(Comments added for week ending Sun 28 Oct 2001) | View Other Weeks
| last updated:16 Aug 2002 13: 33 Webword time, or 16 Aug 2002 18:33 UK time |
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| Webword Statistics - Recent Comments (Comments added for week ending Sun 28 Oct 2001) | View Other Weeks |
| WebWord Comment | Sun 28 Oct |
| Why is Cameron Barrett turning entire paragraphs into links? Hes been doing it a lot recently. Does anyone have any ideas as to why he is doing this? What do you think about it? Is it good? Is it bad? Does it bother you? I seem to remember reading a User Interface Engineering article about link length, but I cant find it. |
| Sun 28 Oct 22:42 | Peter Emmett | The article about link length is from their UIE Reports - Designing Information-Rich Web Sites - Report 4: Links that Give off Scent on Page 3. Quote 'Our data shows that links of 7-12 words, including assaciated text..., are more likely to lead to user success,...' Cheers/Peter ps. keep the good stuff coming :-) |
| Why I use Yahoo! Mail | Sat 27 Oct |
| I have used Netscape mail, Outlook Express, Outlook and PocoMail. All of them have many features that I miss using Yahoo! Mail. None of them are as simple to use as Yahoo! Mail. |
| Sat 27 Oct 23:10 | Bob | I despise Yahoo's insanely long logout procedure when two users have separate accounts, but use the same computer. It takes me three clicks to get to a point where the next person can log on. |
| WebWord Comment | Tue 23 Oct |
| My sweet old grandmother recently got a computer. She doesnt have internet access yet, but that is fine because she is totally addicted to Solitaire. That just brings so many things into perspective. |
| Tue 23 Oct 09:56 | Francis Wu | Solitaire!? That's probably the best 2000 bucks she ever spent :). He he... |
| Tue 23 Oct 15:35 | Jeff | And I have to admit - my Windows machines have never frozen while playing Solitaire. Coincidence, or elaborate back door??? |
| Wed 24 Oct 13:01 | Jack Schonchin | Note that John did not say she got a 'new computer,' only that she got a 'computer.' I hope no one sold her on the need for an endless upgrade cycle. For her needs she could probably use a Pentium II running Windows 95... but a large monitor might be in order for vision issues. |
| Wed 24 Oct 16:16 | Cloo | Reminds me of my Dad getting a new computer-- top of the line, all the bells and whistles. Used it to play Space Cadet pinball. Here's the real question-- what else is he going to do with it? What would your grandma use a computer for? To be honest, I don't think there's much value out there for older adult users. What's the incentive? |
| Sat 27 Oct 19:48 | Hanan Cohen | Pictures of grandchildren. |
| Turn Signals | Thu 18 Oct |
| Checking your blindspot is actually dangerous, since youre looking over your shoulder and really taking your eyes off the road. Making the rear view mirror a little wider and a little more convex can help. Im not sure why car manufacturers are so skimpy on this feature. (Comments: This is reader feedback on the Driving, Death and Usability article that I posted yesterday. The reader had more to say. Check it out.) |
| Wed 24 Oct 17:28 | Francis Wu | Hanan, good point. For one thing, I love hazard lights. I use'em very freely, from sudden decelerations on the highway, to looking for addresses. I wish everybody'd use hazard lights like I do. A solution to the hazards/signal lights problem: - Make signals and hazards sound different. - Make signaling behaviours override hazard behaviours until no longer signaling. For instance, when signaling with the hazards on, it should sound like I'm signaling, and it should look like I'm signaling. However, when I'm no longer signaling, the lights and audio feedback work like normal hazzard lights. Other things to consider: - Hook up audio feedback into soundsystem to make sure it's louder than the music that's playing. I can't stand it when people don't notice that they've been signaling left for 5 kilometres. |
| Representations and Perceived Information Architecture (PIA) | Tue 23 Oct |
| (WebWord) This article discusses two key ideas. First, it briefly outlines four ways to represent the same information. Second, it provides a high level overview of Perceived Information Architecture. |
| Tue 23 Oct 05:03 | Sebastian Fiedler | Nice approach John. But letting people visually represent mental models or knowledge structures is a fairly established form of knowledge elicitation in cognitive and educational psychology. I was involved in a number of projects that used concept maps and other forms of representation for these kinds of purposes. Nevertheless, we need more people who start to apply existing tools in creative ways to support and enhance human centered design efforts. Sebastian Fiedler |
| Tue 23 Oct 09:20 | John S. Rhodes | Sebastian, You are correct. Letting people graphically represent their mental models is well established in cognitive and educational psychology. However, to our knowledge, this approach has basically gone unnoticed by usability professionals. We are trying to raise awareness. More importantly, we are using techniques that answer some of the complex questions that our clients are asking. |
| Tue 23 Oct 10:55 | Sebastian Fiedler | John, ... and the awareness raising is what you should be commended for. Well, plus your creative application... but I hope that came across anyway. I just thought it would be helpful to point out where the original stuff comes from. Just in case someone feels encouraged to go out digging for more of it... I strongly believe that the usability community could learn a lot from trying out more of the tools and procedures from the Psychologist's tool box. |
| Tue 23 Oct 11:25 | Frank Gaine | John, Usability certainly needs more press and visability. This is difficult to do in the UK context at least where there is a definite absence of a unifying and benevolent organisation to represent the industry and the interests of usability companies and professionals as a whole. Regards Frank |
| Wed 24 Oct 07:26 | Damian Rees | Frank With regards to a 'unifying and benevolent organisation' in the UK. I would like to point out that although it is in its infancy still, the UK Chapter of the UPA (www.ukupa.org.uk) is aiming to do exactly this. We would welcome your thoughts or assitance in helping to do this. Damian |
| Wed 24 Oct 13:02 | David Tallan | I would like to respectfully dispute the assertion that all four examples represent exactly the same information. Rather, the first three models represent the same information and the fourth represents different (albeit related) information. The first three represent relationships between related 'classes' or 'sets' rather than specific instances. Numbers have been used to represent the sets, but the numbers are not meant to be taken literally. You could have used letters or abstract symbols instead. The fourth represents a specific instance with specific values for the variables used in the first three examples. A value is not the same as a variable. To create an 'English description' that matches the first three would be something like: 'Group '1' includes sub-groups. Two of these are groups '2' and '3'. '4' and '5' are in sub-group '2'. '6' and '7' are in sub-group '3'. '8', '9' and '10' can be found in sub-group '7'.' Or so it seems to me. YMMV, of course. |
| Veblog | Sun 21 Oct |
| This site provides articles and other resources for making internet projects successful. More importantly, the site is focused on the needs of users, and that is why I pointed to it. Also, it is entirely in French. I like pointing to international resources. Enjoy! |
| Mon 22 Oct 05:26 | Alastair Campbell | John, have you thought of adding a translation link for those of us that haven't done french since the age of 14? It took about 20 seconds on google to get this: (Long) link to a translated google page of the article |
| Mon 22 Oct 10:42 | Vincent Benard | My experience of google translations is that they are at least perfectible, and often ridiculous. e.g :'les sites des communes françaises' is translated into 'common frenchwomen websites' (!!!) instead of 'french cities websites' (correct). The feminists organisations could suit google for that ! so if you put links to google translator, you might damage user experience, except if you put a clear disclaimer about quality of translations... regards, |
| Tue 23 Oct 07:00 | Alastair Campbell | I have to admit, the results are far from perfect. Perhaps it's just me, but just being able to make any sense out of a foreign language at the click of a button is an amazing thing. I wonder if users would blame the site or the translation? I would assume that people writing in their native language are going to be correct, and the translator is a bit dodgy. Either way, even if it isn't perfect, it makes it possible. Similar argument to accessability isn't it? |
| Wed 24 Oct 09:27 | Francis Wu | Hey Vince... actually, the most accurate english equivalent of the french word 'commune' is probably 'county' :). |
| How to Succeed With URLs, Part One | Sun 21 Oct |
| (A List Apart) If you prefer working with PHP instead of using regular expressions and you want to integrate your solution with your dynamic PHP sites, this might be the right method for you. (Comments: I like Make A Shorter Link. It doesnt solve the same same problem described in this article, but I still like it.) |
| Tue 23 Oct 22:20 | Matthew | Doesn't work in Apache (Win32). |
| WebWord Comment | Sun 21 Oct |
| Several people have asked me why the weblog links on the left hand side of the WebWord home page were removed. The most simple is that I did not removed the links, I just moved them. I plan on making substantial changes to WebWords Hot Web Sites page. Ive moved the links to the other weblogs to that page. Im going to add more resources that page, and I am going to make it more of a usability portal. I dont have room make these changes and additions on the Webword home page. |
| Mon 22 Oct 04:04 | sebastian | come on Peter... it is one click more. Give John a chance. Maybe you will like what he is working on right now ;-) |
| Mon 22 Oct 11:36 | Jack Schonchin | Please don't poo-poo Peter's point. Users who use WebWord as a mini-portal (starting page) to the web sites they visit daily will consider an extra click to be highly disruptive. |
| Mon 22 Oct 14:58 | sebastian | ok... good point. What about setting a bookmark to the link page? ... and there you have your jump page again ;-) |
| Tue 23 Oct 08:09 | Jack Schonchin | Bookmarks are the great unspoken failure of the Internet. Most people do not know how to, or do not take the time to, organize their bookmarks. Thus, people who have been around for any length of time have an unwieldly long list of bookmarks that are unusable. This is not to mention the many people who do not know bookmarks exist or do not know how to add a bookmark (and whose only bookmarks are the ones other people have set for them). Ooops, but we're talking about WebWord users. Ummm, why would I prefer *two* bookmarks instead of *one*? I would much prefer getting both resources on the same page instead of having to add yet another bookmark and load a second page every day when before I only visited one. |
| Tue 23 Oct 11:31 | Frank Gaine | Has the website list been removed in order to ensure that traffic remains longer at (and reads what is on) Webword's homepage ? |
| Tue 23 Oct 11:32 | Frank Gaine | Has the website list been removed in order to ensure that traffic remains longer at (and reads what is on) Webword's homepage ? |
| Tue 23 Oct 11:55 | Steve Krug | I agree with Peter 100%: 'Not having them on the homepage still makes webword less valuable for me to visit daily.' It's a clear case of what I call 'A Click Too Far.' If they're sitting there right next to the fresh WebWord content du jour, they add a lot of value and make WebWord into a portal for me. On another page, they don't. John's too smart to have removed them to try to keep more traffic at WW, so I'm not sure what the reasoning is, really. But I hope he puts them back. I'd hate to drop WebWord from my daily rounds. |
| WebWord Comment | Thu 18 Oct |
| This note from a Senior Information Architect at IBM left me speechless: I want to complement your work with Webword. I have a personal and professional interest in usability and you have put together one of the most comprehensive information resources Ive found. Keep up the good work! Youre making the world a lot smarter. |
| Tue 23 Oct 10:02 | Michael Satterwhite | I apologize for my spelling of 'compliment'. The two spellings (e and i) have always been a weak spot for me. |
| Dream of Clean Desktop Gets Messy | Sun 21 Oct |
| (Wired) And thats really too bad, because the clean desktop and other usability improvements in XP are among the new OSs best features. Though XPs interface, with its bright green-and-blue color scheme, appears kid-like, the uncluttered desktop seemed to deliver on one of Grafs main goals for XP: making the system easy for novices. (Comments: Here is a question for all of you whiz-bang usability people. As a product matures in the marketplace, and as more and more people buy and use the product, is there really a need to make it more simple? Dont we want to evolve our product as people learn how to use it? For example, the market penetration of Windows is something like 90% and most people using a computer have used the operating system. So, why should Microsoft concentrate on novices versus people with intermediate skill levels and familiarity with Windows? Regarding the idea of a clean interface, my cynical comment is that Microsoft wanted to clean it because it would harm their current and future competition. Such folks as AOL really benefit from getting their icons on the Windows desktop. In other words, it is about money not usability.) |
| Mon 22 Oct 09:27 | Francis Wu | I must agree to with JS to the point where customization is a problem. Severely computer challenged people aren't even aware of folders beyond 'My Documents' and 'Desktop'. Therefore, they save everything in these folders for fear of losing their files. Nevertheless, clutter on the desktop is still clutter. MS should concentrate on making it easier to customize the Start menu. I would suggest the management of the Start menu to be handled like the Add/Remove Programs. In essence, shortcuts in the Start Menu should be handled as program elements, rather than files. |
| Mon 22 Oct 10:02 | Jack Schonchin | The core problem is that most computer users do not understand the basics of how an operating system functions. e.g., they can't even do file management. Deleting and recovering a file is a mystery to them. If you wanted a simplied system, it would have two components - a program launcher and a file searcher. Imagine how those components could be reworked if they constituted the whole interface (with perhaps a token 'Advanced' button for all the other stuff). |
| Mon 22 Oct 12:03 | Jeff | I believe that while we do want our consumer/customer/computer user to become more educated and sophisticated, this is separate from arguements advocating the streamlining and simplification of user interfaces. A simple, well-designed interface is the mark of a well thought out system. It is not always a question as to whether our audience 'knows' how to customize or simplify their interface, but rather that if given the choice they'd prefer not to (ala Krug's 'Don't Make Me Think') |
| Mon 22 Oct 19:22 | Greg | I don't think a 'clean desktop' means the user themselves is forced to keep it clean. Rather, it means it doesn't come with fifty friggin' icons from Microsoft and every software company with which the OEM has a partnership -- most of which I'll never use if not immediately uninstall -- jampacked onto my desktop. Many mainstream users -- e.g. home consumers -- don't know enough about customizing their interface to know that they can remove icons, re-arrange icons, etc. Which brings me to the real point: Market penetration doesn't necessarily indicate market depth. MSFT's monopolistic strategies nailed them market penetration -- 90%+ of computers have a Windows OS. But how many people actually use their computer for anything other than games, email, browsing the web, and the occasional word processing? I'd wager that games alone account for over half of home computer usage. What they need to turn their focus to -- and may be attempting with XP -- is leveraging that market. Now that a significant portion of homes have Windows computers, MSFT has to get people using them, and -- more importantly -- using the apps that generate revenue for MSFT, e.g. through MSN, through Passport/Hailstorm/.NET, through licensing agreements with music publishers leveraging the .WMA format instead of .MP3, etc etc. The systems are in the homes. Now people need to use them more. And to get people to use the system, you gotta focus on usability. |
| Mon 22 Oct 19:26 | Greg | Re: JS's comment 'The core problem is that most computer users do not understand the basics of how an operating system functions': That's just utterly wrong. The core problem is that to use a contemporary computer effectively, most computer users need to understand the basics of how an operating system functions. In a usable world, they *shouldn't need* to know that. A cliche comparison: I don't need to understand how a car engine works to drive. The interface to a car has removed the need for the user to understand the 'car's operating system.' The goal of usability should be to make the device as transparent as possible, so the users need to know very little about how it works 'under the hood' to use it effectively. |
| Tue 23 Oct 08:14 | Jack Schonchin | Customizing your 'Start' menu or copying and deleting files *are* functions that users *should* need to know about in a usable world. Comparing that to a car engine is silly. It is more like knowing what your speedometer indicates and how to start the car by sticking the key in the ignition. Or how to operate a stick shift. Most people are driving around in this world with their car lurching around and stalling out. |
| Tue 23 Oct 08:15 | Jack Schonchin | Er, and in case my point was missed, the lurching stalling cars are not literal, they are Windows PCs. |
| Greymatter discussion forum | Wed 17 Oct |
| . Ive looked at the Greymatter code too, but nothing sticks out as being wrong. Im at a loss. It really makes me sad to face these problems. I just want the process of updating WebWord to be easy. When these failures occur, it really gets me down. By the way, this problem also impacts the people using my RSS feed. That isnt fair and I apologize for the inconvenience it causes. I think that I am going to investigate some other blog tools. Maybe Manilla, or maybe Moveable Type. Ill keep you posted. |
| Mon 22 Oct 02:07 | Vincent Benard | why don't you consider a desktop based content management system ? there are still not many products like that (userland radio or the forthcomming citydesk : http://www.joelonsoftware.com/stories/storyReader$389 ) but they don't require any crashing programm hard to maintain on the server side. Moveable Type is still beta and manila/frontier has still some crashes issues, although it exists for long : you won't ground your business on such uncertain basis, will you ? I remember how you were enthusiastic about GM at the beginning: don't replace it too quickly with the first 'looking like your saviour' software you'll find. |
| Mon 22 Oct 12:40 | John S. Rhodes | Interestingly enough, on the day that I posted this message Greymatter started to behave. Everything is working again, including the RSS files. I swear that inanimate things are not actually inanimate... |