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Previous entry << main page >> Next entry 09/25/2001 "this is your brain on netscape 6" If you've been a long time resident of a mailing list, you see some arguments crop up over and over again. A classic on usability lists is people trying to apply Jakob's top ten rules to some poor schmuck's homepage. A classic unique to web development lists is "Why can't I force the user to upgade their setup." It's usually in reaction to a burning desire to use CSS2, or some cool javascript, or they've got a moron breathing down their neck wanting the design to be "just how it is in photoshop" or maybe the developer is just sick if figuring out out how write degradable code. One developer pointed at a recent article on scottandrew.com which further pushes that agenda: if you want people to upgrade, force them! I responded on the list thusly (and it applies to the usability nazis too). "This is art This is a personal site This is a personal/professional site This is also a personal/professional site This is a site that wants your money. This is a site that wants your business.
User-centered design does not stop at information architecture. it doesn't stop at interaction design. it doesn't stop at graphic design. User-centered design is code-deep.
, from oldest to newest: The reason that I use blue-underlined links is that I think they are easy to recognize as links. It is NOT because I am following the rules. Let me explain. I think people are foolish to think all usability rules come before design and regular use. As some people know, blue text with an underline is NOT good in relation to visual recognition. There are several other ways that links could have been defined (i.e. technically, by Berners-Lee), but blue underlining was chosen. People started seeing blue-underlined text and started to realize that blue-underlined text denoted a link. Design and technology crafted the experience, NOT rules. Jakob's trick in all of this was to recognize that people were forming stereotypes. Blue-underlined text became equivalent to a hyperlink. Then, and only then, did it become a rule, after people were used to it. Jakob's rule did not create the standard. It just sort of fell out of the way that people were using the web. Note: Sometimes I wear blue jeans. - John Posted by John S. Rhodes @ 09/25/2001 10:23 AM pst ~~~ Sorry john, you became an object example. and you made yourself into still a better example by showing you are thoughtful about the user experence. You know your audience, you know your business, you know your technology and you designed. Posted by christina @ 09/25/2001 04:22 PM pst ~~~ I didn't comment on the list because it was already too late, but good points. You can't apply Jakob's rules to all websites and you can't completely ignore them either - they've got to be looked at in the context of the site itself and what it's trying to achieve. Strangely enough that's exactly what even He has said, yet that generally gets ignored. Posted by SeanR @ 09/27/2001 06:22 PM pst ~~~ He says a lot of sensible things, but unfotuately he has already inflamed folks to the point they can't listen. Flash 99% bad goes on to say how the problemis that it is misued. But with a title like that, who would listen to the rest? ah, jakob... Posted by christina @ 09/28/2001 07:15 AM pst ~~~
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