration with the interface so lets take a look at the login screen. I want to point out three things that drive me nuts. First, in the upper left hand corner (Item 1) you will see a strange looking icon. It sort of looks like a rectangle with a trapezoid of some sort on top. It allows you to restore, minimize, and move the window as well as some other special functions. I dont have a problem with the functionality but I do have a problem with the contrast. The light blue on the dark blue is terrible. This same color scheme shows up all over. It is the default color scheme, and while I like the colors, I hate the low contrast. It makes it difficult to use the interface. Secondly, to change your password you need to fill in your username and password and then click on the New Password button (Item 2). Ive needed to change my password a few times in SAP and each time I really have to think about what to do. I always want to just click the New Password button. Im not allowed, of course, then I need to think back about how I did it in the past, or look up the process in an old email or database. Maybe Im just being picky, but it just doesnt make any sense to me. The process doesnt feel right. Finally, the password field is poorly designed. Before you start typing, the field is filled with asterisks (Item 3). Thats right, before you type the field has information in it. First time users are always, and I mean always, confused by this. Ive been using SAP for a while now and it still confuses me. On the good side, when you type at least the cursor moves. But other than that, the password field is terrible. In my opinion it completely violates the population stereotype of password field design. |
| Mon 15 Sep 06:47 | sherlock_yoda | There's one thing I'd like to see with these on-line critiques: some discussion of how these flaws might affect the business bottom-line. It is the only real way we'll influence those who might pay for our services. So, the interface is lousy - so what? Why should I care as Mr. Managing Director? As you say, many people acknowledge that SAP can be difficult to use and hard to customise. Yet, it is very successful. We've got to start making some good business arguments. Hopefully at a more credible level than those offered by Mr. Nielsen.. Sherlock |
| Mon 15 Sep 19:28 | Ralph | I have never heard a good word about SAP from a user. I've heard it turns getting a pencil into an ordeal, but in all fairness, maybe that's how it cuts costs. My opinion is that it's the product of overcontrolling Teutonic bean-counters. But that's just me, and this is only hearsay at this point. I'll get a chance to see for myself soon since it is of course coming everywhere to a company near you. |