[CLUE-Talk] Books on software usability

[Matt Gushee]

On Mon, Apr 22, 2002 at 10:44:12AM -0600, Chris K. Chew wrote:

> I understand your points, but I am still confused as to why you guys are so
> defensive about websites that differ from your own idea of what they should
> be.

Defensive? Not me. Busybody trying to save you from yourself? Maybe. I
should probably be working on my own website instead of spending time on
this discussion, so feel free to criticize me for that.

I believe you have some faulty assumptions about what constitutes an
effective website. I won't repeat Zonker's latest message; it's at least
as eloquent as anything I could write, and I agree with it 100%. But I'd
like to add a comment about your general approach. 

In one of your messages, you referred to web sites as "advertising". You
might want to rethink that idea. If you said "marketing tool," yes, I'd
agree completely. But advertising, if you mean anthing like a magazine or
TV ad, is a poor analogy. Consider the differences in how people interact
with the Web vs. other media. You pick up a magazine for the articles,
and are incidentally exposed to advertising; same with TV and radio.
Leaving aside the fact that more than one critic has raised serious 
questions about the effectiveness of traditional advertising, the Web
is a whole different ball game. Nobody is going to be passively exposed
to your web site; they have to have at least deliberately clicked on a
link to get there. Granted, there will be a few who come upon your site
in the course of aimlessly wandering the Web, but they're not likely to
be qualified buyers of professional services.

You have to reward people for making the effort to visit your site. If
all you do is show them pretty pictures and talk up your company, users
will be left feeling--even if only subconsciously--ripped off. At least
so I believe, based on the experts I trust (yes, Nielsen is one of them,
so disagree if you like), and what I understand of human nature.

I wish I could cite success with my own web site to back up my opinion;
unfortunately, I haven't gotten to that point yet. But it doesn't sound
like you have either.

I don't think we're going to convince each other. I've said about all I
have to say on the subject, so I'm bowing out here. But it might be inter-
esting, and even useful, to revisit this discussion when you, or I, find
out whether our respective approaches actually work.

Best of luck to you.

-- 
Matt Gushee
Englewood, Colorado, USA
mgushee at havenrock.com
http://www.havenrock.com/