As outlined in Part 1, the traditional style of documentation is antithetical to actual usage. Style is a major problem, but the delivery mechanisms are just as bad. At best, a manual can be oriented to predefined tasks and known problems, at worst it is a dense technical read with a broad overview intertwined with [...]
It has been over a month since my last post -testing has taken a backseat to reading research in social learning theory and technical communications. But now I have some more solid ideas I want to share in this 3-part series. Today I am going to talk about a typical users, how they learn, and [...]
I don’t really need to make it perfect for my closed tests. If I were doing this for a real ad I would have a single, flowing sequence like search on Craigslist, check prices on Ebay, email it to a friend, and insert a map. I am working out some compression issues so I can [...]
There is a lot of talk about community building for the Ub command developers. My main concern is UI engineering; how can we help command developers create Humane commands? Earlier I blogged about the translate command, offering some suggestions, hoping it would help future command developers. Sadly, we can’t expect trained Usability professionals to review [...]
I have been running into two types of usability problems in my testing of Firefox Ubiquity. One set of problems is with Ubiquity itself, it’s discover-ability, the display of suggestions, help, etc. The other set of problems is with the commands. The Translator command caused a lot of confusion. It would change the contents of [...]
Originally I was planning on having a surprise wedding for Vicki & Tim. They have been together for 20 years and I decided that Rein, the Zen monk from Amsterdam and killer Go player, would make a good priest. Thankfully John (my mentor) talked me out of it. But that didn’t stop me from coordinating [...]
So I am in the Salt Lake City airport feeding my caffeine addiction at the flight terminal Starbucks. I order my latte, take my scone and, while waiting in line, I decide I should get a discount.
