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Thought this may be of some interest.....
funkymonk@blueyonder.co.uk
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funkymonk@blueyonder.co.uk
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Web design 'causes confusion' 2
- Thread starter funkymonk
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A star for funkymonk.
I add a quote from another site I found very useful.
"Cognitive psychologists have known for decades that most people can only hold about four to seven discrete chunks of information in short-term memory." -
Gary Haran
I add a quote from another site I found very useful.
"Cognitive psychologists have known for decades that most people can only hold about four to seven discrete chunks of information in short-term memory." -
Gary Haran
Dirtrocker
Technical User
Hmmm.
I'll agree that the basic layout should remain simple, but when the pages exceed hundreds of pages, simplicity starts to get strained.
I'm not sure I follow the idea of seeing whether folks can follow the layout of a site on paper. I would be more concerned about if they can navigate it.
I'll agree that the basic layout should remain simple, but when the pages exceed hundreds of pages, simplicity starts to get strained.
I'm not sure I follow the idea of seeing whether folks can follow the layout of a site on paper. I would be more concerned about if they can navigate it.
Drawing a diagram of how the site was organized is hardly an accurate test of a site's usability.
The cognitive skills required to diagram an experience of finding information is VERY different than the ability to find information.
A better test of a site's usability is to see if people can find what they are looking for.
If you can find what you need at the grocery, the store is well designed. If a shopper goes in to find a box of Cheerio's, finds it, buys it and is sitting in their kitchen eating a bowl of Cheerios - I'd say it's a successful store design. If you ask that person to diagram the store and how they found their cereal, maybe they will not be able to do it. The fact that they are eating a bowl of Cheerio's is proof of the successful design, not their lack of cognitive ability to diagram the store!!
Pindky
The cognitive skills required to diagram an experience of finding information is VERY different than the ability to find information.
A better test of a site's usability is to see if people can find what they are looking for.
If you can find what you need at the grocery, the store is well designed. If a shopper goes in to find a box of Cheerio's, finds it, buys it and is sitting in their kitchen eating a bowl of Cheerios - I'd say it's a successful store design. If you ask that person to diagram the store and how they found their cereal, maybe they will not be able to do it. The fact that they are eating a bowl of Cheerio's is proof of the successful design, not their lack of cognitive ability to diagram the store!!
Pindky
TexanBetty
Technical User
Yes, but the big issue is...TIME
The less time a customer has to spend on the site finding what they need in the shortest amount of clicks, the happier the customer is, and a higher chance they will return loyalty...I agree TOTALLY with simplicity of the site and the bigger the site the harder it is to keep it simple...a good example is Amazon....I return to it often because of the fact that 99% of the time I can get what I need QUICKLY, EASILY and be done with it...
TexanBetty
The less time a customer has to spend on the site finding what they need in the shortest amount of clicks, the happier the customer is, and a higher chance they will return loyalty...I agree TOTALLY with simplicity of the site and the bigger the site the harder it is to keep it simple...a good example is Amazon....I return to it often because of the fact that 99% of the time I can get what I need QUICKLY, EASILY and be done with it...
TexanBetty
TexanBetty
Technical User
To add a little to my previous message....several studies performed by the top research companies have concluded that if a site designer does not understand the user then the design is ineffective...."web sites should be designed from the perspective of a user visit--which is to say a task-based, 'horizontal' perspective, rather than the conventional hierarchical organizing scheme"....
TexanBetty
TexanBetty
Hello,
I would like to stress on the fact that a perfect design is impossible to achieve because you never now if a visitor
is searching for something particular or if he is simply
strolling with nothing clear in mind.
Also, each person's brain has its own way of interacting
with the real world I think.
According to me, the guy who would pretend that his design
is targeted for such or such category of people has everything wrong.
Also, the most efficient way to make the visitor find an
information quickly is to insert a small search engine
in the site. But the funny thing I noticed is that few
people tend to use them (most of them are afraid they don't type the right keyword or they may think the engine isn't
well designed and wouldn't trust the result).
As you can see, the way people behave is something you shouldn't even try to bother when designing a site.
Just my opinion.
My Work...
...and More...
I would like to stress on the fact that a perfect design is impossible to achieve because you never now if a visitor
is searching for something particular or if he is simply
strolling with nothing clear in mind.
Also, each person's brain has its own way of interacting
with the real world I think.
According to me, the guy who would pretend that his design
is targeted for such or such category of people has everything wrong.
Also, the most efficient way to make the visitor find an
information quickly is to insert a small search engine
in the site. But the funny thing I noticed is that few
people tend to use them (most of them are afraid they don't type the right keyword or they may think the engine isn't
well designed and wouldn't trust the result).
As you can see, the way people behave is something you shouldn't even try to bother when designing a site.
Just my opinion.
My Work...
...and More...
Sleidia,
I totally agree that you cannot possibly cater for every way of thinking.
I have completed usablity tests in the past and the results would have shocked most people. Users were asked to indentify the following:
1) As soon as the page loads, what is the purpose of the site?
2) Where are the navigation options?
They were also asked to find specific items on the site and a few of them got lost. Now, you might say that this is bad design but I would say that it is not, one user when asked to navigate for contact details, totally missed a VERY prominent link with the words "Contact Us".
You can make content and navigation as easy to use as possible, but people will still get it wrong, this is a fact of life.
I leave you all with something to think about.
Have you ever entered a store looking for something and had to either ask someone or walk about searching for it? Most people, if not all will have at one point in their lives. You get pointed to the item and think "Why the heck didn't I notice that?" The person before or after you may have found the store easy to navigate and found the product straight away.
Because you did not find the item does not make the store design ineffective, it was the way that you approached the situation and what you expected. You can never cater for every single person, this is an impossible task to acheive.
BTW. TexanBetty, We also tested users on Amazon and although most users could find what they required, still others could not. This just backs up what I am saying.
Hope this helps Wullie
I totally agree that you cannot possibly cater for every way of thinking.
I have completed usablity tests in the past and the results would have shocked most people. Users were asked to indentify the following:
1) As soon as the page loads, what is the purpose of the site?
2) Where are the navigation options?
They were also asked to find specific items on the site and a few of them got lost. Now, you might say that this is bad design but I would say that it is not, one user when asked to navigate for contact details, totally missed a VERY prominent link with the words "Contact Us".
You can make content and navigation as easy to use as possible, but people will still get it wrong, this is a fact of life.
I leave you all with something to think about.
Have you ever entered a store looking for something and had to either ask someone or walk about searching for it? Most people, if not all will have at one point in their lives. You get pointed to the item and think "Why the heck didn't I notice that?" The person before or after you may have found the store easy to navigate and found the product straight away.
Because you did not find the item does not make the store design ineffective, it was the way that you approached the situation and what you expected. You can never cater for every single person, this is an impossible task to acheive.
BTW. TexanBetty, We also tested users on Amazon and although most users could find what they required, still others could not. This just backs up what I am saying.
Hope this helps Wullie
Even a better one to think about..
How many times have you seen someone walk up to a door that clearly has "PUSH" written on it and they try to pull it?? LOL
Hope this helps Wullie
How many times have you seen someone walk up to a door that clearly has "PUSH" written on it and they try to pull it?? LOL
Hope this helps Wullie
TexanBetty
Technical User
Yes, I realize the different experience levels of users who come to sites...but the overwhelming verdict is simplicity and time...and people in different regions are going to behave differently...some regions are faster paced than others...and we've found that there is even a difference from regular internet users and AOL usrs...the internet and e-commerce is very fickle...what's acceptable today, may not be tomorrow...
Sleidia, that blows me away by your thoughts of: "As you can see, the way people behave is something you shouldn't even try to bother when designing a site.
Just my opinion." I am just speechless...how can you NOT need to know your target user???...and I did check out your sites, but I couldn't read the type of language so I'm sorry I can't give you a true critique...but being a designer one would have to keep an open mind to things, would you agree?
Wullie, I understand what you are saying too...and I partical agree...so did you run the usability test, or were you the user, or the client?
Sleidia, that blows me away by your thoughts of: "As you can see, the way people behave is something you shouldn't even try to bother when designing a site.
Just my opinion." I am just speechless...how can you NOT need to know your target user???...and I did check out your sites, but I couldn't read the type of language so I'm sorry I can't give you a true critique...but being a designer one would have to keep an open mind to things, would you agree?
Wullie, I understand what you are saying too...and I partical agree...so did you run the usability test, or were you the user, or the client?
Hi TexanBetty,
I have run a few tests with about 15 people in each.
The users were varied from people who use the internet a lot to people who had never used it before. A video camera was placed to catch the screen and another on the user. The cables lead to another room where the monitors were and we sat in there.
The people that use the internet were quicker to click a link and more likely to just try their luck to find the items rather than actually browse for them and often missed the pages.
On the other hand, the people who had never used the net would study the page to find the items and only click on a link when they were pretty sure that it was the correct one and they mostly were.
Now, it is easy saying to keep everything simple to find but when you make a large site this starts to get out of control.
You need to work out a balance of how much information can be placed in front of the user at one time, too little and you are wasting valuable space, too much and you start to cause confusion.
To create a perfect site that every user will navigate the way that you want them to you would need to have 1 link on a blank page. I am really serious about this, different people cannot all be expected to approach the situation the same way and perform actions the same way.
And regarding the original post, the people who write these articles have too much time on their hands and not enough decent things to do. That is like showing a person a book with loads of info and pictures and then asking them to make the same book.
Hope this helps Wullie
sales@freshlookdesign.co.uk
I have run a few tests with about 15 people in each.
The users were varied from people who use the internet a lot to people who had never used it before. A video camera was placed to catch the screen and another on the user. The cables lead to another room where the monitors were and we sat in there.
The people that use the internet were quicker to click a link and more likely to just try their luck to find the items rather than actually browse for them and often missed the pages.
On the other hand, the people who had never used the net would study the page to find the items and only click on a link when they were pretty sure that it was the correct one and they mostly were.
Now, it is easy saying to keep everything simple to find but when you make a large site this starts to get out of control.
You need to work out a balance of how much information can be placed in front of the user at one time, too little and you are wasting valuable space, too much and you start to cause confusion.
To create a perfect site that every user will navigate the way that you want them to you would need to have 1 link on a blank page. I am really serious about this, different people cannot all be expected to approach the situation the same way and perform actions the same way.
And regarding the original post, the people who write these articles have too much time on their hands and not enough decent things to do. That is like showing a person a book with loads of info and pictures and then asking them to make the same book.
Hope this helps Wullie
sales@freshlookdesign.co.uk
TexanBetty
Technical User
ok, I'm not saying that there is a "perfect" site there is no such thing....I'm talking about a user-friendly site...and wullie, I'm glad that you do run usability tests! They are important! And that is really the only thing that I am stressing...it's important to understand your target users...I'm not saying that you have to please everyone, that's impossible...but it is wise to understand those that come to your site...and yes wullie I agree about the difficulty in keeping larger sites simple =o)...when I see well designed and well flowed large sites...I have a very deep respect...because I know all of the hard work that goes into it...I am not saying that I am the best designer because I know that I have a lot to learn still, but I do know how important it is to know the target visitor...not just any visitor...the target visitor, because who can please everyone?
The person whom wrote the original article is at an university...that should explain it right there.
The person whom wrote the original article is at an university...that should explain it right there.
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