| Beyond ‘user-friendly’
For some practical and other intellectual property-related reasons
we cannot produce transcripts of the event; we will post a longer
report here shortly, supplemented by some of the conference reviews
that appeared in the press. Meanwhile you may be interested in Jane
Dudman’s round table interview with the main speakers in Guardian
Online ‘Not
just a pretty page’ and Louise McElvogue’s interview
with Jakob Nielsen in The Times ‘The
best of sites, the worst of sites’. Calum Benson has reviewed
the event at UIDesign.net.
The ‘Nielsen Norman Group E-Commerce Usability Study’
should have been received by everyone who attended the conference;
they were shipped in April. If you haven’t received yours please
contact nico@design-agenda.org.uk
If you are interested in continuing a discussion on the conference
themes please see the internet-usability
list on eGroups, started by the organisers of our sister event which
took place in Amsterdam.
Conference
summary
Usability and the user experience have emerged, as sub-sets of
user-centred design and as key components for the success of the
Web in its many diverse forms. The importance of this topic was
highlighted when ‘Design for Usability’, featuring some
of the world’s top gurus on usability, sold out two weeks in
advance. Kevin Moran
reports on the event.
Stressing the concept of usability, Ben Shneiderman, commented on
the need for individuals to say 'I did this, not a machine', thus
empowering the user to control the technology and not the other way
round.
Jakob Nielsen, Bruce Tognazzini and Ben Shneiderman explored how usability
influences the design of Web applications and how improvements increase
productivity and efficiency.
Brenda Laurel and Rick Robinson focused on the user experience and
the need to understand the user in order to be effective designers.
Donald Norman spoke on the role of usability in business and the diverse
applications used to provide access to Web services.
The two evening sessions featured further discussion between the audience
and speakers while exploring the real world application of user-centred
design. From the approach of a user-centred start-up company to the
pitfalls of ignoring usability testing until it is too late, it became
clear that the undertaking of usability research substantially benefited
the real world approach to design and the end result.
Key themes that emerged from the day’s proceedings included the
need for interface simplification, as Jakob Nielsen remarked, ‘more
complexity, lower success rate’. Also mentioned was the fact
that there is ‘no support in browsers for many needed features’.
According to Bruce Tognazzini, the features serve as complications.
Ethnography was a recurring topic that was deemed a beneficial tool
to better understand the user. As well as "observing people everywhere
you go", said Brenda Laurel designers should "use research
as a design tool". She argued that by distilling their findings
into heuristics this can be applied to their work. Other demonstrable
benefits included Rick Robinson observations that "user research
had changed the nature of the problem", and that instead of being
internally focused, projects should actively seek to understand the
user and their expectations.
Along with illustrating the benefits of usability it is Donald Norman
noted that "usability is only a means to an end". For usability
to be successful in influencing any outcome, its professionals must
speak the language of business, accepting the trade-offs between usability,
marketing, manufacturing and engineering.
The number and variety of topics covered during the sessions indicated
the positive impact usability could achieve when applied properly.
Audience participation was essential for ensuring a lively debate
and enforcing the understanding that usability is a critical concern
for designers of Web services. This participation will be encouraged
online in the hope that a critical on-going discussion can develop.
Pictures
Brenda Laurel on stage
Don Norman holds forth
Tog holds court
Checking the Web for usable
sites... or checking email?
Exchanging wisdom over
lunch
The faithful hordes, and
a keen note-taker
Don Norman from the gods
Shneiderman responds to
a questions during the panel discussion
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