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WebWord Weblog Posting Posting Date: July 29, 2002 WebWord Comment -- Start here: Design critical, says Web guru. (1) Where is the data showing that you know your customers better than suppliers or consultants or anyone else? It is intuitive, but many companies are clueless about their customers. That is actually a reason why companies hire outsiders. Duh. There are pros and cons to outsourcing. Further, you can know your customers very well and work with others to develop the site. (2) People do care about logos and slogans. They are powerful. Who wouldn't kill to have the brand recognition of Coke, Nike, Amazon, or IBM? Customer service is only one part of the user experience. Good service is critical, but other factors are also critical. A good experience and brand go hand-in-hand. Brand can influence the experience, experience can influence the brand. (3) Does it always make sense to aim for lowest common denominator? And, it is really true that if you satisfy novices you also always satisfy people with moderate experience or experts? The answer is no. I suppose it is a useful heuristic, but it should not be gospel. (4) What about design that has nothing to do with business? What about web sites meant for entertainment? What about government web sites, do the same rules really apply?
Reader Comments...
Wow, Uncle Jakob says don't outsource your web design, but please outsource your usability testing to NNGroup, because hey, they know more about your company and users than you're likely to know yourself. Talk about double standards. Posted by: MadMan on July 30, 2002 12:41 AM
John asks: Is it really true that if you satisfy novices you also always satisfy people with moderate experience or experts? I would respond with a big NO! Novices and experts look for different things in an application. Novices need a lot of hand-holding and for them, ease of learning is the primary concern, which changes to ease of use as they figure out how things work. Expert users, however, already know how things work and are generally familiar with UI conventions. For them, efficiency is more important. This explains why I don't want the annoying paper clip, the "tip of the day", or the "click here to begin" (near the Windows 9x start button) to appear, whereas my father would probably find it useful. Let's take a web hosting company's site as an example. Someone new to web hosting terminology and unfamiliar with what exactly he needs for his site may find it useful that a "wizard" asks questions about number of pages, likely traffic, etc. and then suggests a hosting plan. For an expert user like me who knows exactly what he wants, however, a comparison sheet of hosting plans is the better option. I can then decide which features I need and make the choice. Posted by: MadMan on July 30, 2002 06:55 AM
MadMan, your first comment gets at exactly the right point. The pot is calling the kettle black. Posted by: John S. Rhodes on July 30, 2002 07:31 AM
For the record, I hereby claim the ownership of the title "Uncle Jakob", which I've used on this site many times, and in other forums as well. ;) Who knows, one day it might become a familiar term, and I don't want anyone else saying he coined it first. :p Posted by: MadMan on July 30, 2002 10:15 AM
Coining the moniker Uncle Jakob... Design the Jakob Nielsen way (Chinwag, 15-Decemeber-2000) -- "If you want to make a profit, I would suggest that you listen to Uncle Jakob." wetlog: Neale Talbot's Weblog (Wrong Way Go Back, 24-January-2000) -- "PERFECT TIMING: Great-Uncle Jakob has written another eloquent Alertbox."
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