Homeboy Noel Franus makes usability relevent to marketing in Fulfilling the Promise: Borrowing from "Usability" for Better Customer Relationships
"Usability" is a concept that's caught fire in many professional circles lately. Unfortunately, there's little consensus on what it actually means: maybe you think of "usability" as that last-minute QA test done just before launch, or perhaps you picked up a book on usability, and feel inspired to redesign your home page.>>>visit and comment < http://www.eleganthack.com/archives/002061.html > ~~~ Understanding Salon:
A case Study in Design Interact shows Salon's carefully developed process, and the effective design that has emerged from it .
>>>visit and comment < http://www.eleganthack.com/archives/002059.html > ~~~ spel thes:PC911 - Friendly Computer Help In Plain English posts a useful hack to windows allowing you to add spellcheck to the right-click menu of IE 5+. Found via the MT support boards.
>>>visit and comment < http://www.eleganthack.com/archives/002055.html > ~~~ clean bill of health:liga1.com gives the new EH good marks for accessibility. I actually learned this css trick from ALA which does very well with screen readers.
"The screenreader only reads the logo ALt text and the 5 main categories of the site and then it starts with the content. Fantastic! No more waiting through endless navigation links"
>>>visit and comment < http://www.eleganthack.com/archives/002052.html > ~~~ Don plays Jakob for a day:or at least for an alertbox: DVD Menu Design (guest column by Don Norman, Alertbox Dec. 2001)
It's actually refreshing to hear Don's gentle informal voice. Jakob and Don's writing styles are quite alike, yet the tone is very different. Don has a breezy quality-- you half expect he's sitting in your living room with you, explaining why the thing works or doesn't from the couch. Jakob is the graduate teacher you've run into in the hallways between classes, and while he's also human enough to tell anecdotes, he's also always on the job.
Anyhow, good column. DVD design is clearly a messy new field, and opportunities for good interaction designers and UI designers shall abound. Scroll down to his six tips, at least.
>>>visit and comment < http://www.eleganthack.com/archives/002050.html > ~~~ News! Bad design is bad!:Interface design makes the New York Times. Interface Design Is Trickier Than It Seems
"Here's good interface design: A Palm organizer's Address Book screen has a New button?but the Delete command is hidden in a menu, because you add names much more frequently than you delete them. Here's bad design: Cell phones that make you dive into menus just to turn off the ringer.
"
He goes on to tell an anecdote that illustrates the complexities of designing a robust interface for a number of different scenarios... proving interface design is indeed tricky. And perhaps left up to people who are trained in it?
via vanderwal
>>>visit and comment < http://www.eleganthack.com/archives/002049.html > ~~~ and I do what? why? huh?:
So here I am, needing an online calendar for myself, my company and my husband. I'm staring at this page, thinking: what am I supposed to do? If I click those links, will I sign up? I don't know what one I want. How do I compare these plans... or are they products? I see a big log in... where is the link to register? Maybe I could just try it. I don't see a way to register. I have a palm... but I'm not a "my palm user"
I still haven't decided what to click.
(you can click the thumbnail to see a bigger image, or go stare at Schedule Online yourself.)
part two
So upon sign up (honestly, I'm still not quite sure what I'm signing up for, except it's the cheapest) I'm asked to fill in this form. Apart from the amusing alignment problems (which, btw, are normally a problem that keeps people from trusting a company and therefore will cause them to not hand over their cash... Cheskin/Archetype study on trust, sadly no longer available online) I was puzzled by time zone.
Why was timezone a requirement for becoming a customer? They don't serve midwesterners? it only took me a second to realize they were signing me up and setting me up.... This leads me to a key principal of interface design: relevance.
Group all like items in an interface together. users can gain understanding through the groupings. That's why address, email and phone number are typically grouped together... they are all personal information. timezone is a tool for setting up the tool, and as such should be grouped with other like elements-- perhaps adding contacts, deciding on the page view, entering/uploading appointments, etc.
It just makes for a more elegant user experience.
part three
So here I am, I've filled in my credit card data, and clicked finish.
They ask for feedback, I give it and voila, I'm unceremoniously dropped here.
What the hell just happened.
How about a little "welcome and here's how it works"? How about a little "getting started" info? All I know for certain is that I have no appointments. Whew, that's a relief. now I have plenty of time to spend trying to figure out what to click to get this thing to work.
What's funny is that when I circled back to get the screenshots, I discovered that I hadn't even read the text of the button I clicked-- I just filled out the form and hit the first button-looking button I saw. Even so, I'm still puzzling over how to get started. I suppose I'll start clicking, like every other user I've ever observed using an interface. <grin>
one more thing...
On the actual interface of the scheduler, this appears if you happen to notice the horizontal scroll. Luckily it's pretty non-essential information.
Challis's model of experience design suddenly gave me the image of every project manager I've ever known, running around, desperately trying to keep the various people they are working with from slipping away like jello in a fist...
>>>visit and comment < http://www.eleganthack.com/archives/002026.html > ~~~ good use of the medium, good use of the tool:The Morning News's roundtable is a sweet use of movable type to get people discussing a topic.
>>>visit and comment < http://www.eleganthack.com/archives/001974.html > ~~~ choices:For those who cannot hack the css layout, you have two choices.
text only (it's actually the gleanings export I use for the mailing)
now I just have to figure out where to link to these form the homepage....
>>>visit and comment < http://www.eleganthack.com/archives/001973.html > ~~~ deja vu all over again.:from my latest odd quest: What is Interaction Design and What Does It Mean to Information Designers - by Craig Marion
"In 1988, Alexander Associates sponsored INtertainment, the first annual conference bringing together people from all corners of the interactive entertainment business. People came from such diverse industries as personal computers, video games, broadcast and cable television, optical media, museums, and amusement parks. Over the course of the two days, a debate about the meaning of the word "interactive" raged through every session, disrupting carefully planned panels and presentations. People seemed to regard "interactivity" as the unique cultural discovery of the electronic age, and they demanded a coherent definition. Several speakers tried to oblige, but no one succeeded.""
>>>visit and comment < http://www.eleganthack.com/archives/001961.html > ~~~ fonts that look like carbon iq:MenWhoLookLikeKennyRogers.com has got our font. dang!
thanks brian
>>>visit and comment < http://www.eleganthack.com/archives/001959.html > ~~~ raison d'etre in the sun:visited usable design
who is sporting this sentence "Our raison d'être is to ensure that the interactive experiences we develop propagate the maximum number of target users including the needs of people with hearing and sight disabilities." in miniscule (9pt?) un-resizable type.
blah blah blah
>>>visit and comment < http://www.eleganthack.com/archives/001958.html > ~~~