[Nettime-bold] Re: <nettime> Danny Yee: Review of Homepage Usability

[Eric Miller <eric {AT} squishymedia.com>]

hi all,

Nielsen's "populist" design philosophy makes some sense for those who need 
to design for the widest possible audience.  designers who have been 
immersed in the Web for years tend to forget the typical skill level of the 
average occasional Internet surfer.  (example: as a rule, very few casual 
surfers know that the logo in the top-left of most sites is a shortcut to 
the site home page.  see 
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/usability/library/us-tricks/?article=usr 
)

But the biggest caveat I'd mention is that Nielsen doesn't often take into 
account that designers AND users alike are still learning this very complex 
new medium.  if we simplify the user interface to the point where my Uncle 
Louie is able to able to navigate the most complex sites, we're discarding 
90% of the potential power of the medium.  Nielsen would start hemorrhaging 
self-righteous vitriol if he critiqued the work of Second Story ( 
http://www.secondstory.com ) but the user interfaces that they create _ARE_ 
indicative of the medium's future.  Strategies based on print-centric 
understandings of the medium are a necessary intermediate step.

Simplicity and universality where needed.  innovation and experimentation 
to push us forward.  the two don't need to be mutually exclusive.

So I tend to think of Nielsen as someone who is pointing out some very 
valid current criticisms, but a few years of increasing use of the Internet 
will make his pontifications irrelevant.  If folks are interested in global 
design principles unfettered by the current state of user ability, I'd 
suggest reading Edward Tufte.

Eric

At 07:30 PM 12/1/2001 +1100, geert lovink wrote:

>(I wonder what web designers on nettime think of this review -- and of the
>Nielsen/Tahir book. I haven't seen the publication yet. The fresh and bright
>'usability' populism of Nielsen however shines through the review: most
>designers are stupid, lazy and ignorant and so are the average Internet
>users who have the right to silly and childish design in a network without
>surprises, freed of evil innovative designers.
---
(posted on nettime with the permission of the author)
From: "Danny Yee" <danny {AT} anatomy.usyd.edu.au>
Homepage Usability
- 50 Websites Deconstructed
Jakob Nielsen + Marie Tahir
New Riders 2001
315 pages, index
A book review by Danny Yee
http://dannyreviews.com/h/Homepage_Usability.html




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