Silverback, from our friends at Clearleft, is a really nice new Mac app for usability testing that makes uses of Macs’ built in iSight, the Apple Remote, and more. It’s a simple app, but it’s extremely well-designed (as you’d expect from Clearleft!), and appears to do what it does very elegantly. If you do usability testing with live subjects, you really should check it out. Also noteworthy to an animals lover like me: Clearleft is donating 10% of the profits to saving the gorillas. Awesome. Visit site »
November 8th, 2007, 3 PM in Seattle, WA
October 25th, 2007, 6 PM
A great peice by Milissa Tarquini on the myth that is “the fold.” There is a general believe, started by Jakob Nielson back in 1997, that users don’t scroll. While it was definitely true back in 1997 that many users were not big scrollers, the research today shows otherwise. Users are happy to scroll vertically, and expect they will have to in order to view the full content of web pages. Via Veerle. Visit site »
Of course, the article doesn’t mention any specific sites that are guilty. I suspect what I consider “Web 2.0” and what Jakob considers “Web 2.0” are very different things, as it’s my impression that the things he is lamenting the lack of — usability, people-centered design, etc. — are actually hallmarks of “Web 2.0.”
Then again, if Jakob ever said web usability was getting better, he’d be out of a job. Visit site »
“Because then all websites are bad. There is nothing wrong with scrolling. Nothing at all. Just as there is nothing wrong with flipping pages in books.”
A-freaking-men. Visit site »
Andy’s got an awesome post full of tips on using heuristic evaluations in the modern web app world. Visit site »
Jakob’s ten most egregious offenses against users are mostly the same things he’s been railing on about for years. As with most Nielsen musings, his ideas are largely good, but his writing style, attitude, and absolutism are annoying at best and offensive at worst. Visit site »
James has a little something to say to “John,” which may refer to a real person, but doesn’t need to. There are a lot of “Johns” out there, especially in the accessibility community. So, “John,” whoever you are — listen up. You just might learn something. Visit site »
A revised version of a previously described script that will open links that have a certain class name in a new window. I’m no Javascript expert, but the way Roger is handling this seems really smart to me. Visit site »
Jason Fried’s Signal vs. Noise post in which he claims Apple “Getting Real” is forthcoming. Visit site »
Great article on for ways people seek information: known item, exploratory, don’t know what they need to know, and re-finding. Visit site »
Excellent piece on why some ugly websites (Google, eBay, MySpace, craigslist) are successful. It has a lot to do with being first to market and the nature of “community lock-in” — probably also the reason AIM is tops, by the way. Visit site »
I think this is an interesting article and a vlid concern for web content providers. I have to say, though, that it’s really odd that it comes from Jakob, who is a usability expert. In essence, he’s saying that search engines are too useful and p Visit site »
This sign absolutely cracks me up. You really have to see it to believe it. Everyone click this one — it’s fun for the whole family. Visit site »
I agree with all of Jakob’s Top Ten Mistakes for Blogs except one: “No Author Photo.” Not having a photo of yourself, while annoying, doesn’t really seem like something that should be number two on the list. But whatever. Bottom line: good tips here. And, Visit site »
D. Keith puts it down. Great points here. Visit site »
My take: designing for 1024px wide screens was an okay choice for ALA — because it suits their target audience. It’s probably not an okay choice for everyone. On the K-State website, which I think is representative of a wide range of different types of u Visit site »