RE: UKNM: Poor web site design

[Matt Jones-ONLINE]

> I agree.  If you asked Joe Public to assess some of the 

> websites criticised

> on this list, I'm sure the feedback would be entirely 

> different.


yup. usertesting is a great tool which blows away a lot of designer and

client preconceptions about good website design/strategy/effectiveness. it's

fascinating to watch and insanely useful, and you can do it pretty cheaply,

with a massive return in the quality of your project.


back over in SF about 3 yrs ago, watched 4 designers from hotWiReD  on a

sofa, watching a cctv feed of a 40-something mum in a soundproof room trying

to use a prototype site design they were testing... they were *squirming*

and shouting "don't click there!", "that DOESN'T mean that" etc....

hilarious...


apologies if i'm preaching to the converted (ian, clay, felix, etc.) but i

get the feeling that many places (in the UK) don't make a point of factoring

user-testing and design cycles based on the results into their project

plans. it just solves so many problems....


> Issues

> such as the pixel size of frames and the RGB background 

> colour of certain

> pages would be unlikely to come into it...


well jo, they kinda do... just perhaps not expressed in those terms... you

pick the symptoms up for which these things are causes.. users say things

like for example "why can't i bookmark this" a symptom of the site being

frame-dependent, etc.


have a nice day


jones out xxx 

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