Re: UKNM: RE: boo's demise/ stock

[Ian Fenn]

At 10:48 10/05/00 +0100, Ben wrote:

>Usability is subjective. What you think is good is not the same as everyone

>else.


I disagree. It is true, however, that a very usable site for one individual

may be unusable to another. At that point you consider whether it usable

for the visitors you wish to attract. I think boo.com got this very badly

wrong. If their aim was to sell as many items to as many visitors as

possible, they failed. The site wasn't up to it. If that wasn't their aim,

what was?


My girlfriend is in the process of reviewing their site for a book at the

moment. She tells me they have some very nice products. She did, however,

find the fact it took an hour or so to see anything a complete bore.

Apparently the site kept crashing on her. Had she been a normal customer,

she would have given up and, in my experience as a user support technician,

blamed herself for being stupid with computers.


>Oh and you haven't looked at the site recently.


Isn't that the problem? That visitors get turned off and never return?

Perhaps sites should have a link titled "Poor user experience?" that

invites visitors to sign up for news of improvements should any go ahead at

a future date.


>I think she's gone part time

>or has otherwise been tied down in some way. I know the  site is being

>worked on but it does take time.


This is exactly why companies should get it right in the first place. Too

many start-ups throw something together without following a decent product

development cycle. As everyone who went to the usability conference knows,

such a cycle would highlight usability errors and other problems.


--

Ian Fenn

Director, Chopstix Media Limited

http://www.chopstixmedia.com/



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