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WebWord Weblog Posting Posting Date: September 13, 2002 Letter to a Non-believer -- "I handle more email in a month than many people will see in a lifetime, and I have been using email as a professional tool since the late 80s."
Reader Comments...
How many people do you think will click on Atul? I bet a ton of people! Seeing an image on the front page of WebWord is...different. What will we learn from the Atul Experiment?
(Editor Note: Modifed image to link to image on WebWord, as of 8:49 PM EST.) Posted by: John S. Rhodes on September 13, 2002 09:43 PM
What will we learn from front page photos? We'll learn that people want more Britney, less Atul. I'm particularly annoyed that the text doesn't wrap around the photo. It's an awkward placement. Posted by: Jack on September 13, 2002 10:44 PM
Also, why does the photo link to the 'about' page instead of the article? Without a text label on the photo, I would assume it leads to the article. John, are you drumming up business for Flanders by making me utter the words... mystery meat navigation ...? Yes, I clicked on the photo. Bigger click zone. It's far easier than going to my eye doctor and asking for glasses I don't need because I want to read text labels that have great contrast, just to have my doctor tell me yet again that my eyes are perfectly fine and then warn me about venturing into bad parts of the web that are plagued with poor contrast. My doctor likes you John. Why do I get my eyes checked then? Insurance covers it, and I like getting a toy from the big treasure chest at the end of my visit. And for the confused guy at the back of the room... If reading me is like a bad drug trip, you do too many drugs and not enough WebWord. Sit back and read through all the comments this time, but ignore the linked sites with poor contrast. You'll have more fun reading the comments anyhow. Pure black and white baby. The way God intended. Posted by: Jack Punk Ass Schonchin on September 14, 2002 02:08 AM
Back to the article ... this "expert" commits the single greatest sin of usability: thinking he is the user. Posted by: Eric Scheid on September 14, 2002 02:20 AM
Make up your mind - is he an expert who is therefore not qualified to think like a user, or is he an "expert" (i.e. not an expert) who is a luser? Posted by: on September 14, 2002 04:01 AM
John, change the link to point to his main page, will ya'? Posted by: MadMan on September 14, 2002 05:24 AM
I am beginning to think that Users are not Designers are not Experts are not Users is very damaging to usability. What this means is that your 'opinions' as a user are worthless next to my 'opinions' as a designer or usability expert. We are all users. If you observe some user lab rats using a system then you 'become a user' by association. This would mean that the only 'true usability experts' would be people who have no contact with users. Hey that sounds just like the marketing department! Posted by: Mac on September 14, 2002 06:49 AM
Experts can think like users, but they need to remember that not all users think like them. Atul goes to great pains to establish his credibility by virtue of long experience with linux, operating system development, internet experience and so on. All well and fine, for him, but then he goes and falls on the sword of ecco homo: "tell me and millions of others it can't be done". If he can show that there are millions of others with the same depth of experience and specialist skills as his, then I'll withdraw my complaint. Posted by: Eric Scheid on September 14, 2002 08:11 AM
"millions of others with the same depth of experience" Interesting point. There is a strong assumption that the average user is a new user. Instead of browser statistics, I would love to find some study on depth of experience. Are the vast number of users moving down the experience curve? In what ways does this change basic assumptions, if at all? Posted by: (the other)JS on September 14, 2002 09:16 AM
MadMan and others, the image now points to the Atul home page. I gave in to peer pressure. Posted by: John S. Rhodes on September 14, 2002 09:22 AM
One potentially nice 'use' of a photo is to have it display next to a person's name when a message is posted. This may also provide more of a community feel. On the other hand, the pages may take longer to load ... ;) OR idea 2 you could have a page on webword with piccies, short bios of regular posters and links to persons web page on a webword community page. Thoughts? e.g. webword.com/community Posted by: Daniel Szuc on September 14, 2002 11:29 AM
Blimey, didn't realise that pic was linked to my name!
This Linux user/expert has the same contempt for us Windows users that all the other geeks/retards on Slashdot have. He thinks that just because he can tweak his Linux PC, all other non-geeks must automatically be able to do the same. Not all of us have the time or the patience to learn a new operating system, Mr. Chitnis. Linux on the the desktop is still a pain in the ass. It may be OK as a server, but it sucks as a desktop OS. How many people here use Linux on their desktop? Posted by: Oscar Neville on September 14, 2002 11:40 PM
Comments - Picture, not important to me. His page - - black background makes it hard to read. He's been using Linux for years, it's easy for him. Great. I accept it can be done. The learning curve for the average person is -- what? Longer or shorter than Windows? And for a Windows-comfortable person, is the payoff worth the price of switching? Once a person learns a set of tools, they get good at them, find a comfort zone of features & functions. Any change is initially a degradation of their capabilities to get work done. Switching to Linux from Windows involves costs of re-training, there is no way to get around this. An operating system is not a value generating tool, but a platform for tools, for most users. Any experienced Linux person is going to say, it's easy, it's OK, you can get your work done in Linux. The person who tries to migrate finds nothing but pain and reduced capabilities until they make it over the learning curve. Some don't stick with it long enough to get past the initial hurdle. Linux people then sneer at them as unworthy. What's the real payoff on a Linux switch? Better than Microsoft tools for one's daily work? A few hundred $$$ for software license costs can be consumed in productivity declines while one learns the new stuff. "Almost as good as..." MS Office won't cut it with lots of folks, they want the real thing and don't care what it costs or runs on. Is the main benefit a a political statement, and does that generate enough satisfaction to offset the productivity hit? For some people, it does; for others, they don't take the M$-is-evil thing quite so seriously. Linux advocates - - examine the costs of switching from the Windows user standpoint, and come up with some tools/techniques that mitigate the costs, this will help more than blaming the "Windoze lusers". Some techniques that have been used by other products - compatibility modes, different skins, alternate menu systems. Some of this is there, but it's not highlighted or promoted. Linux is different and seems to want to be different. But, being different is a barrier for many users. Posted by: mcw on September 16, 2002 03:27 PM
mcw - thanks for that comment. I think I will keep a copy of it and then I can replace the occurences of LINUX and WINDOWS with whatever terms match the religious debate thats taking place. It should work for VB and C, Windows and Mac, FONT and CSS, Oracle and SQL Server, and maybe even Kirk and Picard. Posted by: Mac on September 16, 2002 03:41 PM
Interesting transmogrification of Atul today. Is that a big green wart on Atul's face? Posted by: Jack on September 17, 2002 05:19 PM
I was simply linking to the image on his site instead of storing the image on WebWord. Atul asked me to make the change, and that is fair, but I haven't had the time to do it yet. I think it is humorous. Posted by: John S. Rhodes on September 17, 2002 08:40 PM
My response to Atul: Open Letter to a Power User / Developer Here's a snippet: Images - therrre ggrrreaaaaaattt! Issue: how to get new comments noticed on webword....hmmm.
Oh, FYI I exchanged emails with Atul and he says: "The time had come to add more information to the article to show people context. Please re-read it and digest the added information, *then* read the article again. If you came in via webword, you may give them a heads-up over there as well." Posted by: Lyle - Son of a Usability Guru on September 18, 2002 11:00 AM
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