[CLUE-Talk] Books on software usability

[Sean LeBlanc]

On 04-21 12:47, Matt Gushee wrote:
> On Sun, Apr 21, 2002 at 11:49:54AM -0600, Chris K. Chew wrote:
> > 
> > We also read Jacob Nielsen's book, and were very disappointed.  He is
> > extremely critical, and wants very boring website designs.  You can see for
> > yourself his own website, www.useit.com, which he considers to be absolutely
> > perfect.  True it is usable, but it definitely lacks in the "user
> > experience" department.  He shuns any fancy thing that might possibly
> > obstruct a users navigation.
> 
> Well, he's extremely mild compared to Eric Raymond. And I have a couple
> of questions:
> 
>  Is being critical necessarily a bad thing? My feeling is that Nielsen
>    is in many cases pointing out unpleasant truths about the web. Should
>    he try to make us feel good about technologies and practices that 
>    really are not good?
>  Do users visit your site to have an "experience?" Although I have an
>    opinion on this (I think Nielsen's 'no' is too dogmatic, but he is
>    generally right), I'm not asking this rhetorically. I'm interested
>    to hear what people think about this.

Well, I'm not sure I'm the normal case...while I did purchase a few things
over the years from Amazon (and after that little one-click SNAFU, I decided
not to buy anything since - a rule I've only broken once), I purchase now
solely on price and price alone.  I might zip over to Amazon for a few
opinions on books, but I use www.addall.com to find the best price (usually
bookpool.com) and buy there.  The "experience" of searching and checkout
could be like walking across hot coals, as far as I care...I'm there for
price and not much more. BTW, over the years, I've probably bought thousands
of dollars of stuff via the web.

To tell you the truth, I have never gone to a web site for the "experience"
- it's either price or the content. A place like slashdot.org or
linuxdoc.org is for content, a place like addall.com, pricewatch.com, or
shopper.com is for the price. Sometimes there are things that annoy (like
Slashdot's search and how it tends to suck) but they are rarely enough to
drive me away. Again, I'm not the normal case, I think. The "experience",
whatever that is, needs to be something that one's mother can do without
feeling intimidated...I know, common and overused analogy, but I think it's
still an important one.
 
> Personally, I feel the same way about over-designed web sites as I do
> about Safeway (for those of you outside the Western or Southern US,
> Safeway is the largest grocery chain in this area). I detest the place
> because the cashiers are always badgering me about the benefits of having
> a Club Card. And if I pay with my debit card, they read my name on the
> printout and call me "Mr. Gushee," as if they knew me. It's a frigging
> grocery store! I just want to buy groceries and go. I believe most users
> feel the same about most web sites.

I KNOW I do. Just because Amazon or the like says "Welcome back, Sean"
doesn't make me feel all warm and cuddly and ready to whip out the credit
card. BTW, I *hate* those grocery cards...I know someone who works for a
company that mines and resells the data they collect from those. Too creepy.
I will never own one. Amazon does seem to do some things right and pioneered
(or at least brought to the mainstream) some cool ideas, but I fail to
understand why so many people constantly refer to it as if it's an
outstanding example - it was unprofitable for what, six, seven YEARS? Why
mimic that kind of success? :)

> As for Nielsen's web site, I don't know what gives you the idea he
> considers it to be "absolutely perfect." He says that most sites have
> too many graphics, and believes that a completely image-free design is
> appropriate for the content of his site. And he may suggest that designers
> follow his example ... but I don't think following his example means
> precisely mimicking his practices, do you?

There is probably a happy medium somewhere...that bestbuy.com is way over
the top, but I think www.useit.com is a bit spartan - works for what he is
presenting, though. I don't think it would work for e-commerce -  the masses
enjoy and easily understand at least some pics. Icon-like images for links
are probably the least you can do - I'm sure there is a reason that McD's
has put icons on their checkout registers. 

-- 
Sean LeBlanc:seanleblanc at attbi.com Yahoo:seanleblancathome 
ICQ:138565743 MSN:seanleblancathome AIM:sleblancathome 
If we increase the size of the penguin until it is the same height as a man 
and then compare the relative brain size, we know find that the penguin's 
brain is still smaller. But, and this is the point, it is larger than it WAS! 
(contributed by Chris Johnston)