WebWord.com Newsletter Issue #55

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ISSUE #55

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                WebWord.com Newsletter
           "Industrial Strength Usability"
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                 Newsletter Editor
                   John S. Rhodes 
                     John@webword.com
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March 4, 2001                       Newsletter #55
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Table of Contents

1. Editorial: There are No Good or Bad Web Sites
2. Analyzing Success Rates in Web Usability Testing: 
   The Cochran's Q Test
3. The Usability of Email Subject Lines
4. Usability at Women.com - Part II
5. What Stinks About Computer Products?
6. Colorblindness and Usability
7. Visiting The Ghost
8. How often do you visit WebWord?
9. WebWord.com Newsletter Archive
10. What Can You Find at WebWord.com?

        
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ITEM #1

Editorial: There are No Good or Bad Web Sites

I've been thinking about books, paper, and the web.
What I've noticed is that I still really like books.
I appreciate them. They are easy to carry around
for the most part, I can mark them up, and they are
easy to reference. I also like knowing that almost
every technical book has a table of contents and
an index. The similar interface from book to book
is very pleasing. It also means speed, which is 
always important. Holding a good book, perhaps in
bed or in a chair, is convenient. I still like 
books even though I use computers constantly.

Interestingly, I don't care much for magazines. 
What I mean is that I don't keep magazines around
any more, nor do I buy them. They tend to be 
expensive and they are a hassle to keep around. Part
of the reason is that they "expire" after a short
amount of time. This is especially true for 
technical magazines. 

So, it isn't that I like or dislike paper. Instead, I
like what paper can offer in very specific instances.
This is an important point. I like books not because
they are made of paper but because they offer certain
characteristics that I appreciate. If I simply liked
books *because* they were paper, then I should like 
magazines. But, I don't.

When we talk about web usability, we might feel like
we should talk about technology, such as HTML, Flash,
XML, Cold Fusion, and so forth. Yet, we should be 
talking about the result of the technology and how
humans interact with it. Think again about my paper
comments. Paper itself is only used to build the 
book. It is necessary but not sufficient to satisfy
me. In the same sense, it is non-sensical that I
should like HTML itself, or even a web site itself.
Instead, I should like what the HTML or the web site
can do for me. That is why Flash is not evil in any
absolute sense. It might be used to produce something
that I like or hate. It all depends on how it 
satisfies my wants and needs. 

Key point: No technology is inherently good or evil,
it entirely depends on how it is applied and how it 
impacts the people using it. 

Analogy to the key point: Dumping toxic waste into
a river is not inherently good or evil. Humans think 
that it is nasty and wicked because it kills living
things and, in general, humans don't like killing.
Note that if all life died on the planet, the Earth
would still travel around the sun and time would 
still pass. I'm not saying that I like toxic dumping.
Don't turn my words around! I'm only saying that the
action is just an action and it has no value. The 
impact of the action can be evil because humans 
*judge* actions as good or evil. 

Therefore, when talking about web usability, the 
conversation should almost always be about how humans
interact with it. The conversation should not focus
on the technology. We need to be interested in 
outcomes and results and interactions. Don't listen
to the experts; there are no inherently good or bad 
web sites! 

Cheers,

- John

John S. Rhodes
WebWord.com -- Industrial Strength Usability
http://webword.com
john@webword.com
607-427-WORD (9673)


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ITEM #2

A new WebWord.com interview is now online:
--> http://webword.com/moving/cochransq.html

"Analyzing Success Rates in Web Usability Testing: 
The Cochran's Q Test"

The Cochran's Q Test can be used to statistically 
analyze success rate data. It can be used even when 
only a small number of users are tested. This 
provides some indication that a vast amount of 
usability data can, and should be statistically 
analyzed. 

You can read the new article here:
--> http://webword.com/moving/cochransq.html


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ITEM #3

A new WebWord.com report is now online:
--> http://webword.com/moving/subjectlines.html

"The Usability of Email Subject Lines"

Email is very important to a lot of people and 
companies. However, very little usability research 
has been done on email, specifically email subject 
lines. This article is a summary of a research 
report written by WebWord on the topic and contains
several results. The basic finding from the research 
is that effective email subject lines are very short, 
very meaningful, and personal. 

Interesting note: Based on data from 1999, over 394 
billion email messages were sent. If the usability 
of each email was improved to yield (or save) just 
$0.01, the impact would be almost four billion 
dollars. I think that is amazing!

Special note: At the end of the article you will
find a link to download the full report. It is
six pages long and full of interesting details.
It is totally free. Pass it along to a friend.

You can read the new article here:
--> http://webword.com/moving/subjectlines.html


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ITEM #4

A new WebWord.com interview is now online:
--> http://webword.com/interviews/skeet2.html

"Usability at Women.com - Part II"

This is a quick follow up to an interview I conducted
with Bill Skeet of Women.com near the end of January.

Here are some of the questions asked in Part II:

* What kinds of usability tests do you do? What were 
  the results? What did you find?

* How do you measure the ROI on the usability testing 
  you are doing? 

* Do you have any interesting case studies? Horror 
  stories? Pitfalls to avoid? 

Note: I did this interview because of some reader
feedback. I always appreciate what you have to say,
good or bad. 

You can read the new interview here:
--> http://webword.com/interviews/skeet2.html


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ITEM #5

A new WebWord.com interview is now online:
--> http://webword.com/interviews/horowitz.html

"What Stinks About Computer Products?"

This is an interview I conducted with Michael Horowitz
of ComputerGripes.com. Here are some of the questions
I asked:

* What are the biggest problems you see with technology? 
  Do you see the same types of problems over and over?

* How can programmers and designers prevent the kinds 
  of problems that you discuss on Computer Gripes? 

* Be honest, what companies cause the most pain for 
  people? 

Check it out!


You can read the new interview here:
--> http://webword.com/interviews/horowitz.html


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ITEM #6

A new WebWord.com guest article is now online:
--> http://webword.com/moving/colorblindness.html

"Colorblindness and Usability"

You might do a lot of usability testing on your web
site but you still might lose up to 10% of your 
audience because of some simple mistakes with colors. 
Specifically, your web site may be designed in a 
way that doesn't work well for people with 
colorblindness. Generally the fix is quite simple: 
be sure to provide excellent contrast between your 
various web page elements.

This is a good guest article by Todd Follansbee. He
has over 20 years experience in marketing and sales 
both online and off. He currently works in web 
development and marketing for TheDay.com.

You can read the article here:
--> http://webword.com/moving/colorblindness.html


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ITEM #7

A new WebWord.com guest article is now online:
--> http://evolt.org/article/Visiting_The_Ghost/25/4572/index.html

"Visiting The Ghost"

This is a follow up article to my article on The Ghost!
I spell out several more ideas and I provide a few more
examples for people to think about. I decided to post
the article on Evolt.org, to expose more people to 
the idea. I really like the comments at the end of
the article.

You can read the article here:
--> http://evolt.org/article/Visiting_The_Ghost/25/4572/index.html


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ITEM #8

How often do you visit WebWord?

Take the poll:

--> http://tools.arsdigita.com/voxpopuli/ViewPoll?poll_id=3047

Thanks you!


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ITEM #9

WebWord.com Newsletter Archive

I have (finally) updated the Newsletter Archive. I
have all of the newsletters posted online, in case
you missed a previous issue. Enjoy pawing through
the old issues...

http://webword.com/archive/index.html


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ITEM #10
    
What Can You Find at WebWord.com?


WebWord.com Services
>> http://webword.com/services/index.html

Articles (Moving WebWord)
>> http://webword.com/moving/

Expert Interviews 
>> http://webword.com/interviews/

Recommended Books
>> http://webword.com/books/booksindex.html

Newsletter Archive
>> http://webword.com/archive

Weblog Archive
>> http://www.webword.com/weblog

Usability Reports 
>> http://webword.com/reports

Recommended Web Sites
>> http://webword.com/hotsites.html


----- End of WebWord.com Usability Newsletter #55 ------

      (c)2001 by WebWord.com and John S. Rhodes. 
                 All rights reserved.

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