Usability Hooligan.

August 19, 2002 | 0 Comments

Jakob Nielsen. Sometimes this guy really pisses me off. He has such good advice, but he can be such a jerk that it makes it very hard for to get anything useful from him. I read his Alertbox today, in which he makes some very good points. He talks about how using exact font sizes with no alternate style sheet or work arounds can make it difficult for users to change the size of the font if they need to (you can find a good solution for this from Dive Into Mark) but anyway - he makes some good points and dispite what I’m about to say, I suggest reading his work.

It’s how he says things that makes his columns damn near unreadable.

Jakob, if you happen to read this, here are a few tips:

1. Loose the 99%. Statements like, “99% of users simply want to make text bigger” and “Flash is 99% bad” are, when taken out of context (which they often are, unfortunately) serve no real purpose but to have people question your motives.

2. Try not to insult your targeted audience. “Most web designers are young, and so have perfect vision. Tiny text doesn’t bother them as much as it bothers people on the other side of 40…..While creating a website, designers don’t actually read the information on the pages. They simply glance at the text to make sure it looks great” While that might be true (although my vision is far from perfect), you might want to think about rephrasing that in a less hostile manner.

3. Get real. While most of your tips and observations are very valid, and ultimately useful for anyone designing Web sites and applications, we aren’t saving the world from alien invasion here. Terms like “hostile technology” can be left out. Watch Terminator much?

4. Tone it down for cryin’ out loud. I read your stuff all the time, and I can’t help but wonder if you were starved for attention as a child. You are a usability guru, we all know that, and we don’t need to constantly reminded of your expertise - it takes away from your message and frankly makes you seem like a jackass. Oh and you can loose the vanity photo section also. What were you thinking?

Filed under: Web General