A few years ago, Jakob Nielsen got a lot of attention with his “Flash: 99% bad” alertbox. At the time, I thought that it was a bit extreme. Why not allow ad agencies, graphic designers and movie sites to indulgeContinue reading… Flash is 99% good (for the right audience)
Category: Articles
“We’ll never get this past legal”
The other day I was trying to persuade someone to kill off a paragraph of the purest, most incomprehensible gobbledegook. Although she agreed that there was no merit in the paragraph, she rejected my suggestion with that depressing but commonContinue reading… “We’ll never get this past legal”
Negative plans for positive results
Wading through yet another complicated methodology the other day, my mind started to wander. Why are some of these documents so hard to understand? Why so repetitive? Process complexity happens by accident And I knew the answer really: the thingContinue reading… Negative plans for positive results
Fuzzy recommendations – being definite without being dogmatic
The other day I was in a project feedback meeting. I caught myself using the phrase ‘non-negotiable recommendations’. Now obviously a recommendation is something for consideration and is therefore intrinsically negotiable. So why did everyone nod in agreement at theContinue reading… Fuzzy recommendations – being definite without being dogmatic
The Market Research Society Conference, or “usability? what’s that?”
A few years ago, I realised that when we’re testing products with the general public, we’re actually doing a type of market research. So I joined the Market Research Society in the hope of making connections with other market researchers,Continue reading… The Market Research Society Conference, or “usability? what’s that?”
Getting the video to talk to the audio
The call from the client was “Can we borrow your camera? We’ve only got one, and we need two for the next test”. We agreed a modest fee and the deal was done. Or was it? Close questioning revealed thatContinue reading… Getting the video to talk to the audio
How to obtain maximum insight by cross-referring site statistics, San Francisco, 2002
Slides from a presentation to the IIR/IMRO Symposium “Web-based surveys and usability testing”, San Francisco, California, US. The presentation describes a project at the UK’s Open University, which wanted to explore how students make course choice decisions. The students’ motivation,Continue reading… How to obtain maximum insight by cross-referring site statistics, San Francisco, 2002
Why users don’t complain about bad forms
Originally written in response to the Florida vote controversy in the US 2000 presidential election, here are plenty of reasons why you may never know that users are struggling with your form. This article first appeared in January 2001 in UserContinue reading… Why users don’t complain about bad forms