By Mike Madaio Mike, Why do all of the coolest technologies have such major usability problems?! I’m pretty much an entry-level coder (HTML, some PHP), but I want to learn something higher-end like ActionScript (Flash coding) or Ajax. But then users seem to have such issues with Flash and Ajax. Which one should I focus on learning if...
You asked your usability questions, and Mike has answered! We invite you to ask more questions Hi Mike, I really want to do focus groups for my sites, but I’m just getting my business off the ground and my clients aren’t exactly high-paying. How can I test out my site cheap and still get useful info out of it?...
You asked your usability questions, and Mike has answered! We invite you to ask more questions here Hi Mike, I work for a small web design company, and have been arguing with one of the designers about when we should do usability tests for our projects. I think we should do them close to the beginning, after we have a...
Though it seems like something we should have figured out by now, it is amazing how often the subject of whether to underline or not underline links comes up in design process (or, alternatively, how often links that should be underlined are not underlined). From a design standpoint, underlining links, especially when there are quite a few of them,...
While browsing through the new Dell catalog the other day, I couldn’t help but notice that ALL of the featured computers (desktops and notebooks) came with widescreen monitors. This has been the case with notebooks for some time now, but for desktops it is relatively new phenomenon (HP and Gateway still offer standard monitors on their cheaper units). What...
Missed the first part, click here Key Question 2: Are the Controls Intuitive? No matter how great a new functionality is, if the user can not figure out how to use it (or that it exists), the value is obviously diminished. Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic have done a nice job utilizing AJAX to improve the interaction between customers and...
Designers and developers are often too easily ensnared by the hype of new technology — in today’s case, AJAX, etc. — and often ignore standard usability practices to be the first on the block with the latest and greatest. Remember splash pages with flash intros? How about cheesy animated gifs? Marquee tags? Of course you do. Yet you would...
The other day I got into a discussion about where a blog should be placed on a retail site, and it got me thinking in general about where blogs or community content should appear on any site that isn’t primarily a community site, retail or otherwise. While I could spend time discussing how to handle URLs, how many posts...
