Entries Tagged 'Usability' ↓

the new version of Firefox that was released the other day, and I note with displeasure that the close icon is still not on the tab you want to close itself, but over on the right-hand side. Otherwise it’s fine, though I’m not likely to move from Safari, which I switched to a few months ago.

Tim Bray noted many problems with the Dell online buying experience: Shopping, Dell vs. Apple and today noted that he got a flurry of responses suggesting that his Dell experience was not out of the ordinary at all. I agree - after reading about Boris’ experiences with his monitor I went right over to the Dell site to see if it might be time to pick one up for myself, and I was shocked to see how difficult it was to find the information.

the rhetorical question, “Is Lab Usability Dead?” in peterme.com yesterday. I think he makes an important point - computer usage is anything but sterile and disconnected these days (and this has been true for a while). Studying usage habits and patterns must not assume a single-task model in a pristine environment if it is to be useful.

the beta of Google Reader, their entry in the RSS/syndication feed reader sweepstakes. It looks fabulous, but it’s pretty blah overall. It offers no new features or innovations of any kind, that I can tell, and the usability is crap. Pretty much UNusable, overall. They break the browser and force you to use their crap navigation just so you can see their supposedly tasty Ajax goodness. Give me a nice interface, but don’t break my scroll wheel! What is it, 1996?

The End of Usability Culture and The End of Usability Culture, Redux. Don’t throw out usability, just quit making it the sole driver.

demonstrating readers’ practices related to news websites. Produced by a group including the Poynter Institute, the Estlow Center for New Media, and Eyetools, Eyetrack III looks like essential reading for anyone managing the development of web projects.