(Comments added for week ending Sun 22 Sep 2002) | View Other Weeks
| last updated:25 Sep 2002 15: 30 Webword time, or 25 Sep 2002 20:30 UK time |
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| Webword Statistics - Recent Comments (Comments added for week ending Sun 22 Sep 2002) | View Other Weeks |
| WebWord Scavenger Hunt | Sat 21 Sep |
| Jack wants to complain about the Deluxe Scrabble board game he purchased at Costco last week. Based on prior complaints to Costco, he knows talking to Costco is a waste of time. He wants to complain to the manufacturer. Can you locate an appropriate web comment form or e-mail address where he should direct his complaint? If so, please share the process you undertook to find it. Jack was stumped. |
| Sat 21 Sep 15:40 | Jack Schonchin | Hey, like how I talk about myself in third-person? Rule #1: Domain records do not count. Those e-mail addresses are not for customer service, not the appropriate place to direct a comment. Rule #2: I will be more impressed if your solution does not involve establishing an account and logging into the manufacturer's web site. Im my opinion, today's Deluxe Scrabble is a cheap (actually $$ costly), flimsy piece of plastic junk - a pure embarrassment. I immediately returned the game to Costco. I will buy a sturdy 1980s (maybe late '70s?) version on Ebay. In looking for a place to convey my shopping experience I went around in circles on the manufacturer's web site. |
| Sat 21 Sep 17:45 | John S. Rhodes | Step One Step Two Step Three Step Four Step Five Step Six Kiss my ass! |
| Sat 21 Sep 18:45 | Morris Cox | Why would they need to know your birthdate in order to 'provide the best possible online customer service'? Maybe a complaint to the Better Business Bureau and Hasbro deceiving (lying to) customers? HOW DARE THEY? What business is it of theirs? Apparently, they just want it so that they can sell it. |
| Sat 21 Sep 18:47 | Morris Cox | Why would they need to know your birthdate in order to 'provide the best possible online customer service'? Maybe a complaint to the Better Business Bureau about (why did I put and?) Hasbro deceiving (lying to) customers? HOW DARE THEY? What business is it of theirs? Apparently, they just want it so that they can sell it. |
| Sat 21 Sep 19:31 | Jack Schonchin | John, I'm not puckering up anytime soon. The birthdate screen was one of the first things I ran into. It is not a web form, nor an e-mail address. Supplying my birthdate only sends me to a page that says I have to read their FAQ first, and then I will be allowed to submit a question -- after I log in. I don't have a question, nor is it realistic to expect me to create an account and log in. I want a freakin' e-mail address or comment form to supply feedback. |
| Sat 21 Sep 19:48 | Adam Kalsey | I'm not sure you'd want to give any personal information to them anyway, including when you complain. From their terms of service: 'Should any viewer of a document on this web site respond to Hasbro with information including feedback data, such as questions, comments, suggestions, or the like regarding the site, or the content of any item, such information shall be deemed to be non-confidential and Hasbro shall have no obligation of any kind with respect to such information.' http://www.hasbro.com/home/terms.html (Emphasis added) |
| Sat 21 Sep 19:51 | Adam Kalsey | Later in the terms it says that personal information is governed by their privacy policy instead, but I still don't like them having two sets of rules for their information. Who decides what is 'personal information?' |
| Sat 21 Sep 23:43 | MadMan | Hey John, how about adding a 'customer service hall of shame' section to Webword? It would point out problems like these. Could be a hit. MadMan the ideas guy |
| Sun 22 Sep 14:06 | Kent | The age question on the Hasbro site appears to be an attempt to comply with the The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, which requires that children’s site obtain “verifiable parental consent” before collecting personal information from children under 13. This is an important consideration since Hasbro manufactures toys and the site contains sections aimed at children (note the age tabs in navigation bar on most pages in the site). When you enter a recent date on the site, It displays this message: -- Hey, Kids! Due to the nature of the personal and contact information we need to collect to provide the best possible online customer service, please ask a parent or guardian to submit a question for you. And, remember: Never give out your name, address, phone number or e-mail address online without your parents' permission because that stuff is yours and it's private! In the meantime, check out all the cool Hasbro Brands and Products online! -- Thus in the “customer care” are of the site, Hasbro attempts to step around the verifiable parental consent requirement, by asking children to have parents file requests in their place. The site’s privacy policy indicates that at least in some places of the site it does collect personal information from children and has a “Parental Consent Form” that must be filled out first. You only get that form after entering your age (either truthfully or not). This of course does not address Jack’s concern about having to view a FAQ before being able to enter a question. I find this a little obnoxious. It also does nothing to address Adam’s concern about the site treating all information as “non-confidential and Hasbro shall have no obligation of any kind with respect to such information.” All the more reason to not collect information from children, who might be unable to give “informed consent” to this violation of their privacy. |
| Sun 22 Sep 16:04 | Kent | In my last post, I did not address Jack’s original concern about how to contact Hasbro to convey his concerns about their shoddy merchandise. I note the frustrations by others when trying to use normal channels to convey the concern. Since at this point, the product has already been returned and we want to simply register a complaint about shoddy merchandise, I decide to go to the top and attempt to email the CEO. Of course the communication will actually be handled by an administrative assistant, if it is not simply ignored. Here is log of attempt to find CEO contact info: I click on the investor relation tab of the Hasbro Web site (mentioned by John above), and select “Investor Information.” This provides this contact info: Investor Relations 1027 Newport Avenue P.O. Box 1059 Pawtucket, RI 02862-1059 Phone: (401) 431-8697 Not quite what was desired; so I try again. This time I select annual reports under Corporate Info> Investor Information I select the most recent annual report (2001). I leaf through a couple pages, but I dislike the interface. I think about backing up and selecting the 2000 report, which is a pdf. PDFs are not desirable for browsing, but at least I would not have to learn a new interface and this one is rather ugly on my machine). Anyway I am not here to do an interface evaluation, so I decide to type “chief“ in the search box. The results page show CEO is Alan G. Hassenfeld and COO is Alfred J. Verrecchia. Viewing the first entry in the results shows me a photo with no useful contact info. I decide to search for address. I view the first entry in the search results and verify that the address and phone number above seem to be the general address for the firm. Still no e-mail address. Do some other searches on the Hasbro site without success. Move search to google, using “email hasbro Hassenfeld” as the search string. First entry on “Mayday Scrabble” is useless. Second entry about Hasbro suing clue.com gives info about contacting Hasbro. Yields two usable e-mail addresses (not the one I was after) for complaints and a list of other people one could contact at Hasbro to voice concerns (and a note indicating that snail-mail to corporate officers gets a lot of attention at Hasbro). E-mail addresses: 'Customer Care' at: hi@hasbro.com 'Consumer Support' at: consumer_support@hasbro.com Next search entry provides nothing useful, but does point out that the CFO at Hasbro earned $1,938,715 in 2000. Try new search on google “hassenfeld @hasbro.com” Scan the google search results page, and #8 contains the e-mail address I was looking for: ahassenfeld@hasbro.com |
| Sun 22 Sep 21:22 | Jack Schonchin | I was going to name my first boy after my dear departed brother, but now I'm thinking 'Kent' has a nice ring to it. My wife disagrees, thinking it sounds too much like Kunta Kinte. However, when she hears my idea for a girl -- Eve Elle -- I'm sure I'll be able to get Kent by her. |
| Sun 22 Sep 21:33 | Jack Schonchin | Hello. I thought I'd drop you some feedback about my recent purchase of 'Deluxe Scrabble' from Costco. After opening the box, I immediately returned it. I was very disappointed at 'Deluxe Scrabble.' In my opinion, it is an expensive piece of plastic crap. A complete embarrassment. You should be ashamed. I am instead purchasing a 1980s (70s'?) era Deluxe Scrabble from Ebay -- at less expense -- because the quality of its construction is, in my opinion, 200% better than today's version. I am now seriously considering purchasing all of my board games from Ebay to ensure I am receiving quality products. I hope you will take a serious look at the cost-cutting measures you have taken and how it has affected your bottom line. No, not that bottom line. Your reputation. |
| WebWord Comment | Sat 21 Sep |
| Im torn between liking the GAIN 2.0 web site and hating it. I kind of like the way the rollovers work and the design is clean. But, I dont like that the whole damn thing is Flash. Why? Seems like overkill to me. Then again, it is the site for the American Institute of Graphic Arts and I suppose that since they worship the design gods, they are compelled to do this kind of thing. Kung Pao submitted this to me, for what that is worth. |
| Sat 21 Sep 13:59 | Matt Round | It doesn't help that the preloader's badly coded, dashing to 80%, taking its time to then jump to 100%, then carrying on loading at 100% for a while. Once you can see something it's clear its use of Flash is totally unnecessary and counter-productive. It's not making any good use of Flash's features - it doesn't resize, it intentionally avoids text anti-aliasing (otherwise the tiny text would seem blurry), and those rollover effects are easy to do with HTML/CSS/JavaScript. It then seems particularly silly when you click through to an article and it switches to (poorly coded) HTML that looks pretty much the same. Oh and, thanks to the redirect page, search engines will see the home page as having the title 'checking for flash' and no content. That's never good. It's true that the vast majority of users don't know or care about technical specifics, but details (even ones as small as not putting height and width on images, so the page gets rearranged as it loads) affect the impression a site makes. This site will give a negative impression to many users before they've even seen the home page. |
| Sat 21 Sep 14:04 | Jack Schonchin | Yup, their Flash Wizzer should read a CSS book if he wants every clickable item to change color. Strangely enough, the link with the largest click zone on the page (the camper photo) does not have a hover. So I first missed their 'lead feature' because they broke away from their silly hover convention. I assumed the photo was just for show. Oh, ok, the photo does have a hover, but only on the title at the top. If I've scrolled down, I don't see the hover. Geez, the web would be a freaky place if every link had a hover. |
| Sat 21 Sep 14:39 | Mike | I bailed on it because of the font sizes - too hard to read without somehow being able to get closer to my computer. Figure I'll get the jist of it through other sources. |
| Sat 21 Sep 23:18 | daniel szuc | I think Flash has some real possibilities if applied in a way that supports the target users of that product. There are some *interesting* effects being used here, but perhaps not in a way that supports the user? Usability Test. Standards will help Flash. Reminds me of when people were using character based systems and then GUIs were introduced. Some folks automatically assumed that a good looking GUI meant 'easy to use' Test with users :) |
| Sun 22 Sep 04:38 | PeterV | I agree - on that site Flash is bad. The articles are ok-ish though. |
| Sun 22 Sep 10:17 | Mac | Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate Either only have 4 interviews on the home page, or have a proper scrolling page. That 'more' option is designed to enrage, bemuse and annoy. You fiddle with it just to get one more interview. I am being kind when I use the word 'design'! |
| Sun 22 Sep 21:13 | Che Tamahori | There is nothing here that couldn't be done with some fairly basic javascript. And you'd end up with an easily maintainable, completely accessible, HTML/CSS site. We've finally got to the point where the DOM is a useful tool. Let's use it! |
| WebWord Comment | Sat 21 Sep |
| Heres a short story. WebWord was having problems earlier today. For example, the home page was disappearing. I did some investigation and hypothesized that the server was low on space. I contacted my hosting provider to let them know what I thought. In less than 10 minutes they responded and told me that I was correct about the space and they were taking care of the problem. 10 minutes! In light of the crap that we give companies about how bad they are at responding to customer complaints and feedback, my hosting provider, QWK.net, is a shining star. Lets give them a round of applause for their efforts. Oh, and for those fools that think usability people cant say good things, well, buggers to you. When people do things right, we reward them. They get front page exposure. They get a slap on the back. They get our business. |
| Sat 21 Sep 17:28 | John S. Rhodes | By the way, I just calculated the actual time it took QWK.net to respond to my HelpDesk call. I was wrong about the 10 minutes thing. Zut! It was 3 minutes. Seriously folks, has any company ever responded to you this fast? |
| Sat 21 Sep 19:51 | Mike Boyink | That's exceptional ('course I'm wondering if they are readers of the site..:) Just did a customer service email survey for local companies here in W. MI. The fastest response time was about 40 minutes, which I'd still say was exceptional given it was after 10:00 PM when I contacted them. The downer, however, was that while fast the response was clueless...totally ignorant of content posted on their own site, no help whatsoever... What we found was that 17% of the companies included did things 'right' - responded within one business day, provided an answer right in the email, were courteous, etc. |
| Sun 22 Sep 00:08 | Jack Schonchin | I appreciate a blank white page. It brings out the nihilist in me. |
| Sun 22 Sep 20:54 | Che Tamahori | We use Rackspace for some hosting, and they frighten me (in a good way) with their responsiveness. They fix issues as soon as you raise them, regardless of the contact mechanism: phone, email or website. And they follow up with you personally: 'Is it okay now? Can we help you in any other way?' I'm in New Zealand, and they'll call me regularly just to see how things are going. This is an unsolicited endorsement; but I suspect that a lot of their customers are similarly passionate about their 'Fanatical Service' |
| Web developer needed | Sun 22 Sep |
| No Pretend web designers!!! (Jack asks: Would you work for this company? Link via CamWorld) |
| Sun 22 Sep 13:51 | Mac | 'Ability to envision' 'Ability to interface' 'Coldfusion helpfull' Can't spell, can't write, this company should do well designing web sites! |
| Sun 22 Sep 14:40 | Jack Schonchin | I do not consider job announcements that lack a salary range and a web link. Don't jerk us around. They know what they're expecting to pay a position. Keep it secret and they'll attract desperate, unemployed or unemployable people. If I'm not given the employer's web address, uhh, is the company hiding from me? What gives? I want to check you out as much as you want to check me out. Be up front and save everyone a lot of hassle and wasted time. |
| Sun 22 Sep 14:41 | Jack Schonchin | If that reads weird it's because I changed a bunch of 'yous' to 'they,' but I didn't edit well enough. |
| Inconspicuous Consumption: Lessons for Web Design from Mall and Retail Design | Tue 17 Sep |
| (Boxes and Arrows) But, in many ways, websites are like shops in a malleven websites that are not primarily intended for commerce. They compete with other websites for “traffic,” just as stores compete with one another for shoppers. Stores try to hold onto shoppers until they make a purchase, just as web designers try to promote “stickiness” until users complete their intended task. Stores also hope that first-time customers become regulars, just as designers of websites hope that first-time visitors will return again and again. (Comments: Holy Long URL Batman!) |
| Tue 17 Sep 21:34 | Jack Schonchin | The legible version |
| Wed 18 Sep 08:09 | Jack Schonchin | 'place links to high-traffic content below links to lower-traffic content, in hopes of generating interest in the latter.' Translation: Learn what people want, then promote what they do not want. Great advice. Maybe it's time for me to leave this profession. It's getting too evil. |
| Wed 18 Sep 09:04 | Alan Fisher | Jack, It'll get worse. It's well known in retail circles that certain colours sell better than others when used on packaging - red is better than blue etc. So, I'm thinking he's going to recommend that web page backgrounds should be nice, bright colours... |
| Wed 18 Sep 09:54 | Darin | I'd like to see it done in reverse: Lessons for Mall and Retail Design from Web Design. For example, on the Home Depot website, each department and a myriad of items that most people would be looking for is right there on the home page. It can be somewhat confusing for some people, but you can perform a search also. Now go to a real Home Depot or Lowe's. Yes, you've got the different departments/aisles, but a lot of times I've gone thinking that a certain item would be in one section when it's actually located on the opposite end of the store. Or if I'm not sure where a particular item would be classified I have no idea where to look for it, and sometimes its hard to find an 'employee owner' to help me. It would be great if they'd put some kiosks in the center walkway where you could type in what you're looking for and tell you which aisle to go to. Maybe they have these in Home Depots elsewhere but not in my town. |
| Wed 18 Sep 11:40 | Jack Schonchin | Or better yet, search for an item on the Home Depot web site and have the product listing tell you what isle the item is on in the store. And in the store, have the kiosk be powered by the web site. I'm unable to view homedepot.com in IE 6. Perhaps they like showing blank pages to people who reject cookies?!? In Netscape I see that they invade my privacy by asking for my zip code when all I'm doing is browsing. Methinks that's heavy handed. Ask me after I've added an item to my shopping cart. |
| Wed 18 Sep 12:37 | Darin | You're right on the zip code thing, Jack. |
| Wed 18 Sep 14:49 | Lydia | Not to get an argument going or anything, but personally what I do not like about Boxes & Arrows is not the less-than-black color of the text, but the utter lack of white space in their layouts - it's wall-to-wall text. That, more than anything, aggravates me. It starts to get that 'sea of type' effect and my eyes start to water. An easy fix is to copy the text out and paste it into a word document. I've only done this a couple of times, though. |
| Wed 18 Sep 15:08 | Kung Pao | And the shitty sky blue color for links has to be on the worst aesthetic decisions I've seen. Sky blue and light gray - wow, Mr. Kung wonders if it's possible to make a site any more washed out and pasty looking. At least make headlines strong and allow them to stand out. Sky blue? Seriously... (Timo, if you're reading this, this is NOT a usability rant, it's pure aesthetic appeal - or the lack of it.) At this point, the designer (Oops, that's old Timo again) will rave about he's only got good feedback from users. Well, Mr. Designer, that's the problem with you designer folks. You don't realise that very few people will write in and tell you that your site sucks. Instead, they'll just leave and never come back. You'll just go merrily thinking that your design is a success. I refuse to read a B&A article until they offer an alternate 'readable colors' stylesheet. Don't you dare tell me to change my browser preferences, punk. I thought all those advocates of 'this site best viewed in 1024*768 in Internet Explorer' notices were dead in 1998, but apparently not. How arrogant to think that I'd change my browser setting just because you don't know jack about design. Oh, before someone asks me for MY portfolio, you can go fly a kite. My work is not the topic here, and like Jack has said before, it's a straw man. |
| Wed 18 Sep 16:14 | Jack Schonchin | Mr. Kung, do you have a sister? |
| Wed 18 Sep 16:52 | JB | You have the ability on the home page to view in large fonts (top left hand corner)...but they don't follow through beyond the home page.... very strange. |
| Wed 18 Sep 17:52 | Lydia | I kind of like the minimal/subdued look, but I know that isn't everyone's cup of tea. I don't think Timo's an ass, I think he's very talented, but he has certain color tastes that don't agree w/ everyone's idea of legibility. Mr. P, despite the strong language, does bring up an interesting point that I constantly worry about: people who are irritated by your design or usability just leave. If they *have* to use your site to get something done, they will, but they'll moan and never come back. I am working on one project in particular where I have been trying to get this idea across, but no one believes me. Unfortunately, there's no way to back it up because they do sometimes get a 'like your site' compliment, and they throw it up in my face like that proves me wrong. Argh. I've read all the 'how to convince people of ____' articles and none of the suggested techniques work. |
| Wed 18 Sep 18:30 | Jack Schonchin | Easy solution. Publish the site. Send me the URL. I'll rip them a new hole. You'll be vindicated, plus be paid to fix the site the way you originally suggested. If you're staff -- not a consultant -- then it's time to jump ship. If your opinion is discounted, you must be asking yourself, 'Why do they pay me to do this work if they don't trust my judgement?' |
| Wed 18 Sep 19:29 | Lydia | Hmmmmmm, very tempting Jack. I especially like the 'paid to fix the site' idea. (grin) I think it's one of those things where even if they did believe me, it is considered too minor to warrant a fix. The usual set of frustrations. |
| Wed 18 Sep 20:13 | John S. Rhodes | Lydia, I suggest that you send Jack the URL. You certainly don't have to post it any place on WebWord, but you could do that too. Go on, take Jack up on his offer. |
| Wed 18 Sep 22:08 | Adam Greenfield | WTF is wrong with you, Jack, Kung Pao? Let it drop... I can't see what value there is in introjecting venom and vitriol from a different thread, with a different point and focus and topic, into what is ostensibly a discussion of a B&A article. Discuss that article on its considerable merits, or on its equally noticeable flaws, but please refrain from the ad-hominem arguments. For what it's worth, Gabe Zentall designed B&A, not Timo Arnall. If you have specific critiques, you can direct them his way; knowing Gabe, I'm sure he will have measured and thought-out responses to all but the most noxiously-phrased inquiry. BTW, Kung Pao, one of the first givens of customer service is that you will *always* hear customers relate tales of negative experiences, in approximate proportion to their occurence, but that most people who have a positive experience won't bother to write or call to express this. That is to say, experience directly contravenes your supposition that 'very few people will write in and tell you that your site sucks.' On the contrary, very few people will write in and tell you, to any degree of depth, that they like a given design, but almost any design will produce a greater or lesser degree of written hostility. Finally, W/R/T the 'straw man' regarding people's own work, how in the world is this a straw man? When you can demonstrate that you can produce legible, usable, and attractive work in the context of balancing user needs, task requirements, client business goals, and technological constraints - and do this all with a modicum of taste - then I'll take your whining seriously. Until then, you're just a civilian in my book - entitled to your opinion, but to no more than that. |
| Wed 18 Sep 22:41 | John S. Rhodes | Adam wrote: 'That is to say, experience directly contravenes your supposition that 'very few people will write in and tell you that your site sucks.' On the contrary, very few people will write in and tell you, to any degree of depth, that they like a given design, but almost any design will produce a greater or lesser degree of written hostility.' Here's an interesting little fact. I almost never have people complain to me about WebWord. Let's face it, the design sucks arse. The Green Bar is a crushing hammer and the white background burns the eye. Yet, almost no person ever complains about the design. It just doesn't matter to people, or they find good reasons to ignore it. On the other hand, about once or twice a month someone writes me an email and tells me that WebWord is great and that they want me to keep it up. However, I'll be the first to point out that almost none of this deals with design. If my site had anything to do with great design my arse would be flapping in the wind, or getting kicked. Or, more likely, no one would listen to me. Oh wait, people listen to me? ;-) Adam writes: 'Finally, W/R/T the 'straw man' regarding people's own work, how in the world is this a straw man? When you can demonstrate that you can produce legible, usable, and attractive work in the context of balancing user needs, task requirements, client business goals, and technological constraints - and do this all with a modicum of taste - then I'll take your whining seriously.' Oh, this is not on the correct track at all. Why would a usability person need to prove anything about their ability to actually produce a good looking design? Indeed, while my design skills don't totally suck, I not a designer and people don't expect me to design well. When I do, well, that's a bonus. Many of Jack's complaints are about usability and accessibility not design. Sure, they are all related, but they are not the same. Jack and Kung have no need to produce designs. However, I do think it might be useful for the Jack and Kung show to shine more a positive light on the things. And, although they don't need to show any of their design work, it might be interesting to observe. But, not needed. In any event, while they intend to get a message out to people, they sound like complainers. That's a shame. I honestly think everyone (Jack, Kung, Timo, you) wants to Make Things BetterTM. Like Meatloaf and Edward Norton, maybe it is time for people to hug and move on. |
| Wed 18 Sep 22:55 | Adam Greenfield | Point well taken, John. While I'm the furthest thing from a shinyhappy techno-Pollyanna, though, I will point out that it's famously easier to catch flies with honey than with vinegar. |
| Wed 18 Sep 23:43 | John S. Rhodes | Adam, um, yeah. I agree. Then again, I care about people, not flies. ;-) |
| Thu 19 Sep 03:41 | Mac | Lets ask Gabe Zentall some questions about the B&A Design, although I think the questions should be worded in a non-judgemental manner. I asked Timo some specific questions about his design on A brief note about usability and the reply helped me understand what he was trying to do. Whether or not I agree with a particular design decision I want to know what the designer was thinking so that I can learn from the experience. I want to understand what makes other people 'tick'. I would not have thought that putting grey text on a black background was anything but a mistake, but Timo has explained why he did it, and I quite like it now (in that context). I know from my programming experiences that I can always explain every line of code and design decision I ever make. When someone asks me why I did it one way instead of another I can always give them the detailed reasoning behind my choices, and I never say 'I don't know'. I should remember that other people must be able to do the same thing. But only if we ask the questions? |
| Thu 19 Sep 08:15 | Suman kumar | I am surprised in the article or in the comments there is no mention of Paco Underhill or his book 'why we buy'. If you guys haven't read it, please do it NOW. Trust me, you'll find it an immensely learning experience. For starters he says the front of the store and a few yards into the store from the front door is a 'landing pad' and he says dont keep anything 'important' there, as in if you are doing some major branding on one new product, don't have it near the front door. The reason he gives is that shoppers come rushing into the store... after parking their car, and walk the first few yards FASTER and they settle down and drink in the store/shelves etc... I tested it. I watched people looking for seats in a restaraunt... when there was a TABLE vacant just next to the front door. I went to a nightclub and was sitting with my girl near a couch adjacent to the main door, we were waiting for friends and i told her 'your friends are gonna walk straight in and are not gonna look at us' she disagreed (med students think too mucha themselves) and they walked right in missing us sitting on the right, they walked a few yards in before my girl's screams caught them. Why dont you buy the book bud? |
| Thu 19 Sep 13:40 | MadMan | I have Why we buy: the science of shopping. Just be aware that some of what Underhill preaches may be applicable more to American audiences. Take it with a pinch of cultural salt. ;) |
| Thu 19 Sep 13:49 | MadMan | I forgot to add that the title of the book is misleading. There isn't much about why we shop or buy. Yes, there's some info about how to lay out your store so people have an easier time shopping (though with very few actual figures to support it) but nothing about why people buy things on impulse, for instance. |
| Thu 19 Sep 14:12 | boysen | I like the B&R design. There is a 'Large Font Version' for people who don't. |
| Thu 19 Sep 16:37 | MadMan | The 'large font version' on B&A has a hilarious bug in it. If you've set the text size to 'smaller' in IE, the 'large font version' displays text smaller than the 'regular' version. ROFLMAO. |
| Thu 19 Sep 18:52 | Timo | Kung Pao mate, leave it out. You've pushed it too far. |
| Fri 20 Sep 09:25 | Jack Schonchin | Adam, this is the web site you've come to. If you don't like our discussions, ask yourself why you're here. Would you join a listserv and then ask members WTF is wrong with them? You've entered a community with its own rules, colloquialisms, and community standards. I draw the line when John tells me I've gone too far. I'm not ashamed of anything I've said in this thread. Well, except for asking about Mr. Kung's sister, seeing as I'm married. The only thing that really raised my brow is Mr. Kung's reference to human excrement. High brow criticism doesn't rely on an inarticulate vocabulary. |
| Fri 20 Sep 09:39 | Jack Schonchin | 'I do think it might be useful for the Jack and Kung show to shine more a positive light on the things.' Uh, ok. I appreciate that the article is broken up with subheads. No, no, I'm sorry, I can't do it. They started with a good idea -- dividing a long article into sections which allow the user to jump around -- and totally messed it up by making the subheads hard to see. I cannot skim down the page and have the subheads jump out. There are four bolded phrases in the article that stand out 110% more because they are black. As Mr. Kung says, on a page that is 'washed out and pasty looking,' a true black really grabs my eye. I see a couple pull-quotes on the page too. I suspect the article designer comes from a journalism background and the page designer comes from a graphic design background. I'll never understand why traditional graphic designers embrace shades of grey. I see it again and again. Or rather, I squint my eyes again and again. In short, it's like they read a book on how to write for the web, then destroyed their effort with a page design that fights the user. That's the real reason I don't read Boxes & Arrows. I could not in good conscience take design advice from a site with such obvious anti-user flaws. |
| Fri 20 Sep 10:19 | John S. Rhodes | 1. The Boxes and Arrows design doesn't bother me at all. I suppose it really is a pain in the ass for other folks, but it just doesn't light me on fire. 2. When I am old and cranky, I'll probably rant a lot more about poor contrast, small fonts, and other related issues. For now, I think it is good enough that other people *cough* like Jack *cough* bitch and moan. The bright side is that at least the complaining is not arbitrary and it is not off the cuff. Bottom line? Abrasive, annoying, over-the-top, but useful. Take that and $0.50 and go buy a cup of coffee. 3. Jack writes: '...a page design that fights the user.' I never really thought about pages doing anything. People request them and they are delivered, but that doesn't seem to mean that they are ever out to attack me. Yet, it does seem that some pages are offensive and afford nastiness. So, my question about this is simple: Are pages offensive and nasty or is it better to say that designers are offensive and nasty? Please note that most designers that I know are pleasant, creative, and wonderful. ;-) 4. My name is John Scott Rhodes. I have two silent H's and a silent T in my name. I didn't realize that until I was 8 or 9 years old. When I did realize it, I thought it was really cool. Do you care about the silent letters in my name as much as I do? Sometimes it is important to recognize that things that matter to you don't matter to other people. 5. This is item number five. It is extremely usable and useful. It was written just for you. All the ingredients are natural although some peanuts might have touched the machinery used during production. If you are allergic to peanuts or other nuts, stay clear. About 180 animals were harmed during production of item number five. Enjoy your Friday. |
| Fri 20 Sep 11:05 | Jack Schonchin | A page design that hinders my action is fighting me. Like walking against the wind. However, I don't say the wind is 'fighting' me because it was not designed by a person with the intention of being used. Perhaps 'fighting' is too strong a word for most web sites, but in this case, B&A knows the issue exists. They choose not to correct the issue. That's the same as saying, 'We don't give a damn about Jack and the others.' Yeah, fighting is the right word here. |
| Sat 21 Sep 10:03 | Lyle Kantrovich | Are all people with accessibility issues conspiracy theorists? Seems to me that if you really want people to listen, it *might* help to not accuse them of deliberately *attacking* you. Just maybe. I'll answer my own question above - my local UPA chapter held a meeting with a speaker talking about accessibility issues - he's totally blind and uses various assistive technologies including a screen reader and a PDA-like device that has braille output and input. His attitude was NOT that everyone should change everything to meet his needs. He put a fair share of the burden on himself to use assistive technologies in the best way possible. He wasn't a conspiracy theorist even though his accessibility issues on all web sites were much more severe than Jack's. Jack seems to take the opposite stance - basically refusing to use any type of assistive technology to bridge the gap. FWIW, I think any of Jack's critiques should be prefaced with a disclaimer that says 'Jack is a person with low vision and who gets headaches due to eye strain (or whatever) - Jack also is a classic pain in the ass and can't give constructive criticism to save his life -- but we still love him. We're not sure why we love him -- probably for the same reasons people love ugly breeds of dogs like sharpei's.' I constantly have to remind young designers (with good eyes) that small text and low contrast are issues for older people, people with diminishing eyesight, and others. I've never seen anyone who was making it 'hard to read' on purpose. Usually they were trying to fix X amount of text on a screen or liked the smaller font's look or whatever. Anyway, this whole B&A design thread is off topic, and nearly old hat here. Disclaimer: I've been on the B&A staff, and have authored articles for them. I DO know that the folks on their design team will *CONSIDER* this feedback. |
| Sat 21 Sep 11:17 | Jack Schonchin | Lyle, I refuse to use assistive technology to read one or two web sites out of the hundreds of sites I view every week. That's absurd. Other healthy WebWorders have called it absurd. Here's something you should know about my very mild dyslexia -- web pages are EASIER for me to read than books or newsprint. But I really don't have trouble with books or newsprint, I just read them a little slower. It's a very mild preference for web pages. I tried to avoid even mentioning it because you would then perceive low contrast as an accessibility issue when it frankly annoys a lot of temporarily-abled people too. Enough WebWorders chimed in to say the contrast is lousy that I know it's not me. I do not have low vision. You do not even understand the term. You do not understand dyslexia. Your making me the issue is a straw man. It's the web site. Small text and low contrast are ISSUES FOR EVERYONE. You said, 'I constantly have to remind young designers (with good eyes) that small text and low contrast are issues for older people.' There's your clue. There's your proof. These healthy designers are raising issues and you're ignoring them because you like shades of gray. Start listening to people. |
| Sat 21 Sep 22:41 | Adam Greenfield | Hey Jack - Consider this for a moment, why don't you? You mention sites that attack the user. Well, I personally find your all-saturating cynicism and negativity *much* more assaultive than low contrast or small font sizing. I've stopped by webword maybe ten times in the last few years, never bookmarking it and never making it a regular stop because of the air of self-satisfaction and smugness that rolls off of it - an air that I'm increasingly understanding has less to do with John and more to do with the sort of comments he tolerates from a very few people. You first and foremost among them, Jack. In fact, it's chasing me away from this site. How's that for a usability issue? |
| Sat 21 Sep 23:49 | Jack Schonchin | Sorry Adam, I can't take credit for your infrequent visits over the years. I believe I've been here less than one year. Perhaps Mac knows. I'm not sure when I showed up. I would also appreciate seeing trend analysis from Mac... number of posts pre-Jack and during-Jack (adjusted for by not counting my own posts). If John wants me gone, I'm gone. He only has to say the word. But I won't be scared off by designers who believe low contrast is a good thing. That's like taking advice from someone espousing the virtues of frames. Uh huh. |
| Sun 22 Sep 00:03 | Jack Schonchin | Hey MadMan, got any idea how to make the font bookmarklet work on Adam's web site? This is the first site that has foiled my covert attempts at making it readable (resizeable). It doesn't seem to operate on the same principles as IE's accessibility configuration settings. |
| Sun 22 Sep 09:10 | Mac | Re: Analysis of Comments The best thing I've got at the moment is Webworders DNA which gives a view of postings since July 2001. From this simple analysis I would say that Jack's contribution does stimulate debate and encourage other comments. My personal observation is this: I have been lurking on webword for years, but only started posting in June 2002. One of the things that I love about webword are the 'real' personalities that populate it. If Jack stopped posting on Webword then I think that my contribution would decline. I'm in it for the interaction and some real debate. Some of the discussions and interchanges over the past few months made made me laugh out loud a number of times. These are real people talking, not just a bunch of oiks trying to score points and prove that they know the latest buzzwords in the industry. John's attitude makes it possible for anyone to contribute. He encourages debate and is willing to talk to anyone (he even lets that idiot with the usabilitymustdie site to post news items for dogs sake!) I invest my time and effort into Webword because it feels like a community and not a point scoring talking shop. If you look at the most commented on items, you will see the type of items that produce more discussion. Adam said: In fact, it's chasing me away from this site. How's that for a usability issue? Adam, that's a shame, as I would rather see you on webword arguing for what you believe. I come here for the *people*, not for what views they have on a particular subject. If you don't like the people, then it isn't the right place for you. I would like to see you continue to post on webword because I want to find out what kind of person you are. I love Ron and his 'proganda ratings', Jack and his 'strong opinions', John S and his 'open hearted human comments', MadMan (with Chimp) and his wealth of knowledge, Lydia with her 'down to earth' human comments, and all the rest I haven't mentioned. |
| Sun 22 Sep 09:19 | daniel szuc | I love you Mac for posting my superhero pic and profile on your site :) hehehe ... play on! |
| Sun 22 Sep 09:52 | Mac | Daniel, I love you too, but no kisses until you have a shave. |
| Sun 22 Sep 10:04 | daniel szuc | Just trying to compete with MadMan's chimp. |
| Sun 22 Sep 11:22 | Jack Schonchin | I tolerate you all. |
| this | Sat 21 Sep |
| , get this. |
| Sat 21 Sep 23:44 | Jack Schonchin | I give a link 6 hours to prove itself useful by generating comments, then all bets are off. John, regarding the current WebWord tagline... 'Kind of Like Band Camp for People Interested in Usability.' ... For those of us who did not experience such things, please explain what band camp is like. |
| Sun 22 Sep 10:08 | Mac | Camp Band 1 Camp Band 2 |
| Sun 22 Sep 10:10 | John S. Rhodes | 1. The posting was a complete failure. 2. I've never been to band camp. I am making a reference to Petey in American Pie II; I'm poking fun at myself and the WebWord community. 3. While I am offtopic, but on the topic of movies, I might as well tell folks that Serving Sara sucked. We wanted to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but it was sold out. |
| Sun 22 Sep 10:21 | Mac | John, it worked fine for me ? |
| Sun 22 Sep 10:30 | Anonymous | John, I think that Mac's 'camp band 1' posting is in bad taste. There were millions who died at the evil hands of the Nazis ... request a *remove* |
| Sun 22 Sep 10:46 | Mac | I did think about that, but decided that with a lot of people talking about a war as if it's just a three letter word it doesn't do any harm to remind people of this site. www.remember.org The 6 million, and 5 million, Often Forgotten. If you want to discuss it, feel free to e-mail me with and comments. chris@firstcircle.co.uk |
| Sun 22 Sep 11:08 | Jack Schonchin | John, for those of us not watching teen movies, could you elaborate on the reference in American Pie 2? I would choose an Amelie reference: Kind of like cracking the crust of a creme brulee |
| WebWord Comment | Tue 17 Sep |
| Ive decided it would be fun to post the most stupid, outlandish, and insane things from the spam I received today. Your e-mail was taken from a public place. There is no need to unsubscribe as its one time mailing. The consignment containing the USD$12,300,000.00 will be released to you in the two large trunk boxes. Smokers accepted! OPEN ME FOR THE BEST TIME EVER!!! Offer Expires August 18, 2002. (Yes, this was in my inbox today.) This is not a spam. We respect your privacy. T (Simple and to the point. The email included nothing else.) This is a limited time offer Expires SEptember 30, 2002! (Well, at least the date is in the future. But you have to wonder, if you are going to go through the effort of sending out a business offer to thousands of people, shouldnt you at least proof your work?) mailv07a.gif (Ahh, another short and sweet message. Very deep and meaningful. Are you as moved as I am by this inspirational message?) 4066 (Ultra short, but T is still 3 characters shorter.) undefined undefined More... [Close] [Close] (WTF?) Share your spam instanity today! |
| Tue 17 Sep 21:29 | Anonymous | Duration Of Penile Erection |
| Tue 17 Sep 21:43 | Jack Schonchin | Please click on their names for their full resume. We are a fortune 500 company that is growing at a tremendous rate of over 1000% per year. Don't fall prey to destructive viruses or hackers! Lose weight while building lean muscle mass and reversing the ravages of aging all at once. Commission Potential PAYS to INFINITY You can make $50,000 or more in weeks sending e-mail. As seen on NBC, CBS, CNN, and Oprah! Would you like to lose weight while you sleep? Hello! 'Qcsbs-rrrr' $1,500+/Wk Millionaire Cash System Want a BIG PENIS? |
| Tue 17 Sep 22:25 | Adam Kalsey | Breakthrough enlargement formula works on men and women. That's scary. |
| Tue 17 Sep 22:47 | John S. Rhodes | More... 'pvmoakwtseqouyqlyrfjapf' 'Pussy is just a few clits away!' 'Please know that we do not want to send you information regarding our special offers if you do not wish to receive it.' 'Email us now with your phone number to hear how crystal clear your connection will be.' 'Did you receive an email advertisement in error?' 'No actors here!!!' 'Please DO NOT place orders for investments over the e-mail system. Delivery and timeliness are not reliable.' 'You're Still Sending Me Viruses!' 'Drop me into any gathering of 10 people and I will reveal which 5 should be millionaires.' 'It has come to our attention that you may be entitled to an undisclosed amount of unclaimed money.' |
| Wed 18 Sep 00:30 | JB | I hate the ones where they use the names from your contact list so that it looks like one of your friends. I am onto my 12th email address now........ blah! |
| Wed 18 Sep 02:18 | daniel szuc | The spam engine in the new email client from Apple OS10.2 and Yahoo mail have both been reviewed favourably. Any other companies out there that manage SPAM and that you can include as an ADD-IN module as part of your email client? This would be bliss :) |
| Wed 18 Sep 02:55 | Mac | You will play an active role in this epic saga of humanity's struggle to colonize the stars. The galaxy will change before your eyes, and be determined by your actions, and those of your allies and enemies. |
| Wed 18 Sep 04:22 | Alan Fisher | I received the same spam, word for word, from four different addresses today. All four are offering to let me into the secret of how to make a fortune from spamming. The subjects were: Live and work like a rock star! Easiest Job In The World & I Have It. So can You. Don't Work Hard, Work Smart & make more $. Join The Spamming Community. Make alot of Money. Now, I never realised that spamming was like being a rock star. I'm tempted... |
| Wed 18 Sep 07:13 | Mac | Help with possible Spambot? I have noticed a new user agent in my usage stats. The agent is 'MFC Foundation Class Library 4.0', which implies someone has built a crawler using miscorosft libraries. This agent has jumped from nowhere to number 1 in my usage stats. User Agent Stats: UMD Jul 2002 - Not in logs Aug 2002 - (10) 2.55% Sep 2002 - (1) 6.53% I have checked the webword usage stats and found the following. Webword Jul 2002 - Not in logs Aug 2002 - (4) 4.49% Sep 2002 - (1) 10.38% The top IP address in Sep for UMD and Webword is 216.97.236.218 (ebuildingsolutions.com) Does anyone know anything about this crawler? |
| Wed 18 Sep 07:59 | mcw | All your base are belong to us. |
| Wed 18 Sep 11:30 | Lyle Kantrovich | Here's a good add-in for Outlook: JunkURL http://www.andersson-design.com/junkurl/index.shtml |
| Wed 18 Sep 11:47 | Lyle Kantrovich | 'You are receiving this message because you have been identified as a registrant of an Internet domain name or electronic mail recipient.' (Yes, I can see that IDing people who receive e-mail makes me a very targeted segment of the market.) 'This popular game on CD-Rom would normally cost you .95 With this special offer you pay only shipping and handling and the game is yours for free.' 'This offer is only valid for the next 48 hours, so Act Now' (48 hours from when?) 'A Magical Vacation Offer window.open('http://www.spamsite.com/disney/disney199_dynamic.cfm?phone=(866)769-8257&mrksrc=0512061','FloridaVacationStore','width=150,height=310,toolbar=no,menubar=no,status=no,scrollbar=no,resizable=yes')' 'We offer no income verification programs' (So you verify that I have no income? Cool. How much does that cost?) 'all information is kept strictly confidential' (Right! - this from a Spammer...) |
| Wed 18 Sep 12:28 | Ryan | I just got one that said 'Your Potential Account Will Be DELETED.' Oh no! You're going to delete an account I haven't even signed-up for yet! The humanity... |
| Wed 18 Sep 13:10 | glasshaus Bruce | Is this the right time to point you all to Spam Radio, a delightful blend of ambient electronic music with a soothing synthesized voice reading today's spam? Thought not. |
| Wed 18 Sep 14:58 | Lydia | Hello ngruetz ! (And a double-dumb-ass on you!) ADD 3 TO 4 INCHES OVERNIGHT! GUARANTEED! (On my ivy growing outside? How delightful!) The Original Breast Firming Natural Formula (Plaster of paris?) PLEEEEEASE READ!!!!!! it was on the news! (Omigod, then I'd better read it right away!) Bring out her animal instincts (er... I'll pass, thanks) Ultimate HGH: Make you look and feel 20 YEARS YOUNGER (Great - I can watch PlasticMan on TV again!) Did you know you're losing 100 hairs a day? (No, I didn't, but thanks for the heads up) IS A GRANT RIGHT FOR YOU? (Gee, I don't know, I've always preferred the name 'Jared' or 'Nick') |
| Wed 18 Sep 21:05 | Jack Schonchin | You start bleeding during bowel movements. Let's talk stools. |
| Wed 18 Sep 22:30 | daniel szuc | Dear, dear me ... 'REQUEST FOR URGENT TRANSFER OF USD36.5 MILLION INTO YOUR COMPANY OR PERSONAL ACCOUNT. I AM Dr.DESMOND OKAFOR, AN ACCOUNTANT WITH THE NIGERIAN NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION (NNPC) I CAME TO KNOW OF YOU IN MY SEARCH FOR A RELIABLE AND 'REPUTABLE PERSON WHO CAN HANDLE A VERY STRICTLY, CONFIDENTIAL TRANSACTION WHICH INVOLVES TRANSFER F A REASONABLE SUM OF MONEY TO A FOREIGN ACCOUNT. THERE IS USD$36.5M (THIRTY-SIX MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS ONLY) IN MY DEPARTMENT AWAITING REMITTANCE...' and on, and on it goes ... |
| Thu 19 Sep 17:29 | Chris | (Pathetic!!!) THE PATRIOT CIGAR HELPS THE WTC FUND. Since the attacks on September 11, many Americans have shown their patriotism by buying The Patriot. With sales exceeding over 100,000 cigars per week, The Patriot is fast becoming America's most sought after smoke. In appreciation of this, a portion of the proceeds is being donated to the World Trade Center Disaster Relief Fund. (My spam kill file is over 100 pages long.) |
| Sun 22 Sep 10:50 | daniel szuc | Spam Assassin - http://www.deersoft.com/sp_pro.html |
| Thinking... The Obscure Interface | Sat 21 Sep |
| Positive comments from users about the appearance of a user interface should never be taken as an indication of usability. We consistently find that users rate highly the visual appeal of interfaces which they are clearly unable to use effectively. There is no substitute for testing. |
| Sat 21 Sep 14:05 | Jack Schonchin | Someone share this link with you know who. |
| Sat 21 Sep 15:46 | Timo | Read it already, cheers. |
| Sat 21 Sep 18:17 | John S. Rhodes | Laurel and Hardy? Abbott and Costello? Jack and Timo? |
| Sat 21 Sep 19:36 | Jack Schonchin | There's more than one person here who needs to read that article. That's the beauty of an open-ended comment. The guilty apply it to themselves without any help from me. |
| Sun 22 Sep 10:27 | Mac | I told my sister in law that she looked great in a new dress. She didn't. I told a colleague that he was doing a good job. He isn't. I told someone on the street that I would definitely consider purchasing herbal pillows. I will not. I told Daniel I loved him. Not sure about that one. I told myself that I am a principled far-minded human being.... |
| Sun 22 Sep 10:29 | Mac | I mean to say 'fair-minded', or did I? May the cats eat your women Irish Curse |
| CNN.com presents new online look | Sat 21 Sep |
| CNN.com has launched a new design that provides better navigation, larger photos, personalized weather, a new User Picks feature, and more depth in specific subject areas, including technology, entertainment and world news. (Comments: Seems like they added more toys to the site. Is this a new design or not? What makes a new design a new design?) |
| Sat 21 Sep 14:09 | Jack Schonchin | What makes a new design a new design? It's new when the users complain. Seriously. Oh, ok, the patsy politically-correct WebWorder way of saying it is: A design is new when it strays enough away from the original design that casual users take notice in a significant manner. I view CNN every day. I would simply say, CNN added a toolbar, changed some colors and added more clutter. The basic layout is still very much the same. They've adapted their design, not created a new one. |
| Sat 21 Sep 23:10 | daniel szuc | Urgh! The auto pop up window! One more click (close) required by the user to get to the bits and pieces of the home page *like swatting flies* |
| CD players glued shut to stop piracy | Sat 21 Sep |
| Epic Records Group has taken the drastic step of sealing CD players shut and gluing headphones onto them to stop digital copies being made from promotional albums. (Comments: Via In My Experience.) |
| Sat 21 Sep 14:44 | Jack Schonchin | I am this close to shunning corporate popular culture. Please, someone push me over the edge. I want to go. |
| Sat 21 Sep 16:11 | Frank Lynch | If it works, it doesn't harm anyone. And since we're all complaining these days about the performance of our mutual funds, and we could well be partial owners of the record companies, it makes sense to me if they try. But the value to them will be short lived... |
| Five Choices: Or, Why I Won't Give Dave Pell Twelve Dollars | Sat 21 Sep |
| Content didnt sell on the net, and it wont sell on the net, because the premises of the rejoinder are false: people sometimes dont deserve to be paid, even if they work hard, because the market doesnt work that way. And people will produce content, even if they dont get paid for the content. The online evidence for this is overwhelming, as two billion free web pages will attest. |
| Sat 21 Sep 14:41 | Jack Schonchin | Content can sell on the Internet. Mr. Downes is distracted by the numerous examples of ridiculously bad businesses. The same exists in the 'real world,' but I don't hear anyone saying magazines, newspapers and TV programs don't sell. They do, but only if they're good and have a market. The same goes for brick 'n' mortar stores. Most stores close within their first year. That doesn't mean stores as a business medium are going extinct. Mr. Downes seems to assume he is every man. He is one man. There are mailing lists and web sites I would pay $1 a month to use. I would even subscribe to my local newspaper online if it used a better interface, put all of its news & photos online, and was devoid of advertising. It's all a matter of the business model, quality of the service and having a big enough market. The secret, I think, is being better than the free alternatives. I spend HOURS on WebWord every week. $12 for a year's subscription is less than going to 1 two-hour movie with my wife. But I won't pay for WebWord because there are numerous alternatives. That does not preclude a WebWord-like site from going subscription. I might even make a one-time donation to John, if I could easily do so without joining yet-another service such as PayPal. The subscription or payment method is a significant factor. This article is exceedingly long and labors to make its point. IMHO, you need to state your case within 500 words. If you cannot, you're not an effective communicator, or you're discussing particle physics. By the way, this message is 310 words, and some of my words are leaning toward redundancy. Mr. Downes wrote 4,111 words. The personal time he took to write his article had to be worth more than $12. What a waste. |
| Sat 21 Sep 14:59 | Frank Lynch | Yes, Downes is correct, there's a surplus of content out there that lowers the perceived value of it all. And any single content provider, as a result, would have a tough problem by trying to make a living out of charging for content in the current market. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't try to get some compensation. Let's say Dave Pell only retains 5% of his readers under a subscription. Well, he's now getting more money under his subscription model than he was before. Therefore, there's little or no reason for Pell not to charge if he chooses to continue providing content. I think Downes is off-base, however, by saying that 'We can only keep royalties up by creating artificial shortages.' It might be argued that it's the surplus which is artificial, that, as a new market, it hasn't achieved equilibrium yet. More and more content providers are considering or planning fees as the market develops. Britannica tried it free, and found it dind't make sense. Salon, CNN, and the NY Times charge for portions of their site. Slate is the only example I can think of where someone went free after failing at a subscription price. If Downes were confronted with fees, doubtless he would make some tough choices. But it could also work out to his benefit - - he would find himself with more time, as his reading list would narrow. He would stop reading Pell (though others might not.) Or, he could continue to read free publications that basically aren't worth subscribing to. How wedded is Downes to free content? I have the feeling that the major reason he reads free content online is due to the convenience, not the cost. (I can't speak for Downes, but there's a host of free, interesting, valuable content available to me in the public library - - yet I rarely access it.) I am with Dave Pell on this (and considering it, too, somehow...). If people won't pay for your content, then they undervalue it. Get the money you can, Dave!! |
| Sat 21 Sep 15:03 | Frank Lynch | Jack, I think you made a great point: Downes spent more than $12 of his time writing that piece! Perhaps he likes writing for free, but if he were given the opportunity to make some money on it... |
| 99.9% of Proper Grammar Is Obsolete | Wed 18 Sep |
| (Digital Web) In the forward-thinking Internet environment, where user preference and societal norms drive innovation, carefully constructed sentences are starting to disappear. As users evolve, becoming accustomed to one anothers abbreviations and time constraints, grammar continues to deteriorate. (Comments: Thanks mm.) |
| Thu 19 Sep 03:52 | Mac | Let's kill the Grammar Gestapo When I start reading something conversational on the net and all the spelling and grammar is 'correct', and there is no hint of any dialect then I assume I am reading a press release or am having a conversation with my old english teacher. |
| Thu 19 Sep 06:14 | Anonymous | Mac, you need a comma between the words 'dialect' and 'then'. Write 'I must not abandon shopping trollies' 50 times on the black board. |
| Thu 19 Sep 06:21 | Alan Fisher | Isn't this just the on-line manifestation of the fact that the English language is wonderfully flexible and ever-changing? We've been doing this for hundreds of years, the internet just adds an extra dimension to it. But please - don't stop using capitals. It makes text LESS readable. Another point - the article is talking about English only. There are many languages which simply cannot accommodate this kind of flexibility. I learnt Russian when I was 15 / 16 (and forgot it by the time I was 18), and the thing which stuck in my mind was being told that getting tenses etc. wrong could render your words nonsensical. This doesn't happen in English. Which is surely another reason why English is becoming the world language, upsetting the French in the process. |
| Thu 19 Sep 10:37 | jan | Language should and does change. However, English grammar and punctuation evolved to pave the way for universal understanding for English speakers. If you ignore grammar, spelling and punctuation rules, you run the risk of people misunderstanding your content. It may well take more time for people to wade through your content when it's written poorly than it would for you to write clearly in the first place. So you save time at the expense of everyone who must read your writing . Plus, those who aren't familiar with your abbreviations won't understand what you are saying. Clear writing aids clear reasoning. Your audience should determine your usage. IM, gaming, and email are specific audiences. When in those environments, you can be somewhat assured that your audience will know your usage. In the broader web environment, you don't have that assurance. Would you feel comfortable ordering an item online if the description page were filled with abbreviations that were understandable only to people working in that industry? I wouldn't. Alphabet soup descriptions do not sell products well. And if a person who knows English as a second language needs to read your site for research, he or she may not understand abbreviations or colloquialisms. And finally, how is typing kewl any easier/faster than typing cool? You have to type an ew combination which is more difficult than an oo combination. Does it make you more cool to type kewl? |
| Thu 19 Sep 11:01 | Lyle Kantrovich | Ya, shure, u betcha. (Did I mention I live in Minnesota?) |
| Thu 19 Sep 11:34 | Mahesh Shantaram | When I start reading something conversational on the net and all the spelling and grammar is 'correct'... I assume I am reading a press release... Correct spelling and grammar? Press release? I didn't read that right... umm... correctly. ('Correctly' is the adverb that modifies the verb 'read', isn't it?) |
| Thu 19 Sep 12:18 | Lydia | My personal feeling is that I like to read things that are written in a conversational style, which by design often means the piece will be grammatically incorrect. I really can't stand when people correct grammar on a personal site. Live and let live and all that. When people do that, especially publicly, I feel like they are just trying to puff themselves up. Plus, in every case that I have noticed, the person correcting grammar uses incorrect grammer themselves!! I think there is a bit of split-personality when it comes to the web. I am a stickler for grammar in 'real life' but on the web I write more conversationally - I think a lot of people do the same thing. I don't think it erodes non-web correspondence. If someone is going to use poor grammar, they're just going to do it and it won't be because they can be sloppy online. |
| Thu 19 Sep 13:42 | MadMan | I'm a card-carrying language nazi. :) It pisses me off when people write emails like they were sending SMS messages. If you wouldn't write 'hope 2 meet u 4 coffee l8r 2day' in a business letter on paper, why should email make it acceptable? Lydia, writing in a conversational style and being grammatically correct aren't mutually exclusive. I do both all the time. And I'm 'mm', John. I'll spell it out next time. :)) (There, I started a sentence with 'and'. Those English school teachers can bugger off.) |
| Thu 19 Sep 15:10 | Lydia | MadMan, I agree - they aren't mutually exclusive, but I am more forgiving about grammer online than I am in paper correspondence. Magazines, newspapers, business letters - don't even think of being 'casual.' I guess that was my point. I do have to admit, though, that I really don't like the 'hacker' language stuff (like l8tr) - I wasn't referring to that with my 'conversational' description. Don't substitute weirdo words for regular ones and we're cool. |
| Thu 19 Sep 16:42 | MadMan | Lydia, all those nuts (like lawyers, academic profs) use the overly formal, hard-to-read language because it makes them look important. Hey, if you can't follow what's written, you clearly aren't as smart as the bozos who wrote it, right? That's why you get 'we are experiencing precipitation' instead of 'it's raining'. :) At my first job, I developed over 100 business forms for the company. The first thing I did was replace all the 'corporate' language with easy-to-understand plain English. Simplicity, clarity, humanity - traits to strive for in writing. PS: You spelt 'grammar' wrong. Ha ha ha! |
| Thu 19 Sep 17:16 | JB | I have long believed that the web and email will be the death of traditional grammar. That and the US............... watch it, that stone nearly hit me ;) |
| Thu 19 Sep 17:26 | Anonymous | Hey now, JB, lots of us Americans no's how to talk and rite good. Ever sence George Warshington started this country, we all gets learnt good edumacations. So until ya'll know how to talk and rite propper American, I reckon you'd best not be makin fun. |
| Thu 19 Sep 17:34 | Lydia | Oops! That was a typo, as you can see by the previous post! Dammit! (hee hee) I think a focus on simplicity (and now I'll be incorporating clarity and humanity into my mantra, as well - good ideas) is essential for communication. Too often I see people who want to sound important rather than be understood. That's a shame. I am far more impressed by the person who gets his/her point across clearly and succinctly. BTW, MadMan, what is your opinion about the use of 'their' and 'they' as a gender-neutral pronoun? As in 'The user could pull out their manual and actually read it.' Do you always use the him/her he/she method? |
| Sat 21 Sep 10:15 | Lyle Kantrovich | Language usage (style, tone and 'correctness') should depend on audience should be purposeful based on the target (or targit) audience (folks reedin' it). Gerry McGovern's thoughts on style and tone Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace |
| Polaroid effect to facilitate reading activity using web browsers | Mon 16 Sep |
| The idea is that all the time the page move, the new part that enter in the screen is little darker that the rest (or brighter in case the background is dark). As soon this new part of the document see the light it start to fade in the final color that should assume merging with the rest of the page. |
| Mon 16 Sep 07:35 | Mac | After staring at this page for a couple of minutes, I came up with the following: I would much prefer it, if the old part was darker, rather than the new part. I found that my attention was being drawn to the part I had already read rather than the new text. In reality, I don't think I would use this option if it was available. I prefer to use a landmark in the page (paragraph break, or graphic) to re-orient myself after a page up/down. If there are no landmarks in the right position, then I will use the scrollbar to move the page so that I can keep a fix on my current position. |
| Mon 16 Sep 08:13 | John S. Rhodes | I realized after reading this little article that I use a different method. I highlight a small amount of text near where I was reading. Then, I scroll to that highlighted area and begin reading again. I have done this so often and so long that I didn't realize that I have been doing it. It is automatic and I guess it must be very effective for me. In reference to Mac's comment, my method yields landmarks. However, rather than worrying about various scrolling effects (e.g., screen jumps) the landmarks are personalized. Do others do this? If yes, did you realize you were doing it? How long have you done it? If no, what tactics do you use? |
| Mon 16 Sep 09:43 | Jack Schonchin | It's hard to determine now that I'm thinking when I'm scrolling. I think I highlight like John when I page down, but don't bother if I'm scrolling only a few paragraphs using the mouse wheel. |
| Mon 16 Sep 09:57 | Mac | Damn it, now you've made me think about how I page through things I've completely forgotten how I do it. Its the same as forgetting my pin when I try to remember it at the atm, and forgetting how to walk once I've had a few pints of scrumpy (or maybe that's something else!). |
| Mon 16 Sep 11:22 | Alan Fisher | Thinking about it, I realise that I tend to scroll frequently, keeping the content I'm reading near the top of the page at all times. I rarely get near the bootom of the screen before scrolling. I hadn't thought about why I do this, but perhaps this is the reason? |
| Mon 16 Sep 13:29 | John S. Rhodes | Gets me thinking about paging versus scrolling. However, getting back on topic, now I am VERY curious about how people scroll. I think most of us really hadn't ever thought about how we actually scroll and read content. I did a netcheck but couldn't find any good research. What have you got on the topic? |
| Mon 16 Sep 16:16 | Ryan | Funny you should ask that - I'm getting ready to begin a paging vs. scrolling study even as we speak. It'll be ready in time for the next SURL newsletter. There's a project we did a year ago on paging vs. scrolling in search results. Mike and I will be presenting this one at HFES in a couple of weeks. Somewhat related is the article on online news formats from the last newsletter Also, Dyson & Kipling have a couple of good articles on the subject. (Sorry, I don't have any urls for them.) |
| Mon 16 Sep 20:21 | Morris Cox | I page down, keeping the previous pages in my memory. Makes it easier to keep seperate in my mind. |
| Tue 17 Sep 12:55 | jan | I read everything on the display, then page down to align the next chunk of text at the top of the screen. |
| Sat 21 Sep 06:15 | Timo | This was one of the standard features of most text editors on the Amiga. I don't see anything original except for the fading effect. |
| Common Sense and Usability | Fri 20 Sep |
| Using common sense is not only unwise but sometimes also dangerously misleading. (Comments: The article is kind of boring but the topic is fun. I once thought that common sense and intuition were words I could not use in the same sentence as usability. However, if someone is smart, has experience in usability, and training in usability, then relying on their gut feel for something isnt all that bad. In fact, Id take that over some chump doing a mediocre job with a usabilty test any day of the week.) |
| Fri 20 Sep 10:09 | Jack Schonchin | That's my gripe with Steve Krug. His tagline is 'advanced common sense.' I took a black pen to the phrase on my copy of the book. In lending the book I have to explain Steve's got great ideas, just ignore the slogan. |
| Fri 20 Sep 10:18 | MadMan | The thing about common sense is that it's not all that common. :) |
| Fri 20 Sep 10:21 | Alan Fisher | Whenever I hear the words 'common sense', I anticipate that I'm going to get someone's half-baked opinion which they are unable to back up with proof or research of any kind. I could provide some examples, but I don't want to start any arguments, so let's just say - don't trust common sense! |
| Fri 20 Sep 10:26 | John S. Rhodes | You people are all insane. I suppose next you'll start demanding data. |
| Fri 20 Sep 10:55 | Mac | common sense Sound judgment not based on specialized knowledge; native good judgment. experience Active participation in events or activities, leading to the accumulation of knowledge or skill intuition instinctive knowing (without the use of rational processes) This reminds of the 'nature vs. nurture' debate. I think that common sense is a bit of a statistical thing, whereby if more people eat in McDonalds than Pizza Hut then it's 'common sense' that burgers are better than pizzas. However, 'gut feelings' are 'intuituion' are not the same as 'common sense'. When I feel something intuitively then I am usually taking advantage of a short-cut in my brain that's been built up through experience. When I do something 'intuitively' I can always dissect it afterwards and see exactly why it sprung to mind. I'm not explaining myself very well, but it's friday afternoon, I've just been out for a lunch-time drink and my brain hurts. |
| Fri 20 Sep 11:03 | Ryan | Yeah, right on Mac. I always think of intuition of being sort of like a Hebbian synapse, where the link between two neurons becomes stronger the more they fire together. |
| Fri 20 Sep 11:16 | daniel szuc | Yes I guess to some System Engineers its complete 'common sense' to design a product they *believe* is usable ... and on a recent project, with zero user input 2 weeks before launch ... scary! |
| Fri 20 Sep 12:15 | Lydia | Mac, thanks for pointing out the difference between common sense and 'common knowledge.' I do think common sense has a place in usability (ducking objects being thrown at me) because it is basically an intuitive practice. In usability testing, just because you test the reactions of others doesn't mean you have hard facts - what you have is (when all the techno-speak is stripped away) a feeling, albeit a really strong one. It's up to the tester and designer, then, to use that information to their advantage, thus, the application of common sense. If twenty people tell you they love the strobing logo but you know that it causes seizures in approximately one out of every 10 visitors to the site, common sense tells you that you will not use the strobing logo. Or, at least, you'll make it less seizure-inducing. |
| Fri 20 Sep 14:45 | (the other) JS | 'In 1945, Russell could write, as an unexceptionable fact, that science dealt with the realm of the definite, philosophy with the unprovable. A half century later, no philosopher (including Russell) would have written that. Everyone accepts that science centers on the hypothetical and the conjectural, the imaginative leap and the subsequent search for a significant test, and the questions turn on just what tests, and just what guesses, count.' -- David Edmonds and John Eidinow; Wittgenstein's Poker |
| Fri 20 Sep 17:23 | JB | Common sense is dangerous when you think only you have it and no one else does. Or you think you think that your common sense is indicative of everyone else’s. |
| Fri 20 Sep 18:55 | Lydia | Good point, JB, but I also worry about the converse situation of relying to much on empirical data because it seems more justified or official somehow. I follow the lessons I learned from Benny Hill at a young age: don't assume, or you make an ass out of u and me. That seems to be the best policy. |
| Sat 21 Sep 01:18 | MadMan | Remember, 'empiricial' is NOT the same as 'scientific'. You can almost always devise a study to 'prove' whatever you want. (If you're going 'huh?' at that remark, pick up a copy of How to lie with statistics) |
| A brief note about usability | Tue 17 Sep |
| (Timo Arnall) Usability may have an overly informational and scientific direction, but the lessons learnt from watching people use your interactive work can be very useful in cleaning up and focusing an interface. |
| Tue 17 Sep 11:44 | JB | What do you do when you need to put something on your site and the only way the content owner wants people to get there is via a simlink? How do you put it within your site? Do you hide the navigation for the rest of the site? Is this deliberate frustration and is it acceptable? |
| Tue 17 Sep 21:48 | Ron Zeno | More like a brief dismissal of usability, or a brief misunderstanding of usability. |
| Wed 18 Sep 04:54 | Timo | Do you have anything constructive to add to the information that I have provided? The lecture was aimed at Filmmakers, making the transition to interactive work, so it's not intended as a high-level overview of usability; read the rest of the presentation for more context. I will quite happily change the list of usability notes if anybody has any simpler, more compelling arguments. |
| Wed 18 Sep 08:08 | Mac | Timo, I agree with you that the page needs to be read in conjunction with the rest of the notes. I am interested to know if you think that usability in that context is any different from (for want of a better description) traditional web usability? I am also interested in the last item: Creating an experience of frustration should be deliberate In games for example it is often useful to have an intended 'experience of frustration'. Would you say that some of the text styles on your site (the diary page for example) is a manifestation of an intended 'experience of frustration', or is it inspired by something else? Of course it might just be that the photos look better on a black backfround and you didn't have time to change the font colour. I'm not trying to have a go at you with this question. I would really like to know the rationale behind this particular choice. Also, I would like to hear about your view on the balance between design and usability. Would you treat your personal site differently for one that you worked on commercially? |
| Wed 18 Sep 08:30 | Matt Round | I think some of the comments about Timo's site have been fairly harsh (yeah, there are areas with low contrast, but much of it's clean and simple), but hey, take the criticism! Why should it be constructive? By all means stick up for your work, but also expect others to give honest views, particularly about usability aspects. (read a bit more WebWord and you'll realise it's an honour for your site to get a good kicking from Jack, people visit from miles around in the hope theirs'll be next) |
| Wed 18 Sep 09:33 | Jack Schonchin | Matt, I apologize for never kicking you. This is your day in the sun. I don't have a name yet for your flavor of design. Perhaps it's a mental affliction. Hierarchical Affective Disorder. It's interesting that you place your navigation buttons and page title at the bottom of the page. As for your Flash usage, jejunus raro stomachus vulgaria temnit. |
| Wed 18 Sep 11:17 | Mac | Re: Matt and Navigation buttons at the bottom. I think this layout is inspired by the MS Windows default of having the taskbar and start menu at the bottom. The first thing I always do on my machines is to drag my taskbar to the top, as we all know that menus work much more efficiently if they are allowed to drop down (because of gravity !) I'm sure that I read somewhere that because of the way monitors work (scanlines and such), things are drawn more quickly if they are moving down the screen. I may have imagined this, but I think we should start a campaign to move all menu bars to the top of the screen so that the 'drop down menus' are allowed to 'drop down', this would be more natural and should be more energy efficient. |
| Wed 18 Sep 11:33 | Matt Round | Jack, I'm honoured. My life is complete. |
| Wed 18 Sep 11:35 | Alan Fisher | Matt, You now need to get your mate Mark to post a gratuitously insulting reply to Jack. By the way, I liked the site. |
| Wed 18 Sep 15:46 | Timo | is usability in that context is any different from traditional web usability? Yes, absolutely. A game space or a linear story have very different design goals to a commerce driven, multi-faceted web service. I don't have the answer to what usability might be in this context, I just know that applying a user-centred design process would be beneficial to the end users or audience. Games certainly don't have any recognisable usability process, they have play-testers, who help to refine the learning curve and track down bugs. On the whole games conform to simple rule-sets that have been built up over many years of development in the various genres. Breaking away from those genres usually means tackling a new subject matter (content and story), rather than redefining the button set on the joypad (interface). do I deliberately want to frustrate users within the elasticspace diary? No, I want the photographs to completely dominate the interface, and for users to navigate using the images. I think it's great to take a step back from the site and have the interface set into the background. That is my personal choice. Also, I would like to hear about your view on the balance between design and usability. Would you treat your personal site differently for one that you worked on commercially? Personal = informal Commercial = rigorous and accountable Design (as a field of concern, enquiry and response rather than 'graphics') is all about balance, and good designers know that usability is part of that balancing act. |
| Thu 19 Sep 00:26 | Lyle Kantrovich | Jack, could you pick on me next? I just want to feel 'loved.' TIA! |
| Thu 19 Sep 02:06 | Jack Schonchin | Lyle, do not take the length of this verdict to mean Matt is any less guilty than you. I just have more time to type at the moment. The unbolded links are dim. They should be the darkest text on the page for easy skimming. If you can't link a page in 5 descriptive words or less, you need a remedial English course. You get Jelly Babies for underlining the links. I never bought into the hoo-ha that underlining is ugly or ordinary. What snobbery. Italics for emphasizing a phrase - OK. Italics applied to a whole paragraph - Cardinal Sin. Sorry son, you're going to Hell. Font size is locked. Since I already have your soul, I guess I'll take your family too. Drop the Babel fish translation service. Show me evidence people use this service, and I don't mean the English speakers who try it out for fun. Break free of the ridiculous habit of reciprocal links to other blogs on your front page. Summarize them on a single interior page. The front page is cluttered with information. Reduce. Minus 5 points for lack of crocodile photos. Go to the zoo, hug a croc, snap a photo. Ask MadMan how to bribe the zookeepers into letting you handle the animals. By the way, there's an 'S.' in 'John Rhodes.' Show The Man some respect. Oh, wait, I see now that you link to the blog of that cool hepcat Z-man. That explains everything. Your sins are forgiven. You know not what you do. |
| Thu 19 Sep 03:21 | Mac | Oh Jack, we must set up a web page for these reviews. How about Jack O'Ranters Soul Destroying Site Reviews ? I'll happily publish them under the Webword Stats Site. Do me next, do me next .... |
| Thu 19 Sep 10:18 | Timo | Matt: Do you realise that your page is just dark stripes on Mac IE 5.2.1? Is that intentional? Mac: you should include http:// in the url field for www.usabilitymustdie.com |
| Thu 19 Sep 11:52 | Jack Schonchin | Timo: Mac had the \\ backwards //. He must be dyslexic. MSIE6 corrects for this error. Mac: 'publish them under the Webword Stats Site' I'd much rather seen a compendium of my e-mail addresses linked to the pages where they are used, cross-referenced with frequency of use. Shine my shoes while you're at it. 'Do me next, do me next.' I'll excuse your indiscretion. 'Do me next' obviously has a different meaning in the UK than it does here in America. I'm not a whore. 1) 'Usability has grown into a monster.' Where's the monster? Is it the floating head at the upper right? 2) Given that you've chiseled a gravestone for Filbert's Alertbox columns, and 'usability must die,' ummm, are you making a death threat? The demon head at the upper right seems to be nodding Yes. 3) No navigational controls. Organize thoughts into categories. More than one category. Your site is an unfocused stream of consciousness. 4) Search box at the bottom of the page? Who's going to search for it there? 5) Poor link names, low correlation between link names and page titles: a) 'free discount usability' links to 'What does Jakob say?' I would label it 'Jakob Nielsen 8-Ball' b) 'meet the cast' links to a page titled 'life up at the castle.' I still don't know what the page is about. c) 'people who do it with passion' links to 'Understanding Programmers - The Pride and the Passion.' The first label sounds like porn. The second label is explanatory. 5) You need to set your VCR. |
| Thu 19 Sep 11:54 | Jack Schonchin | I realize there are two number fives. I wanted to avoid posting a '6' because that sounds like 'sex' and I need Mac humping my leg. |
| Thu 19 Sep 11:56 | Jack Schonchin | God Dammit. There was supposed to be a 'don't' in that sentence. |
| Thu 19 Sep 13:00 | John S. Rhodes | Jack, man, the dog humping leg thing was the worst pargh I have seen in a while. |
| Thu 19 Sep 14:48 | boysen | Very entertaining Jack. *clap* *clap* *clap* *clap* |
| Thu 19 Sep 15:52 | Mac | Jack, tears are running down my cheeks, can't write more, need to breathe.... |
| Thu 19 Sep 16:21 | Lyle Kantrovich | Jack, Thanks for that positive review - it was much better than I expected. Now I can sleep at night. Jack says - I need a remedial English course - I'm going to Hell - I need crocodile photos - I don't know what I'm doing Life is good. |
| Thu 19 Sep 16:25 | Mac | Quick Response: Mac had the \\ backwards //. He must be dyslexic. I can't tell left from right, clockwise from anti-closwise, > from <, { from }, / from \ and loads of other things. I'm a programmer and this causes me a lot of trouble. About 12 years ago I wrote 1 3D modelling system in Fortran for the Nuclear Industry (Finite Eleement Analysis and stuff like that). When I finished I 'realised' that all of the code has the X and Y axes the wrong way round. I quickly changed the intetface module so that the co-ords would be swapped, but all of the source code contains this 'feature'. No-one ever mentioned it, and when I bumped into one of the Scientists involved last year he congratulated me on the fact that no-one had to change my code for Y2K. So my secret is still safe! I think I can only tell up from down because of the fact that I get dizzy when I stand aon my head! |
| Thu 19 Sep 16:27 | Lyle Kantrovich | Did I miss something? Is Mac a dog? Can he fetch? Maybe that explains why he spends so much time kissing/sniffing Uncle Filbert's butt. Pretty good web site... ...for a dog. |
| Thu 19 Sep 16:34 | Lyle Kantrovich | Mac, You said 'when I finished I 'realised'', the proper way to say it is 'when I finizhed I 'realized''. See recent grammar article post...you must be a Britizh Dog. (Damn, that dog can program 3D zchuff in Fortran too? Why haven't I zeen thiz dog on Letterman'z 'Ztupid Aminal Trickz?') |
| Thu 19 Sep 19:02 | Timo | This is totally unfair! They all get mini-usability-reviews in neat little lists and all I get is a bunch of half-hearted personal bashings spread across 6 threads. Either they get the same treatment or you give me a Soul Destroying Site Review too... |
| Thu 19 Sep 21:19 | Jack Schonchin | This must be what it's like to live in Los Angeles. I can't see through the smog. Locked font size. This guy ain't getting an invite to my barbecue. I called my visually-impaired friend and had him navigate the site for me with JAWS. Here we go on our three-hour-tour aboard the tiny ship Elasty... Hey, the links under the 'Navigation' subhead have absolutely nothing to do with navigation. I'm lost. Ohhh, 'Navigation' means it's the navigation menu. If the navigation links need labeling as 'Navigation,' it's time to jump ship. This baby is going down. What are the thumbnails for? The navigation column must have been abandoned. All remaining resources have been diverted toward promoting the portfolio -- all over the page -- in a vain attempt at rescue before Elasty dips beneath the waves. Do I care the site was created in December 1999? What does that tell me? Inexperienced captain. [Hold a minute. Call waiting.] OK... Do I care when the site was last updated the site? If I'm a regular visitor (regular visitor to a portfolio?), I need more than a date. Is this a scavenger hunt? Identify the new content and win a prize? Give that man a Timo doll! As my companion tabs through the links on this page, he keeps coming across 'view projects' links. However, each link leads to a different page. What, is this Confuse-The-Blind-Guy Day? Uncle Sam ain't hiring this outfit anytime soon. What? Oh, you know my uncle. He lives on Section 508 Street. The page title says 'elasticspace Design Studio.' There's no information about this studio. No street address, just some computer generated stills. It's a sham. It's just some guy's personal site. Bah. All I ask is a good site and legible text to read her by. |
| Thu 19 Sep 21:22 | Jack Schonchin | Damn parghs. I need to hire a copy editor... Just as soon as I find a benevolent benefactor willing to fund my efforts at crushing dreams. |
| Fri 20 Sep 02:58 | Timo | Nice, you're doing much better now Jack. |
| Fri 20 Sep 13:59 | Mac | Lyle, you don't just need pictures of crocs. We need a picture of you 'hugging' a croc, and not just a baby one, or a rubber one. |
| Webword Superheroes | Wed 18 Sep |
| Which Superhero matches which Webworders? |
| Wed 18 Sep 20:19 | John S. Rhodes | Here is some context on this whole thing. |
| Wed 18 Sep 22:28 | daniel szuc | Just call me the 'Gamellian' - http://www.earthxia.com/english/bio_gamel.htm |
| Wed 18 Sep 22:35 | Jack Schonchin | For me, WebWord has the feeling of a BBS. The primary difference is that we're unable to hold a MUPT. Someone please confirm that they know the term MUPT. I had a helluva time finding it via Google. It's unsettling when a word you accept as normal turns out to be part of a highly localized dialect. |
| Wed 18 Sep 22:39 | Frank Lynch | MUPT's are those Jim Henson things, right? |
| Wed 18 Sep 22:41 | daniel szuc | By the way folks I really do play the 'Gamellian' as part of the earthxia story in HK (kids entertainment - parties etc). Its a blast !! And its nice to play a super hero type on occassions... ;) |
| Wed 18 Sep 23:57 | Jack Schonchin | I received a swift response from Jason Scott, who is producing the BBS Documentary. MUPT is a local colloquialism. (Modem Users Pizza Thingy) Anyhow, my point was that there's a certain sense of community that goes beyond friendly talk. I'm not having intimate conversations with Mac about the trials and tribulations in his life, but we are seeing him produce parody work about us. For me, it's reminiscent of BBSsing. In the olden days the parodies took the form of short humorous fictional stories in which the users interact. For example, if such a story were done today, John might be a mall Santa, and one-by-one WebWorders would sit on his lap and talk to Santa about their wish list. You can imagine the possibilities. |
| Thu 19 Sep 04:40 | Mac | Managers Utilise Psychological Trama ? If anyone wants to mail me with pics of people and superheroes (please include description of powers) I might update them on the page. You can see the size of the image by looking at the page. |
| Thu 19 Sep 11:00 | Lyle Kantrovich | I used to run a BBS and can recall a few picnic events where folks from various BBSes would get together. Of course the ages ranged from about 12 to 40 something and most of the people were too cool to truly 'picnic' so it was basically sitting around at a park pavilion (on top of the picnic tables of course) as well as some hacky-sack and frisbee playing. BBSing was fun - and it had a different feel than most web communities - it was more local and personal. Just for the record - I DON'T want to sit on John's lap even if he's in a red suit. I don't want to imagine the possibilities. |
| Thu 19 Sep 11:50 | Lydia | Jack, I remember BBS get-togethers fondly! We would get together, wearing our 'screen names' (if there was one) on badges, and sometimes we'd all get in on technology deals (discounts for volume purchases) and so we'd get our goodies at the event. It was always kind of interesting to see what people looked like. I was always wrong, and I never looked like people imagined me, either. That's another cool thing about the WebWord Rogues Gallery. |
| Thu 19 Sep 13:28 | John S. Rhodes | BBSmates (Unfortunately, you'll need to bookmark it and check it out later. It was just hit by /. oh well.) |
| Fri 20 Sep 13:50 | Mac | Due to overwhelming demand I have had to add an entry for MadMan with his sidekick, as people thought I was being unfair by leaving out his friend. I have also added entries for Frank Lynch and glasshaus Bruce. Keep the requests and nominations coming (you can nominate yourself, but I may choose a different hero for you) |
| Beginning of the end for the keyboard? | Fri 20 Sep |
| (europemedia.net) Canesta’s “electronic perception technology” is then used to track user’s finger movements in three dimensions as the user types on the image of a keyboard, projected on any flat surface in front of the mobile device. No accessories are required. |
| Fri 20 Sep 12:20 | Lydia | I find that idea spooky. I haven't given up books yet, because I like the feel of a book and the weight in my hands. I need the tactile sensation of a book. I think it would be the same (in my opinion) for a keyboard. |
| Fri 20 Sep 13:28 | Ron Zeno | I'd be surprised if someone could touch-type with it. Since the fingers would only move when reaching from their normal positions, how would it detect the 'typing' of the asdfjkl; keys? The lack of tactile feedback could reduce performance time and increase errors... And, it requires a flat surface to work on... I'd like to see a demo. |
| Shopping Cart Abandonment: Why You Need More of It | Thu 19 Sep |
| Most (online shoppers) appear to use the cart to mark products of interest, like turning down or marking a page in a catalog. Items in shopping carts on Web sites represent shoppers desire to purchase, not necessarily their intent. (Comments: Via Croc o Lyle.) |
| Thu 19 Sep 01:33 | Jack Schonchin | low hassle version |
| Thu 19 Sep 04:12 | Mac | Trolley abandonment may also be a political act. As part of a campaign against Asylum Seeker Food Vouchers (I hasten to add we were campaigning to get rid of the vouchers and replace them with cash) a dozen of us we go into a supermarket, each with a trolley. We would then tootle around the supermarket filling our trolleys up with items that Asylum Seekers weren't allowed to buy with their vouchers. These were 'luxury items' like childrens toys, shoes, socks, underwear, baby milk and nappies. Once all of the items had gone through the checkout we would refuse to pay and then do our best to embaress the Manager and explain the issue to other shoppers. Oh, and if you're interested, Tony Blair was forced to drop the voucher scheme. I'm sure that there is already somebody out there who is organising 'virtual trolley abandonement' protests. |
| Thu 19 Sep 12:00 | Lydia | I've started to see sites that have a separate 'Lists' function where you can make a note of items you are thinking of buying. (http://www.officedepot.com is one of these). This is a great way for the user to organize their things and, I would imagine, a nice way for Office Depot to at least get some sort of control over the 'abandonment' issue. As the consumer, I like it because I have to get purchases approved if it isn't the usual bunch of stuff, so I can put it on my list and just have someone login as me and look at it. It's much better than a URL - as you know some of those shopping cart URLs can be nightmares. |
| Thu 19 Sep 12:05 | Alan Fisher | And the Amazon wish list is great for this. I just wish mine wasn't so big... |
| Thu 19 Sep 12:30 | JB | This author is confusing the true nature of a shopping cart. Just because research has shown that users use the cart a certain way does not mean that that is the way we should be considering future design. The wish list or versions similar should be made some sort of standard. Remember users still have security and privacy fears around the shopping cart and we should be making the purchase process as clean and simple as possible. |
| Thu 19 Sep 13:10 | Jack Schonchin | We need more shopping cart theft. I would like a 'shop' button on my toolbar that pulls up all the items in all the carts from all the web sites my browser has visited. It would be extremely useful in determining what my wife is getting me for my birthday. |
| Thu 19 Sep 13:32 | MadMan | Amazon.com, despite their investment in usability, has a sad flaw in their 'wish list'. Like many others, my wish list has grown to multiple pages. This includes books and music. Unfortunately, Amazon has no mechanism for viewing only books, only music, only software, etc. Hey, I found a fault with Amazon! Woohoo! (I'm recovering from a flu, so pardon any meaningless rambling.) |
| Thu 19 Sep 13:50 | boysen | That's not a flaw, it's a feature... a feature you should let them know about. 8^) |
| Thu 19 Sep 13:51 | MICK | amazon let's me look by books or software or dvd. Maybe Jeff just doesn't like you MadMAn. |
| Thu 19 Sep 13:54 | MICK | wow, bad english on my part and not very helpful post either, lets try that again: Before the first item of your wishlist there is a dropdown list that's labeled 'Sort By:'. Still, I'd ask Jeff whay he's so mad at you. |
| Thu 19 Sep 23:45 | Frank Lynch | Well, has anyone asked what shopping cart contents are? I saw a focus group once where a respondent said the really cool thing about shopping on the internet was that you could put things back on the shelves easily if the total purchase was greater than you thought, and because of the anonymity of the process, no one would see you do it and think you were being cheap (unlike in the real world, where those behind you in the line may not only think you're too poor, but also may harumph over the delays you cause them.) Users may only regard the shopping cart as part of a tentative process, and the $ totals the proces provides are clearer than what they get in the 'wish list' process. It's all part of smelling the fruit. |
| Fri 20 Sep 07:30 | Alan Fisher | Mick, Amazon.COM allows you to sort by type of product. For some reason, Amazon.CO.UK doesn't. Bloody discrimination, that's what I call it. |
| Fri 20 Sep 07:48 | Frank Lynch | At least you can get 'The West Wing' on DVD. |
| Fri 20 Sep 11:37 | mcw | E-Retailers treat shopping cart abandonment as a Bad Thing, the underlying assumption seems to be everyone who selects and item for a shopping cart should buy it, therefore it's a lost sale if a cart is abandoned. Maybe, maybe not. I go to stores, pick things up to look at them, put them down, and walk out. What's the data on shoppers who go into stores and leave with nothing? Shopping Cart Abandonment due to bad site design and poor process = Bad Thing. Shopping Cart Abandonment because I just decided no to buy today = life in retailing. |
| Fri 20 Sep 12:18 | Lydia | That's a really good point, mcw. |
| Fri 20 Sep 12:21 | Lyle Kantrovich | One of my maxims regarding web usage statistics is that they rarely answer questions, but rather provide data so you can ask more informed questions. Example: Question #1: What % of people abandon carts? Example Answer #1: 56% Question #2: Why do people abandon carts? Example Answer #2: For many reasons including usability issues and that they are using it as a wish list, not intending to actually purchase? Question #3: What percentage of people abandon carts due to usability issues? Question #4: What can we learn from what people put in their carts? It's like an onion - you keep peeling away, and it just stinks. |
| Dumb Users Strike Again | Mon 16 Sep |
| (computerworld.com) The training involved in using electronic-voting systems is more complicated than with a manual system |
| Mon 16 Sep 03:22 | Mac | After trying the online demo it's clear (to me) that ES&S have never heard of usability! I have done a lot of work on touch-screen systems and know that it is possible to design an application that can be easily used by 'untrained users'. The Risks Digest 11 Sep 2002 Problems in MD led 4 counties there to commission a report from UMD, which revealed serious reliability concerns, due to 'catastrophic failure,' 'malfunction,' and 'unusability' |
| Mon 16 Sep 03:42 | Jack Schonchin | 2: Select -- Why is the checkbox for each candidate at the far right? Why force the user to line up a box at one edge of the screen with a name at the other end? Why not simply begin each line with a checkbox, followed immediately by a name? Why say 'Vote for not more than two' when you could say, 'Vote for two maximum' or 'Vote for two only.' Multiple choice questions I answered on high school tests used the latter style of wording. Quite simple. Would supplying only the last name of a write-in candidate be legal? If not, prompt for first and last name. I would like to see some non-linear navigation. If I want to vote for propositions first, right now I'm forced to vote in the one order the ballot was laid out in. Let me jump around. Then at the confirmation page, alert me to any races that I have not voted on, in case I missed them. OK, ok, I agree non-linear may be too confusing for many people. 3: Review / VOTE -- I expect the 'vote' button to be at the bottom of the page where the 'previous' and 'next' buttons are. Filing my vote is the next step, so I'm expecting the vote command to replace the 'next' button. In terms of the labeling, they could really take a lesson from Amazon. Treat it like a web shopping cart. Make it really clear before you view the summary that you'll be looking at a summary, and that you have not yet filed your vote. Avoid some people incorrectly assuming the summary page is a vote confirmation page. I'd like to see the confirmation page do something more to alert me to races I did not vote in. Uhh, flashing text? Something. On a ballot with, say, 20 races, I might miss the notification that currently exists. Why is the thank-you on the last page bilingual? I already told the machine I speak English. That also bothers me on my bank's ATM. Every single time I log in, I get asked which language to use. |
| Mon 16 Sep 04:08 | Mac | Also, the keyboard layout they chose is a good one for touch-screens in theory. But when you actually test this keyboard with users I can guarantee (I hope Ron isn't reading this) that a standard Qwerty layout will work much better in practice. If this is how technology is used to improve democracy, then give me a show of hands any day. |
| Mon 16 Sep 04:24 | Jack Schonchin | Also, are the instructions at the far left just for our benefit, or does the voter see them too? It looks like they're only for us. If so, they must be important -- the voter should see them too. The 'next' and 'previous' buttons could use some arrows for added meaning. Read this error message: 'If you wish to select a different selection in this contest, you must first de-select a previous selection by moving to that selection and pressing the button.' How about: 'If you wish to change your vote, uncheck one of the boxes for this race, then select a different box.' (Do not use the same word five times in the same breath... and do not use the word 'button' to refer to an on-screen area because it could be confused with real, physical buttons that the voting machine appears to have.) How can someone increase the font size so that it's easier to read, if needed? On the summary page, rename the page title from 'Ballot Summary' to 'Summary of Ballot.' The keyword should come first whenever possible. If the person is skimming instead of reading, that page title may not otherwise be understood properly. |
| Mon 16 Sep 04:56 | Mac | I have just mailed the following to Michael P. Limas, Senior VP, Operations & Finance ES&S. To: Michael P. Limas mplimas@essvote.com From: Chris McEvoy chris@firstcircle.co.uk Subject: iVotronic Usability Michael, you may be interested in a discussion taking place on Webword.com about the usability (or unusability) of the iVotronic system. URL[ http://webword.com/weblog/000875.html ] This could be a good opportunity for ES&S to address some of the concerns that the usability community have about your iVotronic system by joining the discussion. Regards Chris McEvoy |
| Mon 16 Sep 05:09 | Mac | And this google [ usability site:www.essvote.com ] is illuminating! |
| Mon 16 Sep 11:20 | JB | There are never dumb users - only dumb designers! |
| Mon 16 Sep 13:48 | Ron Zeno | Jack has some good observations, especially: Why is the Vote button at the top? Why does the demo require instructions (that appear to not be available in the actual product)? Still, judging from what little information is available, I think the problems with the product are in the system set-up and maintenance. Any usability problems with the product (properly installed and maintained) are likely to be minor in comparison. Still, I can't help but wonder what a usability test of regular operation with seniors would uncover... Tests focusing on set-up and maintenance would no doubt be much more interesting. Because of the nature of the technology, the product is far less reliable that the previous solution. I don't see anyone asserting high-reliability... |
| Mon 16 Sep 16:59 | Lydia | I am usually pretty savvy about predicting where things will be if they aren't immediately noticible where I expected them to be, but that Vote button - whew! What the hell is it doing at the top of the screen? It's very small, too. It should be at the bottom and very large. Other than that, their system isn't too bad. I like the suggestions about check-box-left-of-name, but the format they have isn't so difficult that users wouldn't be able to navigate it. I personally feel it's the 'Next' button that suddenly changes to 'Review Ballot' (what, am I done?) and the Vote button. Also, I have noticed that people in kiosk machines respond better to (a) buttons or (b) a stylus. I've noticed that people really dislike touching screens directly. Sometimes it's a cleanliness issue, but most often it's just because it 'feels wrong.' |
| Mon 16 Sep 17:00 | Lydia | Oops, I cut off my last sentence. I meant to ask if anyone else has noticed a reluctance to use touch screens? |
| Mon 16 Sep 19:25 | JB | This is a simple situation that can be resolved. The company that designed this has users teaching themselves that all navigational buttons are at the bottom. All the voting action are in the middle of the screen. All the company needs to do is move the vote button to either the bottom right on the last screen or move it to the middle of the screen as that is where all voting actions take place. The funny thing is that even after reading Lydia's comments and going through the demo...I was lost for the next action when it came to vote because I was used to using middle and bottom for navigation and action. |
| Mon 16 Sep 20:07 | John S. Rhodes | My resolution is set at 1024x768. WHERE THE HELL IS THE VOTE BUTTON? (100k image) Insane! Here's something really, really funny. I thought all of you were insane. The first time through, I thought it was easy. No joke. Furthermore, being smug, I decided to take another look at the demonstration so that I could come back here and slap you all around for being little cry babies. That was a mistake. The joke was on me. I realized that I never voted the first time through the demonstration! Instead, I simple got to the end of the demo and reviewed my vote, thinking that 'Review Ballot' meant submit my vote. That's right folks, spank me...I never voted. Can you blame me? As my screenshot indicates, the 'Review Ballot' button really does seem to be the most logical submission button. The Vote button at the top makes no sense as others have indicated. (Isn't usability fun?) |
| Mon 16 Sep 20:15 | John S. Rhodes | OK, one more thing. It has nothing to do with the topic at hand, but it has everything to do with how people use the links bar in Internet Explorer. If you take another look at my screenshot,, you will notice that I have several links running along the top of the browser. These are links to 14 different web pages. This is how I very quickly get to my favorite pages. Between these links and my Google toolbar, I never need to visit the Yahoo directory, use my Favorites, or anything else. I just recently realized that I've been able to make my browser my own portal. No single web site owns my ass, except for maybe WebWord. I was wondering how other folks felt about their situation. My guess is that we're all unique and that we all have our own dashboards and portals. I find it hard to believe that any single web site, or even small cluser of web sites, could be the right answer. AOL might be close for some people, but I think that is less and less true every day. That's all. You can move along now or add your comments. Your choice. p.s. 'No single web site owns my ass, except for maybe WebWord.' I made myself laugh writing that. When is the last time you wrote something that you laughed at? It feels good. Give it a try. |
| Tue 17 Sep 12:33 | Lydia | JB, I totally agree - I froze when it came to voting, too. Instructions said 'click vote button' or something like that and I hunted around for a bit before I thought to look up. Who would put it up there? Inconceivable! It's the first part I was referring to when I said it wasn't so bad. |
| Tue 17 Sep 13:14 | jan | We used touch-screen voting machines for the first time where I vote, too. An attendant provided a short introduction, then I voted. I don't remember having any difficulty figuring out what to do, but the displays were designed differently from those shown here. I do remember having an uneasy feeling while voting--hoping I wouldn't hit the wrong button & cast my votes before I had reviewed them. I wonder how many Floridians felt the same uneasiness? Also, I'm curious about the demographics of the areas where the worst problems occurred. Usability problems can be compounded by language difficulties and by fear of and unfamiliarity with technology. |
| Tue 17 Sep 19:34 | Bernard | The way they do error messages is irritating. Why allow me to make a mistake and then drag me off to another screen where you assume I'm going to read or understand anything? If I can only check one item, only let me check one item. I know it 'violates' the true archetype of check boxes, but if I can only choose one item in a column, when I try to choose the second, the second should become selected and the first deselected. (These are only sort-of checkboxes anyway since they can't all be checked.) The design had the feel of something made by developers who were trying really hard to be user friendly by providing lots of error-correcting mechanisms, instead of an intelligent design that prevents errors. |
| Thu 19 Sep 10:53 | Timo | No, you're all wrong, this is the answer: |
| Fri 20 Sep 03:27 | Mac | I think you'll find that you don't actually vote for 'none'. The shapes should be labelled as well, and their seems to be no security mechanism to prevent multiple voting. All in all it should work very well. |
| Demonstration: Enhanced Thumbnails for Web Search | Tue 17 Sep |
| This demo is a re-creation of the user tests conducted by the research staff, comparing Enhanced Thumbnails to more traditional methods of displaying search results. Study participants were given a set of information-finding tasks to be done using a search engine. Their search results were displayed using text, plain thumbnails, and Enhanced Thumbnails. (Comments: Thanks Kevin D. White.) |
| Thu 19 Sep 12:29 | Lydia | Wow, that is really cool. In every case I found the page with the info I needed right away. It kind of expands on the idea of the way people typically search for something - you go and look for clues on the page that you got to the right place. You don't carefully read the content of every destination, you just scan until you are satisfied that further reading is warranted. |
| Thu 19 Sep 14:16 | boysen | You say 'Wow' and so do I but for the exact opposite reason. Maybe it's because I've become so used to viewing Google's results that I found the Enhanced Thumbnail results completely baffling. I'm definitely *not* in that group that found things faster. |
| WebWord Posting 836 | Fri 13 Sep |
| Your Mama, very creative! |
| Mon 16 Sep 16:17 | Lydia | Hee hee - that was a good one, Mick. And also right on target. Sometimes people mistake opinion for fact because we don't always take the time to write 'In my opinion' before stating things. When you post as frequently as regulars (like Jack, MadMan, and Mac) this is bound to trip you up sometime. I remember one particular instance of being surprised by a really nasty comment MadMan got once about being too arrogant. I chalk this up to the 'IMO' syndrome. Confidence is not arrogance, and readers can take or leave advice and opinion as they will. No one is forcing anyone to agree. My personal policy on web surfing is to mentally insert the words 'in my opinion' before everything I read, unless the author is quoting sources. This makes things much more pleasant. Banning doesn't work. It just makes people find another way to come back. Best is just to ignore people who can't (or won't) live and let live. |
| Wed 18 Sep 06:50 | daniel szuc | The new rules for webword John? 1.: Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. 2.: Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings is a friend. 3.: No animal shall wear clothes. 4.: No animal shall sleep in a bed. 5.: No animal shall drink alcohol. 6.: No animal shall kill another animal. 7.: All animals are equal. |
| Thu 19 Sep 04:42 | Alan Fisher | Daniel, But then we'll have to watch out for Farmer Jones and his dynamite. |
| WebWord Comment | Tue 17 Sep |
| Technology sucks. |
| Tue 17 Sep 00:35 | John S. |