RE: UKNM: Re: Amazon.com

[Stewart Dean]

 > -----Original Message-----

 >

From: Stefan Magdalinski [stefanisness [dot] org (mailto:stefanisness [dot] org)]

 > Sent: Monday, February 21, 2000 2:43 PM

 >

To: uk-netmarketingchinwag [dot] com

 > Subject: Re: UKNM: Re: Amazon.com

 > 

 > 

 > rChris Heathcote wrote:

 >  > 

 >  > At 11:59 am +0000 on 21/2/00, Duncan Clubb wrote:

 >  > 

 >  >  >I've long thought and

 >  >  >argued that IT bods are long experienced in producing UI's for

 >  >  >applications, but the biggest problem is the refusal of 

 > most people to

 >  >  >consider web sites as applications rather than flat media.

 >  > 

 >  > I wouldn't say programmers are the best people to design 

 > interaction

 >  > - they're too concerned with keeping the code easy to write, and

 >  > don't understand why a Delete All Files button shouldn't 

 > be put next

 >  > to the Check Mail button[0].


Amen brother.


 > I'd hate to be misunderstood here. As, I stated in my original mail, I

 > didn't say that techies are better than anyone else at this, just that

 > they're not worse.

 > (that said, graphic designers (and their handlers) assuming 

 > that visual

 > design == usability design is *the* most common web mistake)

 > 

 > I also don't believe that much of the usability theory 

 > (especially much

 > of research methodolgy) is much use to anyone.

 > 

 > only one thing works really well: spending a very large amount of time

 > surfing other sites, and looking out carefully for when *you* make

 > mistakes browsing sites. Was it your mistake, or was the site

 > misleading? why was it confusing? why did it take you so long to find

 > that piece of information? Did that site do something very intuitively

 > and cleverly? then steal it. 


Wrong wrong wrong.  The thing about good usability design is it's invisible.

Looking at the end results you'll only see the overtly visible parts and

miss what actually make the site work.


When people don't enjoy a site they'll often blame everything else apart

from what may be the true reason - it may be bad information architecture or

bad interface design.


 > and as well as that, being very aware that 

 > 

 > a) sophistication of features is usually inversely 

 > proportional to ease

 > of use.  strike a balance, and then strike out 3 more features.


Features?  A given site must perform certain tasks - this is all part of the

design process. If you're adding random features with no rhyme or reason -

like adding a chat room because you can and you want to build up a

'community'. The importance is to understand the function of any given

application and as far as I'm concerned the only way to do that is proactive

user testing.

  

 > b) (too obvious, but still neglected) 

 > 

 > every customer is less experienced than you are. make it simpler.

 > always. 


That rules interfaces that demand regular use. By adding wizards to word to

make things easy for novice users Microsoft in some ways have made the

program harder to use. There is a concept I call skill based interfaces that

allow rapid use but require a certain learning curve. Not all systems should

be designed for dummies. Take a guitar for example - it's easy to pick up

but hard to master but the results are a true real time system.


It's not about experience but cultural background - the users may be

infinitely more experienced than you if you, say, are designing a medical

site for medical professionals but do not have a medical background. 


There has been a lot of excellent work done in usability and a lot of

lessons learnt. The problem is the whole subject is not easy to lump into a

traditional category. Elements of CE can be found in traditional media and

it's best not to ignore the lessons learnt in film, print and, my favourite,

game design.


Above all creating good interactivity is *not* common sense and requires a

lot of knowledge and experience as with any field. Being a good marketing

person, graphic designer, film maker or exceptional Java programmer won't

make you a good customer/user experience person - but it may help.


Cheers


 >

Stewart Dean - SDeanscient [dot] com

 > Customer Experience UK

 > Scient*: The eBusiness Systems Innovator*

 > http://www.scient.com/london/ 



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