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Usability Newsletter!
Web
Usability Bill of Rights
by John S.
Rhodes and Sean Lindsay
Summary
Web developers, web designers, web producers: Wake up. Hear me roar. I am the common user. I am the person that pays your bills. I am the reason you exist. I am your traffic. Heed my words. I am sick and tired of being abused. I am not smiling or winking. I'm not happy. I am a good person, but you have treaded on me for too long now. I am going to tell you what I want. I am going to tell you what I need from you today so that my experience is better. Listen to me. This is no manifesto, this is my life.
What the People Demand
1. I demand access to any and all information you have stored on me. This includes any historical, proprietary, transactional, or confidential information. If you think you can hold my life in your database and not give me access to it, then you better prepare yourself for lawsuits, angry emails, and bad publicity. I'll do everything I can to expose your practices and I will write my government about you. I'll use your company as the example of how not to do things. I'll find a way to make life miserable for you. And I'll encourage others to do the same.
2. Don't even think about selling my information. If you do store information on me, be open about it. Make it clear when, where, why, and how you use it.
3. I want you to test your web site on as many browsers as possible, with as many people, on as many systems as possible, before you make it available.
4. If you want my money, you will tell me exactly what I am buying and exactly how much it will cost me. Include all taxes, tariffs, markups, markdowns, and discounts. Add in the cost of shipping. I want it spelled out in great detail. And tell me before you dare ask me for my credit card number or I won't shop from you. Not now, not ever.
5. If you use bleeding edge technology, I probably won't like your site. Don't use it unless you need to use it to make a point you couldn't do any other way. Push the envelope in another direction. If you are a developer, tough. Most users are average. I am average. In most cases, you should cater your site to me.
6. Don't tell me that you can solve all of my problems through your web site.
I don't have faith in you, and you are not my religion. You can't do
everything for everyone. Know your focus and don't give me crap I don't
want.
7. Don't lie. Don't even pretend. Don't fake it. If you do lie to me, I'll be sure to burn you with negativity. I'll announce it in emails and newsletters and in conversations. I'll mock you. I'll make you an example. I'll boo you off the stage.
8. I am not a mind reader. I can't read your thoughts. I can't see your face. I can't hear your tone. Your punctuation and strange symbols don't tell me what you really mean.
Avoid ambiguity. If you want to say something, be blunt. Make it clear. Use diagrams and images and pictures. (And, your jokes aren't funny.)
9. Make pages load fast and you'll make me happy. If you must use pictures, please assume that I don't have much bandwidth. Life is slow on the Internet. Life is very slow. I don't care that your system is fast and your connection is fast. I don't have your machine or your connection.
10. Whenever possible, be consistent. Don't get cute or fancy or tricky. It is all right to bend the rules sometimes, rarely, since I don't want every site to be the same. But, if basically every other web site follows certain conventions, please try to follow them. Most of the time, users will be on those sites, not yours. Let me be blunt with you. I spend less time on your site than you think.
(Example: Links are blue and underlined. Isn't that what you expect? If they
are not that way on your site, why not? You better have a damn good reason
for violating my expectations.)
11. Be clear and precise. Use headings and boldface to orient me. Avoid italics; they are hard to read on my screen. Don't use ambiguous links. A link is only useful to me if I know where it will take me.
12. Broken links suck. Clean up after yourself. Do some housecleaning. Surf your own site and get a clue.
Eat your own dog food. I'll immediately leave your site if any link on the home page doesn't work right. You can't personally tell me that it was an accident or that you didn't mean for the link to be broken. There aren't footnotes and apologies with links. Wake up.
13. I know that you can discriminate against me on the web; don't do it.
I know that you can use technology to feed me what you want to feed me. I'm not as stupid as you think. If you provide me with prices that are higher than they ought to be, I might not find out the first few times but eventually I will find out. It is like speeding - if you do it a lot you will get away with it a lot, but eventually, if it is part of your routine, you will get caught. Remember, offline, I have friends. I talk with them and I compare my experience with theirs. If things aren't fair, we'll make you suffer. Like it or not, there are other places to get what you sell.
14. Make it easy for me to do business with you. Cut out unnecessary steps. Reduce confusion. Eliminate the need to re-enter my personal information again and again on your forms. Get my information once; tell me that you have it filed, and then put it to good use.
15. I know that you make mistakes. I expect that you will do everything you can to take care of my problems. I am an individual and I have a name.
Treat me like a person. Treat with respect and you'll win me over.
16. If I report an accessibility problem to you, such as the font is too small or the colors are hard to read because I am colorblind, do what you can to accommodate me.
Trust me when I say there are hundreds if not thousands of other people having the same problem that I am having. Using the web is difficult. Please help me if you can.
17. Give me many ways to reach you. People need to get in touch with you and the more avenues you provide the better, especially if you are selling something. Give me an email address, fax number, phone number, postal address, and anything else you can think of. Help me talk to you. I want to tell you what problems I am having. If you want my feedback, you've got to make it easy for me.
18. Not everyone on the Internet speaks English. The world is not the United States. If you have the time and money, offer your goods, services, and content in other languages. It makes sense for you to reach me in my language. Talk to me in my own tongue when you can. I know it takes work, but I greatly appreciate your efforts.
19. Give me as much control over my experience as you can. Let me tailor your web site as much as possible.
Give me the tools to make the site mine. Give me ownership. Your site has value because I am there. I give you hits. I give you page views. I tell people about your site. Give me ways to enjoy my experience. Don't try to control what I do. I am a person and I am complex. You don't know me as well as you think you do, even with all of your technology. Go ahead. Hand over control. Recognize that I own the experience, not you.
20. I'm generally right. I'm the user and I know what I want.
I know what I am looking for and I would like you to help me. If you can't help me, point me in the right direction. I'm going to go away no matter what you try. I can only be tricked so many times. I've been burned enough. Your trick is stupid. It is old news. You are a child. If you don't have my answer, and if your site can't help me directly, help me gracefully exit. Help me find someone who can serve my needs. If you do a good job, I'll come back and I'll tell others. I'll link to you perhaps.
21. If I didn't ask for it, don't do it. Don't assume you know me, even if you test. Don't throw up new web pages on a whim. Don't bother me with your ridiculous ads. They waste my time. Find another way to make money. And don't send me spam. I won't buy what you want me to buy. Maybe someone else will, but I won't. I'll resent you. Put your unwanted
Flash and banner ads and spam email in a brown paper bag and shove it all
where the sun doesn't shine.
22. Help me. Help me learn. Teach me something new. Provide value and content that is worth my time. If you think you are busy, you're not. I have no time. I shouldn't even be at your web site. I'm a chance visitor. I'm here on a whim. There are a billion pages out there, literally, and I happened to hit yours. You are lucky I am at your site. It was probably an accident. So, you better give me something valuable. Maybe, just maybe, I will return. If I actually do return, there had better be something waiting for me. Something juicy and useful.
23. I want to thank you. I am angry with you, but we both know your problems can be solved.
I appreciate your efforts.
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