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WebWord Weblog Posting Posting Date: December 16, 2002 holistic usability -- "orthodox usability sees the user as an abstract, data processing hulk, navigating hungry for hard facts, through the web. in our view, the user is a human being with emotions, curiosity, complex preferences – in short, the user is alive." (Comments: The user is dead. Long live the user!)
Reader Comments...
It's a joke, as far as I can tell. Who is the joke on? Posted by: Ron Zeno on December 16, 2002 10:53 PM
Makes the (somewhat understandable but blinkered) mistake of viewing usabilty as a set of restrictive bland guidelines. It's even less informed than I am! Damnit, maybe I should start a new site: usabilitymustlive.com ? Posted by: Mac on December 17, 2002 03:14 AM
OK, so I don't care for the design, but I agree with the main point -- "traditional" usability tends to focus on functionality and efficiency and ignores (or even distains) things like memorability, delight, whimsy, etc. In other words, the stuff that lots of "interactive designers" like Hillman Curtis focus on. While lots of folks here will dismiss this as Flash/video crap, there's a place for immersive multimedia on the web (and other interactive mediums) and Curtis has done some great stuff. Not to start off the jargon wars again, but what the article is really talking about is "usability" vs. the larger notion of "user experience" -- the latter of which focuses on balancing demands of functionality, content and presentation. Posted by: George Olsen on December 17, 2002 02:34 PM
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