Usability Quotes of the Day

- From AskTog

(Yes, yes, I know. JetBlue has been known, in bad weather, to hang out on the tarmac for several hours before actually taking off, but so have all the others, and I'd rather be out there with 40 channels of live TV than being treated to a bonus episode of "I Love Lucy.")
...
No one except the designer and his mom want to be on the splash screen, watching Flash laboriously drawing a content-free image. It's just not fun. Streamline the checkout page and dump the splash screen. [That last one's for you, Paul - ;) ]

- From Jakob Nielsen

So, despite the merely mid-sized benefits, the overall cost-benefit analysis comes out quite strongly in favor of breadcrumbs. Their downside is incredibly small: while they do take up space, that space is minute. When you divide a mid-sized numerator by a tiny denominator, the resulting fraction is substantial.

- From Jakob Nielsen

Fixing annoyances won't double your business metrics the way fixing usability catastrophes will. But, eliminating annoyances increases customer satisfaction and user loyalty, and thus improves the long-term business value of the site.

For good measure, I'll include a Steve Krug's monthly usability tip, as it has remained the same since 1997:

If you really want to know if your Web site works, ask your next door neighbor to try using it, while you watch.

(You bring the beer.)

- Cam Beck

Comments

[Lewis Green]

Cam,

Thanks for sharing the tips, all good. I love Steve's but would add "and bring your thickest skin."

[Cam Beck]

Lewis - Usability tests are best moderated by someone who doesn't have an emotional stake in the outcome. Thick skin not required. :)

Additionally, although users are encouraged to "think out loud," what we really set out to measure is behavior, not simply criticism.