Mike Hart's Web Development Blog

The Web’s Top Five Usability Downfalls

2011-02-01T15:44:00.000-08:00

I am currently reading a book by the infamous Jacob Nielson entitled "Prioritising Web Usability." The book is co written by fellow usability researcher, Hoa Loranger. While reading the book, I stumbled across a section which I thought must be relevant to Web Designers and Developers alike. During the book, Nielson and Loranger pronounce what they describe as "The Web’s Top Five Usability Downfalls." They are; search, information architecture, content, product information and workflow. Here they are, with reason that I believe they are the web‘s top five usability downfalls:
Search - Users most often rely on searching a site. I suppose this relates to Google’s effect on the web. Users set their standards very highly as a result of Google and thus, an ineffective search engine is likely to make a user turn their nose up, and leave.

Information Architecture - For users who do not rely on search, or, fail on search, information architecture is key to them finding their goal.

Well structured information - It may sound obvious, but the amount of sites I come across with random bits of information all over the page amazes me. I remember one of my university lecturers constantly going on and on about "chunking" of information. This, to me, sounded monotonous at the time but I can’t deny, he was right!

Clear navigation - Simple, effective and consistent navigation. Enough said.

Limit Scrolling - Research shows that users will scroll. But only a little! In my opinion, vertical scrolling is always acceptable. Horizontal, never!

Content - Sites with poor content can aggravate a user and cause them to leave quickly. There are so many sites out there that clearly just want to make money using pay per click links. If a site has poor content, it is likely that users will mistake a site with one of these money making sites.

Product Information - I think this is critical in terms of an online business. Users may venture elsewhere if they cannot find the content they require on a website. The likelihood is that if they find the information they are looking for elsewhere, they’ll buy it elsewhere.

Workflow - I would imagine that sites with poor user workflow didn’t plan their use cases properly. This could simply be down to carelessness but also could be a result of unexpected expansion. Never the less, I feel it is always important to plan a users actions through a site using use case and activity diagrams.

Usability is a particular area of interest for me and one I feel is very important. If I pick up on any extra tips, tricks, do’s or don’ts before the end of the book I’ll be sure to keep you updated!

CS5 Early News

2009-11-10T16:19:00.000-08:00

Whether you are surprised or not, the release of Creative Suite 5 is approaching. Rumors are even suggesting that the package will be ready to ship as early as April 2010! (http://cs5.org/?p=136). Adobe however, are playing their cards close to their chest and refuse to give an official release date.

One element that seems to be at the forefront of CS5 however is Flash CS5 in which Adobe are boasting some interesting new features. None more so than the support to build and compile native iPhone apps within Flash. 'Flash Professional CS5 will enable you to build applications for iPhone and iPod touch using ActionScript 3. These applications can be delivered to iPhone and iPod touch users through the Apple App Store.' Adobe (2009). Other new features include; advanced text styling, XML based FLA's, code hinting (finally!!!), code snippets and Flash builder integration.

Developers will be able to download a public beta version of Flash CS5 before the end of this year. 'The next major release of Adobe® Flash® Professional was unveiled at Adobe MAX 2009. The beta download will be available before the end of the year.' Adobe (2009).

References

Adobe Labs (2009) Flash Professional CS5 [online] http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashcs5/

Virtual Communities - The Psychology and the Technology - Part 1 of Many

2009-10-11T16:43:00.000-07:00

Over the next few weeks, I'll be conducting a study into the psychology and technology behind Virtual Communities (VC.)

So what is a VC? Well, A virtual community uses Internet technology to share information, ideas and resources among a group of like-minded participants located anywhere in the world.* We all knew that but just to clear things up.....

Anyway, this week (for the purposes of my university group discussion) I did a short review of the not so "main stream" Ning.com. Here's the review:

General
Ning was founded and is privately owned by partnership Gina Bianchini and Marc Andreessen (2004.)

It takes a different spin to most social networks with its USP allowing users to create their own community. This I found to be strange as you essentially have two different types of user account. One as the admin of your own VC and another as a member of another VC..... a little pointless but its the way it works.

UI
Very simple in design (perhaps in some cases too simple.) Most cases only 1 colour is used on a white background. The site seems to conform to the stands of our very own Gary Westhead: "Clean" "Simple" "Fast" "Functional."

Features
Everything you'd expect from a VC really. Puclic messages, private messages, pictures, videos, live chat (ning offers both public and personal live chat.)

The Nitty Gritty
The site does degrade gracefully. The UI is not at all affected by this, however, we are given a div that spreads the width of the page telling us we need to enable JS. Any asynchronous requests are replaced with a more old fashioned style of browsing. However, the important thing is that the site remains functional.

The whole site is CSS controlled (obviously) and judging by some of the variables passed through the URLs PHP (although there is no clear indication of this.)

My Verdict
Its ok. But thats as far as I'd go. It seems to be too much of a Facebook copy for me. Its only real USP is that you can create your own community. But it aint a great USP. It also lacks some of the killer client side features (which to the average user is subconsciencely ignored) but of course as we all know as web developers, we are living in an age that that the client/user is the most demanding element we'll ever face, and while we have the ability to create richer online applications to meet the demands of these clients/users, Ning simply hasn't taken the opportunity.

Any questions on this post feel free to discuss or contact me on info@mikedhart.co.uk

References

* crucible multimedia ltd (2008) Using the Internet as a virtual community [online] http://www.telecomsadvice.org.uk/infosheets/virtual_communities.htm

Flash Builder 4 and Flash Catalyst Beta's Now Available

2009-06-01T15:07:00.000-07:00

Ok to coinside with the rebranding of the Flex Builder package (now Flash Builder) we are now able to download a beta version of the all new Flash Builder 4 and Flash Catalyst from Adobe Labs. These are available on 30 day trials however, in the case of the Flash Builder Beta; if you have an official licence for Flex Builder 3, Adobe will issue you with a permanent licence.

Flash Builder still uses the Flex SDK so we are still Flex developers, Adobe are just renaming the software package for branding reasons. This will go hand in hand with the release of the all new Flash Catalyst which allows designers and developers to create rich experiences without the need for coding.

I'm downloading these Beta's as I write to you so I'll blog my findings as I test!

Heres the download link http://labs.adobe.com/

Flex 4 New Features

2009-04-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

Ok, so with the release of Flex Builder 4 (Gumbo) firmly on the horizon, I think its high time to take a look at some of its new features. After the major revelation of ActionScript 3 and Flex 3, I think we all as developers hope for a smooth transition in to the new version of Flex.

Perhaps the biggest (and most useful) new feature of Flex 4 is that we can now, finally, create file templates. This is a huge advantage and will save developers lots of time when creating applications. Elements such as view stack navigators can now be templated and used in multiple projects.

The new release will also include auto generated event handlers. Some may find this useful, others may not. Either way, its a clever feature which will surely save developers time. In my opinion, I like the idea. I often find myself repeating myself over and over again when developing Flex Apps. For example; create a new event, write a result handler, write a fault handler then repeat for the next event. It may take some getting used to but I think its a cool feature. High five Adobe!

Life saver and often my saving grace, the Flex Debugger has just receieved a boost! Break points can now be conditional. In Flex 3 and previous versions, a break point would simply stop the application when it arrives at that break point. When Flex 4 is released, developers will be able to define conditions for breakpoints, allowing the application to continue or stop depending on the conditions.

Of course there are lots more features that will be new to Flex 4 and these will be blogged as soon as Adobe makes announcements. The above are in my opinion (for now) the most infuencial and my favourite. I'm really looking forward to the release of Flex 4. Do we need it? Yes, I think Flex is an ever maturing technology and I am pleased to see that it is here to stay.