Blog

Flash on the plate

Chris MacGregor’s inspired response to Don Norman’s intellegent explaination of the flash turn around issue should be required […]

Yes!

I agree with all Jen’s pet peeves, but especially Thumbnail Let-down.

jumping boxes

Much like my homepage, Audi Redesigned uses information modules that rearrange themselves upon browser sizing. James asks if […]

Take a bow Gabe

You’ve officailly been ripped off. What a thrill! ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY Actually, from all the greek, I assume this […]

LLBean? LLBean?

???? I just read Design lacking in e-tail sites in which LL Bean is said to be a […]

that book

I was intensely disappointed by Homepage Usability, and haven’t gotten around to articulating why. sp!ked’s article “Excuse-ability” does […]

say vs. do

A CHI-WEB post pointed at the Customer Experience workshop notes, written up by Kevin Doohan. Lots of great […]

wireframe goodness

strange systems: Using Wireframes is a terrific essay on wireframes. I’m bummed that I can’t tell anything about […]

sticky fingers

I was reading Users Decide First; Move Second

“In our studies, we observed that once users realized there was more information available to them, they stopped and re-evaluated the screen. Users seemed disoriented by this disruption in activity and they lost confidence that they were clicking in the right places. The users now questioned a choice that seemed to be a good one earlier.
Some dropdown and fly out implementations required our users to use awkward movements to make simple choices. For example, on a recent version of the Verizon site, the user was looking to find out more about the Verizon Foundation. ”

This is 100% true in my experience– I’ve seen this in enough tests. In fact, often people are so ready to click they click on the header, and then notice the flyout and have to hit back to see what they missed. What UIE doesn’t cover is the ergonomic problems with these GUI objects. Test after test I’ve seen people slip. They slip on long drop downs, they slip on flyouts, and they misclick or their mouse slips off the menu and the whole dang thing folds up under them before they can click. Slipage is common and annoying. And slippage causes resentment toward the site that chose the GUI object and a desire to not use it again. For a news site like MSNBC that wants peopel to come to read it every day, that would be a very bad thing.

good lecture

I saw Lebbeus Wood talk last night, and it was very interesting. He’s an architect of many peculiar […]

Beautiful

Excerpt from a letter to Don Norman: “One of your partner’s heuristics is aesthetic and minimalist design. What […]

italy

Sign warning about the uneven steps in the vatican museum.

relationships

All the fuss over findability resulting from Peter’s article and the many insightful comments led me to think […]

money money money

OJR article: WSJ’s $28 Million Renovation “So why completely overhaul a Web site that works? And what on […]

Your perspective is showing

Ever since I’ve been reading Sorting Things Out , I look at classification schemes differently. When I saw […]

design damn you!

Another christina sent me this article: Reduced to a look and a feel “It alarms me when I […]

beauty

‘Consequences of Thought’ continues our “it’s friday” series.

breadcrumbs

Location, Path & Attribute Breadcrumbs was Keith Instone’s poster at ASIS&T’s IA summit. If you dont’ mind holding […]

reblog, for context

I know I’ve noted tis before, but since we’re talking large font versions.. The Sacramento Bee — toolbar […]

how to lie with charts

How to Win Business with Proposal Infographics “Information” graphics, on the other hand, add substance as well as […]

hire me!

How can I not like an article whose number one bit of advice is “hire a Usability Specialist” […]

Hide those table legs!

From IT ARCHITECT ADVISOR: Create Usable Web Sites – – ADVISOR.com – – “Hambrose says today’s Web site […]

jef time

Macworld: Pro File: Mac Daddy Q: So how did you get people to accept your ideas? A: The […]

sleep on it

Listen to To the Best of Our Knowledge – Sweet Dreams, Sleepless Nights — Bob Stickgold’s experiments with […]