Discuss: Power to the People
by D. Keith Robinson
- Editorial Comments
2 We do not support the version of the browser you a
The Gap’s website redirects me to a screen saying that I’m using an unsupported browser. And it’s the most up-to-date version of Opera
And is it because they care about their users?
posted at 05:16 am on November 29, 2005 by Marcin Warpechowski
3 User led development
A lot of good points – it’s easy to get carried away with the technology.
But a lot of the clients I deal with here in the UK are organisations with their own goals and objectives. Their websites were initially developed to reflect their own organisational structure and technology, and the users could go to hell.
But now, weirdly, it’s sometimes swinging too far the other way – being purely user led and subordinating business goals to user preferences and topline feedback.
Ultimately, a great designer has to find a way of combining the two – what the organisation wants to do achieve with its site, and what things its customers will want to achieve – and then choose the approach that flows naturally from the scope and specification that emerges.
posted at 08:54 am on November 29, 2005 by Steph Gray
4 Users always come first
I completely agree with what everyone’s pointed out so far. The user comes first, and a lot of the time your users, if you’re trying to launch some major web app, aren’t going to be extremely computer savvy. Break it down in laymans terms for the average user and make everything as easy as possible to use.
as for Gap, well, their neglegance of some browsers will surely have some effect on the amount of people purchasing products online. And as for Ajax, I belive it’s a great technology, but I don’t think it’s quite ready for widespread use with mainstream users.
anyway, great article. My next website design will most definitely be focused on the user instead of my own craving for creativity.
posted at 08:59 am on November 29, 2005 by Kevin S.
5 Problem or solution
It’s the old adage about <insert name of new technology here> being a solution looking for a problem. Too many people think that because they can, they should, and that’s where it ends. And that’s what leads to Flash, PDF, and database-driven websites where pages have names like page.php?id=7752 … because nobody has stopped to think about the people who will be using it.
These are people, bear in mind, who will type a full URL into Google and who will click on a vibrating “dialogue box” that says ‘You have a virus – click here to remove’ … these are people who need things made simple. Each and every tiny increase in complexity will result in lost sales.
Any website that needs a “How to use” section is almost certainly going to fail for users – that doesn’t mean go without it, it means re-engineer the site. That might mean you need to reduce the technology and make it simpler, or it might mean you need to increase the technology and functionality. Either way, you need to examine how users are using the site before making any major changes.
posted at 09:20 am on November 29, 2005 by Stephen Down
6 Amen, amen and amen
The thing to remember is that less really is alwaus always more.
posted at 09:46 am on November 29, 2005 by Erwin Heiser
8 All or None
When I tried to visit Gap’s web site using Safari, and couldn’t, I went so far as to email the tech people. Developers should be beyond the “this only works in…” stage of web design. My philosophy is things should work cross-platform and cross-browser, and it something takes too many hacks to get there, I must be doing something wrong.
posted at 01:11 pm on November 29, 2005 by Heather Hawkins
9 Gap Problem
I can’t either visit Gap with my Safari version. How can such a big site like Gap afford it noto consider Apple users?
posted at 06:30 pm on November 29, 2005 by Michael Mueller
10 News Flash
Update:
You’ve been able to order pictures from Flickr for more then 2 weeks already. Plus you can create books, order stamps, and DVDs of your account. Tadaaaa: http://www.flickr.com/do/more/
Just thought you might want to know.
posted at 11:56 am on November 30, 2005 by Blake Ramick
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1 Heedlessly Implementing technology
I completely agree with your charge that tools and technology need to come second to creating useful interfaces. There are a whole lot of new technologies and services being thrown out there without a lot of usability being considered. We would do well to consider what AJAX brings to the design before implementing it because it looks flashy.
For example, the Wordpress 2.0 beta introduces a lot of slick collapse and expand sections on the write page but it remains to be seen if it really makes it easier to use. It looks cool, but the old way gave you ready access to everything you needed without having to open a collapsed section.
Technology without usability isn’t using the technology to it’s full potential.
posted at 02:28 am on November 29, 2005 by Brian Shih