Usability Archives
Web 2.0 and Usability
October 03, 2005 | 
14 Comments
I see all sorts of people talking about what “Web 2.0” is. To me this is all about people trying to get their mind around a really exciting time for the Web and technology in general. The “read/write” Web is finally here! Hooray!
So, anyway, one of the things I don’t see too much talk about is what it all means in terms that matter to the people use the technology. Where does Web 2.0 meet the user experience of the Web? I think technologies like Ajax are great, but unless you can tell me how I can use it to provide a better user experience it’s just Web 1.0 to me.
It seems like so much of the discussion is focused around the technology, the “Web 2.0” business model and methodologies that we’re yet again losing out on the most important part — the people.
Filed under: Usability | 
Permanent Link
Web Publishing Tip: Write Clear Titles
September 10, 2005 | 20 Comments
I’ve mentioned this before, a few times actually, but I thought I’d mention it again. With emphasis.
One of the easiest & best things you can do when publishing on the Web is to write clear, meaningful titles for your posts, pages and articles. Then, once you’ve written that title, put it into your title tag.
If you want people to find, read and/or link to your work, you must start with a good title. I’m a big fan of del.icio.us and more recently populicio.us and I’m amazed at how bad some of the titles are. I miss good articles quite often because of a poor title.
A good title will help you with search relevancy, readability, linkability and findability. I can’t stress enough how much clear titles mean. It’s my #2 SEO tip, #1 being provide good content. The rest of this article is something I published back in ‘03, but I thought it might be helpful for some folks. Read on if you want more on titles!
Filed under: Web General | Permanent Link
The Web Is Still Mostly Unusable
August 30, 2005 | 17 Comments
It amazes me that some of the most popular, most successful Web sites and applications out there are hard to use, poorly designed and generally over complicated. I’m a firm believer that extreme simplicity is the wave of the future, but Web 2.0 and the worthy concept of “doing one thing really well” hasn’t seemed to catch on in a widespread way.
While on my honeymoon I had some real trouble with Expedia. I booked my trip through them and I can safely say I’ll probably think twice before doing it again. Why? While they do things pretty well up front, the second you’ve got a problem, like say the airline changes the time of your flight, things go straight to hell. Without boring you with the details, their system is simply to complicated and “feature rich” to deal with some very common, and very simple, problems. As well, while they have the technology down, their behind the scenes processes are a joke.
But I guess it works for them…I think they’re the biggest online travel agent on the Web.
Filed under: Web General | Permanent Link
Persona Sketching
August 03, 2005 | 7 Comments
This is something I wrote a few years back, in September 2003 to be exact. I recently had a lengthy discussion with a few folks about the use of personas in design and figured it was worth republishing.
The value of personas in Web design is certainly debatable, but I’ve found them very useful, if for nothing else then using them to help pull your clients and stakeholders into a discussion about the people what interact with your designs.
As well, they can be use for many other things aside from informing Web design and can be a great way to pull business and user goals together. So, to the post.
Filed under: Usability | Permanent Link
A Really Bad Customer Experience
June 29, 2005 | 14 Comments
If you like rants you might like this.
I came across the worst customer experience I’ve ever had online last night. It was while trying to redeem a gift certificate for a few DVDs at Overstock.com.
Let me tell you, “Sometimes it’s all about the frustration.”
I was on their site for about an hour all told, in several sessions. I think I ran into every damn user interface mistake possible. And a few I’d never thought existed. I hit errors, display issues, feedback issues, ridiculous policy, findability problems and more. Even after speaking to real people I never was able to get my order finished off.
If you’re doing business online, in my opinion anyway, that should never happen. So let’s see if we can learn from their mistakes, shall we? First let me talk about what went wrong.
Filed under: Usability | Permanent Link
Do All Web Sites Need Usability Testing?
June 07, 2005 | 17 Comments
I’ve been lucky enough to have quite a few very educational and informative experiences with usability and user testing. I’ve found just about each and every one worthwhile and think I learn a bit every time.
However, recently I’ve been working on sites where I’ve done little in the way of formal user testing. From what I can tell, while not perfect (what site is?) these sites have come through rather well in the absence of formal testing.
It’s caused me to question whether, under certain circumstances, usability testing is needed for a Web site. I don’t know the answer, and in general I’d always recommend user testing if you have the ability and resources to do it, but I’d like to explore the idea a bit.
Filed under: Usability | Permanent Link
What's Wrong With This Site?
May 14, 2005 | 44 Comments
I hate to pick on people.
Ok, no I don’t, but I do feel a bit bad with this one. Even though they should know better. I came across this site, for the Garrigan Lyman Group a few weeks ago and, well, it blew me away.
At first glance it’s not a bad site at all, and it does have a few redeeming qualities, but, if you dig just a little bit deeper there is so much going wrong with this site I’m at a loss for words. Web 2.0 it aint. So, help me out. Check it out and tell me what’s wrong with it.
Oh, and a quick tip. You need to “launch” the site to really get the full “experience.” Double-Oh and if you can find their information on search optimization, I’d love to read it.
Filed under: Usability | Permanent Link