WebWord.com


If you want to know when new content is added to the site,
subscribe to the WebWord.com Usability Newsletter!

WebWord Weblog Posting

Posting Date: May 08, 2003
 

Usability No Longer Differentiates -- "People used to be willing to put up with frustrating usability experiences, convinced that it was their fault technology products took so much time to learn. No more. Today people are as sophisticated as they are ruthless." (Comments: Thanks Joshua Kaufman.)

 

  

Reader Comments...
 

Nice generalizations, nothing to back it up. Lots of assumptions, any of them shared?

Posted by: Ron Zeno on May 8, 2003 09:44 AM


 

I don't agree that we have cracked the usability nut as implied in the article. I see plenty of products and web sites that are getting worse and worse. To me the problem is that for most electronics, which are usually the worst offenders, because you can't really tell how bad something is until after the purchase. I read somewhere here about how price usually overrides usability concerns, mainly because it is much easier to see and compare. I agree with that. All I can do is plan to be a more educated (i.e., pain in the butt to the salesperson) customer by at least taking a cursory look at usability before any purchases.

Posted by: Ralph on May 8, 2003 12:21 PM


 

I agree with Ralph, the usability nut is far from cracked, especially where electronic devices are concerned. But that doesn't mean I won't send this article to a marketing person or two...

Posted by: JGT on May 8, 2003 05:41 PM


 

It's ironical that the article is hard to read - small grey text on white bg.

Cheer up, usability people - there's scope for you as long as sites make usabilty mistakes like this.

Posted by: Philip Chalmers on May 9, 2003 03:36 AM


 

Home | Moving WebWord | Cool Books | Hot Web Sites
Newsletter Archive | Services | Interviews | About WebWord.com

Subscribe to Webword.com
Receive the best free usability newsletter on the Internet.

 


URL: http://webword.com/weblog/

©1998-2005 by WebWord.com. All rights reserved.
Do not reproduce or redistribute any material from this document,
in whole or in part, without explicit written permission from WebWord.com.