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As soon as you work on developing a website or web apps in a large organisation, you usually can’t but help think, "Surely there has to be a better way to build this stuff." So many meetings, so many requirements and design documents, the pain of testing, and the inflexibility to focus on actually creating a good design – they all contribute to a process that feels bulky, cumbersome, and long winded.
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Are you testing your design with humans or just test subjects?
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"Every blogger has the same list I do. A list of things they want to fix on their blogs, if only they had the time (or technical ability). Over the next 30 days I’m going to tackle the small things and big things that I have wanted to change on my blog for months (and sometimes even years) since I launched it. More importantly, I’m going to share the results of the project here, in case some of you readers are comtemplating doing the same thing with your blogs, or just interested in seeing how this experiment turns out. "
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"One of my colleagues fends off lots of cold calls from all sorts of companies wanting to speak to various directors. The IT suppliers seem to be the easiest to get rid off as she politely asks them if the software is accessible (she usually has to explain why that’s important to the RNIB) and that seems to do the trick in getting rid of 90% of the sales folk."
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First of all, less is sometimes more. We all know that, but it was really obvious in this case: Pownce was the Twitter fan’s dream come true, adding groups, file sharing and several other highly requested features without cluttering the service with too many options. However, sometimes simplicity and lack of options are what differentiates a service and makes it worth your while.
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"Candlelight is romantic."
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This toolkit offers an overview of the methods and techniques which can be used throughout the user-centered design process.
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Half (48%) of tech users need help from others in getting new devices and services to work, and many experience tech outages when there is a glitch with their home internet connection, computer, or cell phone. Coping with these failures is a hassle for many tech users and helps to distance them from technology use.
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"Syksyn mittaan olen useaan kertaan joutunut keskusteluun jossa toinen osapuoli miettii verkkosivujen vieritystarvetta. ’Kyllähän sivun pitää näkyä kokonaan ilman vieritystä’, on sanottu, kuten on myös ’Vieritys on huono juttu, sillä käyttäjät eivät vieritä’. Että häh, siis anteeks’ mitä? Viimeksi kun tarkistin kalenterista, totesin ettemme enää elä 1990-lukua."
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Your content needs to sound like a human being crafted it, not like a system regurgitated it.
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Be consistent. Pick one language variant and stick to it. Varying the style confuses everyone and signals poor attention to detail, says Jakob and for the first time ever, uses a smiley in his column!!
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"Unless you know for sure that your web site is something people want, no amount of SEO or usability input is going to make it successful for years to come. Make every dollar and minute of your time on your project productive, and be honest about who your project is really for."
