WebWord.com Newsletter Issue #45

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ISSUE #45

15-April-2000

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                WebWord.com Newsletter
           "Technology. Humans. Experience"
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                 Newsletter Editor
                   John S. Rhodes 
                     John@webword.com
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April 15, 2000                      Newsletter #45
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Table of Contents

1. Ask Jeeves and Urinating Canines
2. Usability Conference Announcement
3. The Value of Free Information
4. Web Developers: On Being Too Wired
5. Reading from the Screen Versus Hard Copy
6. One versus Two Spaces...Revisited
7. What Can You Find at WebWord.com?

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ITEM #1

A new WebWord.com article is now online:
--> http://webword.com/moving/berk001.html

"Ask Jeeves and Urinating Canines"

This is an article by David Berkowitz, a WebWord.com 
guest columnist. David does have a psychology 
background, but he is more of a writer than anything 
else. I also think he's funny so I thought WebWord.com 
readers might want to give him a chance.

The article is about David's experience with Ask 
Jeeves, a popular search engine that allows people to 
ask "real" questions. The article is both witty and 
clever and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did. 

You can read the article here:
--> http://webword.com/moving/berk001.html

Please let me know if you'd like to see more work 
from David -- john@webword.com -- Thanks!


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ITEM #2

Usability Conference Announcement

Below is a teaser for an upcoming usability 
conference. I can give you some of the details
now, but everything is not yet finalized for it.
You can request a brochure using this form:

>> http://iir-ny.com/brochurerequest.cfm?EventID=M1179&ID

   THE CONFERENCE

   Website Usability Tools & Techniques:
   How to Optimize the User Experience

   July 20-21, 2000
   Marriott East Side, New York City

   Institute for International Research


Partial Agenda

Creating a Great Customer Experience Online: 
The Key Components of Web Usability
-- Christine Yu, Customer Experience Analyst, 
   Creative Good

Why Good Content Must Suck: Designing for the 
Scent Of Information
-- Jared Spool, Founding Partner, 
   User Interface Engineering

Lessons Learned through Website Redesign:  
Drugstore.com Case Study
-- Karen Wong, Product Manager, 
   Vividence Corporation
-- Andy Cargile, Executive Producer, 
   Drugstore.com

Understanding How Website Design Impacts Usability 
for Teens: Creating Teen-Friendly Sites
-- Melissa Rekos, Editor, 
   Teen.com

Differences in Attitudes Towards Usability: 
Comparing B2B and B2C Audiences
-- Dr. Bill MacElroy, President, 
   Socratic/Modalis

Web Usability is an Asset. Cool. Let's Start 
Measuring It
-- Eric Burnette, The Usability Fool, 
   The Motley Fool


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ITEM #3

The Value of Free Information

WebWord.com is a company that works to deliver as
much usability and customer experience information
as possible. We point you to news and articles that 
will help you improve your web site. We write articles
and we interview people too. We think it is great that
we can help over 2,300 Newsletter subscribers, and 
over 240 Daily News subscribers.

This information and this service is provided without
any strings attached. If you want to know more about
usability, simply visit the WebWord.com website. If
you want to get the news we post every day, subscribe
to the Daily News. 

It really is that simple. We aren't building a 
database to track you and we will never use your email
address for anything but delivering you information.

We benefit by generating interesting in WebWord.com
as a usability testing company (and more). Our readers 
see that we are on top of the news and they see that 
we are active participants in the usability community. 
Readers then become clients, and everyone benefits.
Again, we don't ask for anything. We provide a free
service and if people are interested, they contact us
about becoming clients. 

--- Sidebar ---

  If you like our news, articles, and interviews, 
  please tell us about it. Tell us what is useful. 
  Send some biographical information too because we'd 
  love to use your quotes on the WebWord.com site and 
  in our advertising material. If you just want to 
  make a comment, without us quoting you, that's fine
  too of course.

  Please send your quotes to:
  John S. Rhodes
  <john@webword.com>

--- Sidebar ---

Whether you are a "free client" or a paying client, 
thanks for making WebWord.com part of your day. 


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ITEM #4

A new WebWord.com article is now online:
--> http://webword.com/moving/toowired.html

"Web Developers: On Being Too Wired"

There has been a lot of talk in the news recently 
about how fast technology is changing and how that 
will impact humans over the next several decades. At 
the end of March I wrote an editorial about how I felt 
about technology, the web and the future. Here is a 
quote that sums up how I felt (Note: the quote is in 
the context of my position in life as a web developer):

  "I feel like we are becoming the defense contractors 
  of the new economy. I remember when folks at General
  Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing were 
  getting heat for being baby killers and the like. 
  Will the masses start revolting against us? (I doubt 
  this since most people lap up technology like 
  thirsty dogs.)"

While I don't quite feel this way now, the editorial
captured my mood that day. 

You can read the editorial here:
--> http://webword.com/moving/toowired.html


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ITEM #5

Reading from the Screen Versus Hard Copy

Dr. Jim Sheedy was asked the following question:

  "What documentation is there that people read more 
  efficiently from hard copy than from the screen and 
  has there been any research to probe the mechanisms 
  involved?"

There are 2 ways to answer the question:

1.  If the comparison is between hard copy text as it 
is usually configured vs screen text as it is usually 
configured, then performance and/or symptoms are 
better with the hard copy.  This has been shown in the
following 2 studies:

  Gould JD, Alfaro L, Finn R, Haupt B, Minuto A.  
  Reading from CRT displays can be as fast as reading 
  from paper.  Human Factors 29(1), 1-16, 1987.

  Cushman, WH. Reading from microfiche, a VDT, and the
  printed page: subjective fatigue and performance. 
  Human Factors, 28(1), 63-73, 1986.

2.  If the comparison is between hard copy and screen 
text that are nearly identical visual stimuli (i.e. 
they look the same), then there is not really any 
difference.  This is shown in the Gould et al. study 
above and the reference below:

  Sheedy JE, Bailey IL, Fong D, Ostermeier M, Stanton S. 
  Task performance and contrast polarity on hard copy 
  and video displays. Proceedings of SPIE/SPSE 
  symposium on electronic imaging science and 
  technology. Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation 
  Engineers, Bellingham, Washington, February, 1990.

Therefore, the reasons for poorer performance on 
computer displays is the compromise in the visual 
image compared to normal hard copy.  When, and if, we 
can provide computer display images that are the same 
as paper copy, then performance will be the same.  
Actually, numerous improvements have already been made 
during the last several years.

--- Sidebar ---

  Who is Dr. Jim Sheedy?

  Dr. Sheedy is a Clinical Professor at the University 
  of California at Berkeley School of Optometry, where 
  he is Chief of the VDT/Occupational Vision Clinic. 
  He is also the Director of Professional Development 
  for SOLA Optical. For more details, please visit his
  biographical page:

  >> http://www.drsheedy.com/professional.html

  Or, better yet, visit his web page and surf around:

  >> http://www.drsheedy.com/

--- Sidebar ---


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ITEM #6

One versus Two Spaces...Revisited

Last May (1999) I compiled a report entitled
"One Versus Two Spaces After a Period" which caused
quite a stir. You can find it here:

>> http://www.webword.com/reports/period.html

I recently ran across an interesting article related
to this topic that I thought I'd pass along:

>> http://www.meridian.wednet.edu/mhs/vocation/mdurkee/period/index.htm

I also found a pretty good FAQ page about writing 
problems that people have. Things like common word 
confusions, punctuation problems, appropriate sentence 
structure, and that sort of thing:

>> http://www2.nu.edu/soas/writing/pages/faq.html


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ITEM #7

What Can You Find at WebWord.com?

Articles (Moving WebWord)
<http://webword.com/moving/>

Discussion Board
<http://www.vicinities.com/webword/>

Expert Interviews 
<http://webword.com/interviews/> 

Recommended Books
<http://webword.com/books/booksindex.html>

Newsletter Archive
<http://webword.com/archive>

Weblog Archive
<http://www.webword.com/weblog>

Usability Reports 
<http://webword.com/reports>

Recommended Web Sites
<http://webword.com/hotsites.html>

Free Stuff
<http://webword.com/freestuff.html>


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