Jack Schofield's Second Sight column last week on web usability prompted a huge response from readers. This week's Feedback page is devoted to just a few of those letters.
Pro plus
For too long now the web has been the domain of fancy designers who have no knowledge of user interfaces.
As a programmer, I have often been astounded by the inept approach to presentation of information on the computer screen from the web. Would anyone use a computer system at work with such inane access to information?
Get the fancy designers out - get the people in who have been creating interfaces and presenting information in a meaningful way for many years. Give it back to the computer professionals.
Andrew Pope
andrew.pope@cmgplc.com
Am drams
As a professionally trained designer, I am appalled by the standard of much of the content on the web. A good designer should be able to create a balance of form and function that is both aesthetically pleasing and user friendly. It is not the designer who is at fault, but the plethora of amateurs out there who don't have a clue. Paul Shanks
Paul.Shanks@expro.shell.co.uk
Pop-up pain
I particularly agree about the problem of pop-up windows. This has recently become a regular, and unbelievably irritating, feature of the one website I visit the most, and has already caused me to reduce the time I spend there. Which website? Have a guess... Mark Antony Richardson
mark.richardson@gedas.co.uk
Yellow yuk
To be honest, what I find even more monotonous than badly designed websites is the repeated trotting out of the same "usability" catchphrases and ideas. The classic example is Jakob Nielsen's Useit.com. I find this site completely unusable because for some reason, my eyes aren't designed to look at relentless text on disgusting cyan and yellow backgrounds. Perhaps there is no place on the web for graphic design or even fun. Why stop there? How about outlawing fashion? Surely all those expensive clothes are not "usable" when we could all wear a uniform boiler suit? And out with Rembrandt and Monet, we should have schematics and diagrams on our walls! No more Hendrix or Handel, tear down the Arc de Triomphe! Pete Otaqui
pete@mediumart.co.uk
Tech fault
Simplicity and ease of use (I know and honour the Warwick work) are the keys to accessibility for disabled people. If it is good for disabled people, it is generally good for people. The Bobby analysis and the W3C rules are all good usability rules. Perhaps the problem is that the designs are driven by us techies. Dave Lyons
Disability technical officer
University of Essex
lyond@essex.ac.uk
Flashers
Websites should definitely have form following function. It is a practical forum that deserves practical design. We all find needless Flash intros irritating. However Macromedia Flash is an innovative tool that can produce stunning, entertaining visuals, and to sideline it completely would be ridiculous. There is no rule saying that the internet has to be a joyless place. It is time for the old crankies of this world to wake up and smell the upgrades.
Simply because inexperienced users still are still coming on to the web doesn't mean we should take 10 steps backwards. They need to learn the ropes and catch up like everyone else. Would you ask all motorists to drive slower because there are more learner drivers?
The web is an ever-changing forum, and if you are too lazy and stubborn to adapt, it's the wrong arena for you anyway.
Tracy Brown
tracylouisebrown@hotmail
Full swing
As cited in a recent piece in the design magazine Create, the Sony Walkman was not developed because of any consumer usability feedback. It had more to do with the chairman of Sony wanting music on the golf course!!
Frank Reilly
frank@eye2be.com
Use me
A fabulous article and oh so right. Perhaps the usability experts, UserMetrics, should also fire the designer and enable the user to re-size text via View|Text Size|Larger.
Jim Heckle
jim.heckle@telia.com
So be it
Amen.
Christopher J Roberts
keynote@jersey.net
