Posting Date: April 16, 2003

Webword survey -- If we were to redesign Webword, what new features would you like to see? How about content? Anything we should add or eliminate? Speak your mind out, but leave the technical bits ("go full xhtml/css dude!") out please. Let us know in the comments box.

Reader Comments...

Narrower columns of text, please! Less white (more background color).

As for content, I'm pretty happy with it, but I have noticed that some visitors become confused because they think all posts should be about usability. If you could assign a category for posts, then let visitors customize their view (I would go for all posts, but some might prefer to see only posts about usability, for example), that would be cool. I'm not sure it's worth all the effort, but it's an idea.

Posted by: Lydia on April 16, 2003 01:48 PM

A slightly less "plain jane" look would be nice. This looks too Nielsen-like.

How about a redesigned logo?

I also want a "Recent comments" box with a "most popular articles this week" section.

Posted by: Mike H on April 16, 2003 02:44 PM

1. Categorise posts, it would make the archives into a far more useful resource.
2. Show how many new comments have been added (this can be done via a cookie, with the user's permission of course, with or without a registration system).
3. Highlight the most recent WebWord articles/interviews alongside the main weblog to show it's not just a weblog
4. It might be worth adding a brief explanation of what WebWord is, covering both the company and the site. This would help clarify things and offer a suitable space for promotion of services offered etc.
5. Tart the site up a bit, the widespread perception that usability leads to plain/ugly/boring sites needs to be challenged, and Jakob's not going to do it.
6. Perhaps add some pages introducing the topic of usability in various targetted ways, e.g. maybe there'd be a page for developers, one for managers, another for designers. There are a lot of people on the fringes (I fall into that category, as a web developer with an interest in some aspects of usability) who could be drawn in without 'dumbing down' the site.

Posted by: Matt Round on April 16, 2003 02:49 PM

Major IA - especially to clarify the WebWord company versus the articles and weblog.
A professional design that is highly usable and accessible.
Yes, category archives! (Thanks Matt)
I also like Matt's idea of some pages that introduce the topic of usability.
Comment RSS feed. It's sometimes difficult to keep up around here and a comment RSS feed would greatly help.
Site-wide search.
Maybe more if I think of any...

Posted by: Joshua Kaufman on April 16, 2003 03:05 PM

Yeah, categorize posts. Also, jazz up the design a bit. The site looks amateurish and un-credible. Hold a contest for the design or something. Winner gets mad propz from WebWord... or whatever John has sitting in the back of the closet, behind the David Hasselhoff records :). I got first dibs on the Pat Boone Metal album :)!

Posted by: Francis Wu on April 16, 2003 03:21 PM

I originally found this site when looking for an on-line forum for human factors discussions. This is the closest thing I've found, but I would still like a regular forum and I think such a forum would be a great addition to your site. There is some pretty good free forum software, phpBB for one.

I would add some explanation to the box for submitting sites, because I'm still not really clear on how it works. I always check the ABOUT page of any website first, and yours is pretty good. But, I am still a little confused about some of the relationships to other web sites, such as usabilitymustdie.com, etc. But that's OK, because it leaves things to explore. Overall, kudos on the site. I love the subject and the fresh content. One more thing, I think it should emphasize human factors for more than just the web.

Posted by: Ralph on April 16, 2003 03:46 PM

How about something actually attractive AND usable? I know it's a wild thought and all.

Posted by: on April 16, 2003 07:04 PM

I'd settle for fading the green used by these pages. #00FF00? Yow! Too bright, hard to read, eyes going buggy... how 'bout a nice #D0FFD0?

Posted by: Mark on April 16, 2003 07:34 PM

Ralph, try chi-web.

I would like a user registration system tying each person to an e-mail address the system knows. Secondly, I would like a weekly poll in which we can vote to kick someone off the web site.

Posted by: Tony the Promiscuous Rutabaga on April 16, 2003 07:46 PM

Oh, sorry, I should put my vote in for a more elegant overall design, too. I just assumed that was the aim of the redesign.

Also, Ralph made a good point about site contributors. Maybe you could have a bio for MadMan and Mac describing their sites, how they are linked to WebWord, and so on. It's not something I think about having hung around here so long, but I can see how it might seem confusing.

Since multiple people contribute, introduce the "Posted by" link for main entries, so we can tell if MadMan, Mac, or John made the entry (rather than having to refer to the "Mac Comments" or "MadMan Comments" addendum). This also eliminates these guys having to refer to themselves in the third person!

Posted by: Lydia on April 16, 2003 07:58 PM

I used the site search and found the bios and sites of Madman and Mac. I think this is the first site I've seen that uses Google site search, and it works very well.

Tony, thanks for the suggestion. I checked the CHI-WEB and it seems a little too academic for me. Plus, I don't like my e-mail address archived in the Internet forever.

Posted by: Ralph on April 16, 2003 08:11 PM

For the record folks, there actually IS a site IA, would you believe? John had posted about this a long time back and I (and others) had suggested various categories. At least when I post something here, I classify it as "Business", "design", "writing", "usability", etc.

It's just that the category archives haven't been created in MovableType.

You know what I like about Webword discussions? It's that most peope here use simple English, not buzzword-loaded jargon.

Posted by: MadMan on April 16, 2003 10:38 PM

Actually, I like Ralph's idea of broadening the usability scope (at least that's what I think he meant). I'd like to see WebWord cover some non-web usability... kinda everyday usability. Could this be a possible category or something?

Posted by: Francis Wu on April 16, 2003 11:06 PM

How about tossing the tables? Would be nice if it were all CSS+XHTML1.0 and stuff.

"You know what I like about Webword discussions? It's that most peope here use simple English, not buzzword-loaded jargon."

I do love that anybody can make a casual post, reading/writing research papers isn't fun, usually.

I agree with the topics stuff too, it isn't hard at all in MT.

I love the green, it would be nice if you could find a way to keep it around, without it being the only color.

If anyone other then my friends post to my blog, i was thinking of adding a Where do you live? field for the comments. It would be nice to see where the opinions are coming from. I think this would work really well for your site due to the international readership.

Please do not add any photos of trees and/or rivers, or smiling ladies though... :)

Posted by: Blogmin on April 16, 2003 11:32 PM

Hey check out swappingtons a site similar to trodo but better with more items for trade, better interface and more members.

Posted by: on April 17, 2003 12:00 AM

Two items on my wish list:

1) A monthly or quarterly digest of the postings, highlighting emerging trends or ideas (www.elearningpost.com do a yearly digest, which is excellent)

2) A separate posting area. Currently, if you add comments to a post it is difficult to find a few days later because the new postings change its location (if you want to see how the discussion has developed).

Sherlock

Posted by: sherlock_yoda on April 17, 2003 03:37 AM

It's all about content:
- topics / categories
- user blogs like IAwiki
- guest bloggers (sign me up)
- trackback
- a way to view active "discussions" going on in comments sections
- ratings/feedback system - let us tell you what posts/articles we liked most.
- a way to vote people off would be kewl...

Posted by: Lyle - Usability Guru on April 17, 2003 09:04 AM

More boobies and weeners. It's a proven community building model. Look at FARK.

Posted by: Flasher on April 17, 2003 10:22 AM

1) Registration
2) System to email you automatically when you articles are posted
3) Webword goodies - Tshirts, Mugs etc :)

Posted by: daniel szuc on April 17, 2003 10:31 AM

Webword goodies

and for anyone who doesn't know....
Some historic stats for webword.

Posted by: Mac - People Stop Wars on April 17, 2003 11:35 AM

I think you need to re-write your article links so that you can tell how many people are clicking on which articles; this will enable you to get a better idea of what your visitors are interested in reading.

For the record, I don't mind the black on white — we all know the reasons for it. But I think something could be said for a more attractive font, yet still a readable one. (And of course, I'm fond of the color combinations in my blog, although they're not b&w; click the link.)

As for organization, I think categories/keywords would be nice, as well as searching within specific categories. Sometimes, also, I can remember where the link took me (which publication), and would like to use that as a search term.

Posted by: Frank on April 17, 2003 12:41 PM

MadMan, I'm talking about more IA than simply weblog categories. That's the easy part. I'm talking about a global navigation that better distinguishes WebWord services from the WebWord content areas. Improved search and weblog navigation. Improved interface design.

I like the ideas about a more formal submission process with registered users, etc. - kind of the way it works on evolt, but that may be more work than you want.

Also, I don't know what form the WebWord team has right now, if it's more than John on a regular basis or what, but I'd love to see more articles. If John wants to write more articles and would need someone else to take over the Weblog administration/approving posts/etc. then maybe that's something to consider.

Posted by: Joshua Kaufman on April 17, 2003 04:46 PM

Webcam please. Blogging without a webcam is like buying Playboy for the articles.

Posted by: p0w3r g1rrrr7 on April 18, 2003 12:44 AM

Thanks Mac :) Living in HK am I able to get a "mask" with the Webword logo?

Posted by: daniel szuc on April 18, 2003 07:10 AM

Categories. Multi-dimensional if possible - different aspects of usability (e.g. navigation, text presentation, Flash, colour schemes), different audiences (developers, designers, managers), etc. With search facility by category (and lots of icing on the cake please, since I'm obviously feeling greedy).

Narrower text columns, but please don't make the Comments textarea narrower - this is one of the textareas which aren't too small to see what you're doing.

Forums - simliar categories to those listed above, if possible.

Personally I like the fonts and colours - easy to read, most sites have too small fonts and too weak colour contrast.

Posted by: Philip Chalmers on April 18, 2003 07:38 AM