Richard-cantv wrote: > My tendency is for the one that appeals most to me: > http://website.openoffice.org/nonav/tryouts/Matthew/OOoWeb2/index.htm > Probably has nothing to do with all the fine points of interface design > but one hopes that, intuitively, good design will be the most > appealing, if good design is a valid concept as has been argued.
One would hope, but I'm not holding my breath. Would most of them think of taking a screenshot of the page and seeing it in black and white? Would most think of trying different screen sizes to see if important things are missing? And those are just the most obvious and easy parts of accessibility. Most people only see the site that *they* would like most. This is a problem when the people evaluating the site are distinctly different from the ones the site is intended for (experienced project members vs totally new users). Second, when people "evaluate" a site they have a tendency to focus on visual appearance. Not on whether they could actually get something done if they tried. Third, people struggle with the difference between "xyz is *possible* to do" versus "the site is well designed to do xyz". Fourth, people have a strong tendency to ask themselves "what do I want to tell the user?" instead of "what is the user looking for?". This alone is a major cause for poorly designed sites. And these are all things that most people don't see. I certainly didn't by nature, I had to learn about this. And it took me a long time to learn, and I learned by reading, then observing/doing, then reading again. I have compiled a list of valuable articles on usability. I picked the ones I felt were most applicable to OOo: http://website.openoffice.org/tryouts/dcarrera/usability.html They are organized in *rough* order of importance. They are from Jakob Nielsen (recognized expert on usability). Louis, is there a chance you could show this email to the PLs and ask them to read at least the top few of the artciles I linked above? This would at least help the PLs get a better idea of what to look for on a site. Cheers, -- Daniel Carrera | There is no urge so great as for one man to Join OOoAuthors today! | edit another man's work. http://www.oooauthors.org | -- Mark Twain --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
