I'm disappointed by the tone of his article. Jakob Nielsen is known for a dramatic flair and absolute statements and he has shown it once again in his text. I think he could have softened the blow by taking a more objective tone. None of what he says is untrue, but there are several path breaking RIA examples that changed paradigms for the better (Google Maps). When well researched prior to implementation, there's no reason why they should be counterintuitive.
The problem with an article like this is when it is read by business influencers who are not very close to this domain. Nielsen is well known across multiple disciplines and can influence IT management decisions in the adoption of this technology. He may well end up 'dumbing-down' several bright initiatives by associating high risk to them once this article proliferates. - Riddhish -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mark Schraad Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 9:29 AM To: Jeff Seager Cc: ixda Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] The mighty UX guru has spoken - Discuss!! Hi Jeff, You elude to an important point for clarification. That one is an expert in usability, does not mean they are an expert in interaction design - or an interaction designer. Usability is a large area - only a portion of which is focused upon interfacing with software/web. Likewise, I interaction designers must think well usability. Many of us on this discussion group use usability or interaction when we mean quite the other and should be more specific. Jakob's expertise is in usability. Mark On Tuesday, December 18, 2007, at 07:15AM, "Jeff Seager" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >There's little doubt that self-promotion is high on Nielsen's list of talents, Ben, but I also think he has a pretty good grasp on the essence of usability. If you read far enough in the Alertbox missive he sent out today, you'll see he's giving away a 150-page study that includes 75 well-summarized accessibility guidelines. Grab it while you can, folks! It's a good reference with actual user testing to back it up, especially handy if you ever need to teach newbies about accessibility ... which I'll be doing next month. > >You can find it here: >http://www.nngroup.com/reports/accessibility > >Jeff Seager > > >> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 04:06:09 +0000 >> CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] The mighty UX guru has spoken - Discuss!! >> >> What Jakob is best at is causing a stir! He's been doing it for years, >> resolutely throwing up over-contentious headlines (remember "Flash 99% bad!" >> ?) and refusing to make his own web site any more appealing (they even joke >> about that in NNg seminars). He does this in order to make ripples, with >> people like us having to take a position one way or another. All that keeps >> him in people's minds and on their lips. >> >> I'm sure we all know the truth is somewhere in between "yes, sometimes" / >> "no, usually" and "it depends", and so does Jake! >> >> - Ben > >_________________________________________________________________ >Don't get caught with egg on your face. Play Chicktionary! >http://club.live.com/chicktionary.aspx?icid=chick_wlhmtextlink1_dec >________________________________________________________________ >*Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* >February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA >Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ > >________________________________________________________________ >Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! >To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe >List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines >List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > > ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
