Alan, you could print "your mom just died call your dad" anywhere on a web
site that looks like yahoo and no one would ever see it.
In my life I have been a chemist and a VP of marketing/promotion for 4 major
record labels and I can tell you, you can spend any amount of money on any
test and make it come out the way you want. The fact is that consumers are
sheep and you dictate to them what they can and cannot do as much as what
they like or dislike. Its why VHS is in your home, while BETA is used in
the studio, its also why you know who the Backstreet Boys are, but probably
have never heard of the Trashcan Sinatras.
----- Original Message -----
From: "McCollough, Alan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Fusebox" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, February 26, 2001 9:52 AM
Subject: RE: Flash, Harpoon, Balthaser
> Ahh, but is it actually usable by the audience? I had the good fortune to
> attend a conference recently where the speakers were folks from the
National
> Institute of Health, and they have spent a wad of $$$$ on usability
testing.
> The real kind of studies, where they videotape joe shmoes and watch their
> ape-like attempts to navigate various websites.
>
> The results of the study? Pretty wild. Basically, it boils down to this:
>
> Users don't know to click on ANYTHING unless it is colored blue and
> underlined.
> Users understand plain text
> Users understand standard browser Submit buttons
> Users don't understand fancy-schmancy pretty-boy buttons
> Users do not understand frames
> Users like it plain, plain plain!
>
> The most "usable" site styles are those in the Yahoo style, with plain
text
> links that cascade down to more refined text links.
>
> If you wanna see the details, go to www.usability.gov , and see some of
your
> tax dollars (That's U.S. tax dollars, so you Europeans get to sponge this
> info for free!) at work.
>
> I found a lot of encouragement in this study. And why? As a CF devleoper
who
> works with Studio, I've found that form follows function in a big way. The
> natural result of "command line" coding versus "GUI" coding is that stuff
> ends up a bit stark. Quite serendipitious, actually. Those "boring" pages
> displaying stuff in a straight table , using basic HTML, turn out to be
> right up the usability alley. All that flash stuff, well, heh, poof!
>
> Alan McCollough
> Web Programmer
> Allaire Certified ColdFusion Developer
> Alaska Native Medical Center
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Toby Tremayne [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> > Sent: Sunday, February 25, 2001 2:29 PM
> > To: Fusebox
> > Subject: RE: Flash, Harpoon, Balthaser
> >
> > doesn't that suck? You pull of something really clever - and it's only
> > really sexy to a fellow geek. But if you have any kind of artistic bent
> > and
> > write great flash - everyone thinks you're great....
> >
> > ....grumble grumble... <grin>
> {redacted}
>
>
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