Posted by kevin Wed, 05 Apr 2006 18:34:00 GMT
I’m a nerd, I like usability. I see Usability as a social science and to confess… for awhile I was a die hard Jakob Nielson follower.
Jakob’s recent Alertbox provides sweeping statements on content as usability. Jakob Nielson while brilliant is refusing to acknowledge important crucial concepts. (even his own)
- In 1997, I wrote an Alertbox called “The Fallacy of Atypical Web Examples.” In it, I complained about the excessive attention focused on a few highly prominent Web projects that didn’t represent the vast majority of websites.
You CAN NOT take old research out of the attic dust it off and say to the world: Ignore working business models, ignore the evolutionary shifts, its Hype, Forget Search and Web 2.0…
He doesn’t follow his own advice:
- Indeed, as it turns out, most websites have had to follow very different paths than those trod by the much-discussed sites
and here:
- Once again, it’s worth remembering: your site is different from the ones in big stories.
Knowledge and Error
The problem with absolutes is they are not absolute. What is accepted as usability or design error may actually work and be successful.
- Knowledge and error flow from the same memory sources only success can tell one from another -Analysis of Sensations by Ernst Mach
Consumer products versus obviously both are different than PDF, are different than Web UI">...
Wikipedia states this about usability:
The primary notion of usability is that an object designed with the users’ psychology and physiology in mind are, for example:
- More efficient to use — it takes less time to accomplish a particular task
- Easier to learn — operation can be learned by observing the object
- More satisfying to use
Jakob Nielson also has his own definition of usability:
usefulness and is composed of:
- Learnability (e.g. intuitive navigation)
- Efficiency of use
- Memorability
- Few and noncatastrophic errors
- Subjective satisfaction
Jakob Nielson refutes other methods of testing use
Navigated by Search
Each user is unique with their own desires, they are navigating the Web using search using specific search tools to meet needs and engaging in conversations.
- According the the Harris Interactive 2005 Survey, 85% of respondents said word-of-mouth communication is credible, compared with 70% for PR & advertising
Each business is also unique and will adopt its own Content around its needs.
- AOL’s choice doesn’t matter because it makes no difference to your SEM (search engine marketing) strategy.
Yes it does!
- _26% of the top search results for the world’s 20 largest brands are consumer-generated media sites Source: Jupiter Research_
Search is specific to the users purpose.
- you need to advertise on all the search engines—or at least those with enough market share to be worth the few minutes required to copy over the text ads and targeted keywords lists from your other campaigns.
This is way off target. You need to focus, focus, focus, why would you run ads all over the world at 3am? You need hundreds if not thousands of keywords…
Jakob combines disparate business models and uses his usability metrics as a cure all. The refusal to acknowledge that their are many proven design disciplines that are succesful shows a refusal to evolve.
This reminds me of an older relative of mine, who had a Ford truck fail over 20 years ago…so any minor mechanical problem and
“See I told you, don’t by Ford”
65% of consumers trust their friends the most for product recommendations, while 27% trust experts, and 8% trust celebrities Source: eMarketer
The law of the universe is simple folks:
Evolve or Die.
Today you must be part of the users conversation or lead in search.
