Sydney-based Usability company PTG has made the claim that they can certify the usability of their websites:
http://www.usabilitynews.com/news/article3005.asp In an article on the AIMIA website, Craig Errey, manager of PTG, says "we're apparently the first group, worldwide, who can confidently state whether a product is usable or not, and stand by that claim." http://www.aimia.com.au/i-cms?page=1755 To me that all sounds very dodgy. Nobody can guarantee the usability of their website. I mean, alright, let's define "Usability". If PTG are talking about the ability of a user to open the homepage of the website, read the content and click onto one of the sub-sections, fair enough, it's probably safe to say that their sites are "usable". But then again, even my mum would be able to create a website that is "usable" with the help of Microsoft Frontpage. "User-friendly", that's something different. And in my opinion nobody can guarantee the user-friendlyness of a website to all users in the world. Any thoughts? Andreas Boehmer User Experience Consultant Addictive Media Phone: (03) 9386 8907 Mobile: (0411) 097 038 http://www.addictivemedia.com.au Consulting | Accessibility | Usability | Development ****************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ******************************************************
