On Feb 28, 2007, at 9:03 PM, Mike Brown wrote:
or even what makes a good usability consultant
Perhaps, but I think what makes for usability itself should be a
concern to us all. What are standards for after all? Is writing valid
code an end in itself, or a means to an end? As I see it, it must be
a means to an end, and that end is usability. Standards compliance
tends towards maximising accessibility, and accessibility is the
gatekeeper of usability: if a site is inaccessible then by definition
it's unusable. Unfortunately, however, just because site is
accessible, it is not necessarily usable. (The maze at Hampton Court
is certainly accessible to almost any group I can think of - does
that make it an ideal model for, say, the lobby of a bank?)
But, standards are continually developing, and browsers are not all
standards compliant and interpret standards differently.
Tables for layout are anathema around here, right? But you can still
write a table-layout page that validates?
The recent long discussion of the semantic value of <hr> was
interesting to me because I felt the real question being discussed
was what is the USE of <hr>.
So, is a compliant site that validates without error *by definition*
accessible? I think not. Usable? Still less.
Conversely, would a highly usable site *necessarily* validate without
error?
In an ideal future world we will deal with browsers that consistently
display standards compliant sites, while at the same time still
negotiating successfully with the millions (billions?) of pages that
pay absolutely no heed to the very idea of standards. I'm not holding
my breath...
My point (finally) is this:
Are there situations in which standards can be compromised in the
name of usability?
Andrew
109B SE 4th Av
Gainesville
FL 32601
Cell: 352-870-6661
http://www.andrewmaben.com
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"In a well designed user interface, the user should not need
instructions."
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