WebWord.com Newsletter Issue #54

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ISSUE #54

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                WebWord.com Newsletter
           "Industrial Strength Usability"
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                 Newsletter Editor
                   John S. Rhodes 
                     John@webword.com
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January 21, 2001                    Newsletter #54
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Table of Contents

1. Editorial: Humans at the Other End
2. Usability at Women.com 
3. Usability Metrics
4. The Ghost!
5. Usability -- The Irish Experience
6. Usability in Northern Europe: Still a Long Way to Go
7. Ground Floor Perspective on the Usability Job Hunt
8. Tidbits: Associated Press, USA Weekend, and Headlines
9. What Can You Find at WebWord.com?

        
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ITEM #1

Editorial: Humans at the Other End

I deal with a lot of people that talk about technology.
They tell me about features, they show me code, and 
they send me emails about good and bad web sites. It 
seems that a lot of people would rather talk about
technology than about people. I'm not saying that these
people are introverted or that they don't like other 
people, I'm merely saying that many people I know enjoy 
technology quite a lot. The bottom line is that most 
people involved with technology like to talk about it, 
so they miss out on the human side of their work.

It has taken me the better part of two years to realize
that the internet is not very special. When you get 
down to it, the internet is just a bunch of wires, 
connecting millions of people. I'm not saying anything 
revolutionary here. Corporations, governments, and 
many people no longer give the internet any special 
status. It is a vast network of technology. It is
much more evolutionary than revolutionary.

When you take these comments together, it becomes very 
easy to forget that the internet works the way that it 
does because humans are using it. Computers, PDAs, and 
various other devices give us the ability to work with 
each other. The internet is a skeleton and a circulatory 
system of wires, but the flesh and blood is very real, 
and very human.

See what I mean?

I'll be talking about this topic, and a few related 
others, at Intranets 2001 (30-April through 2-May). 
My session is titled:

  "Flamethrowers and Monkey Brains: What They Didn't 
  Tell You About Intranet Usability"

Here is the web site:

  >> http://intranets2001.com/

It is going to be a good time. I hope to see you there.

Cheers,

- John

John S. Rhodes
WebWord.com -- Industrial Strength Usability
http://webword.com
john@webword.com
607-427-WORD (9673)


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ITEM #2

A new WebWord.com interview is now online:
--> http://webword.com/interviews/skeet.html

"Usability at Women.com"

This is an interview with Bill Skeet, Director of 
Network Architecture at Women.com. Bill provides you
with an inside look at Women.com, with a focus on
usability. I like the interview because you get to see 
how usability plays a role at a major dot com company. 
It is short and easy to digest. Enjoy!


You can read the new interview here:
--> http://webword.com/interviews/skeet.html



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ITEM #3

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

"Usability Metrics"

Summary: First, when you are conducting a usability 
test, it is important to understand exactly what data 
you should be collecting. You should not run a test 
without first deciding on what data is required to 
address your business challenges. Plan ahead! Second, 
in a usability test, you don't just watch users. You 
must collect data that reflects how customers actually 
use your products and services. This is easier said 
than done.


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



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ITEM #4

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

"The Ghost!"

Summary: I have spent a lot of time thinking about the
things Dave Winer has talked about in the last few 
months. Just today, for no good reason, my mind lit up
like a firestorm and I think I put several of his ideas 
together. At the least, I have started to describe a 
vision of life where technology is so important you 
would be shocked. However, at the same time the 
technology takes over, we are all as human as ever. We
get what we want, exactly how we want it, without ever 
suffering through the pain of the technology. 

Note: Upon reflection, several parts of this seem silly.
However, I still think there are at few very interesting
ideas. Hunt through it and you might find a treasure.


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



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ITEM #5

A new WebWord.com article is now online:
--> http://webword.com/moving/global0003.html

"Usability -- The Irish Experience"

This is a quick little guest article by Tom Farrell of
Frontend, a usability engineering and interface design 
consultancy with offices in Dublin and London. This
is part of WebWord's Usability Around the Globe
initiative. We're really trying to give people a look
at usability around the world. Tom does a very nice
job giving us a peek at the Irish side of usability.
Thanks Tom!

If you have the desire to write up a story about 
usability from your part of the world, particularly 
outside the United States, please send me a note. 
>> john@webword.com 


You can read the new article here:
--> http://webword.com/moving/global0003.html



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ITEM #6

A new WebWord.com article is now online:
--> http://webword.com/moving/global0002.html

"Usability in Northern Europe: Still a Long Way to Go"

This is an easy to digest guest article by Jakob 
Bruhns about usability as he sees it from Copenhagen,
Denmark. This is again part of WebWord's Usability 
Around the Globe initiative. Based on this article, it
sounds like Northern Europe is where the United States
was about a year or two ago, in terms of usability. I'd
love to hear more stories to verify this impression.
Tell me if you want to write an article on this topic!


You can read the new article here:
--> http://webword.com/moving/global0002.html



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ITEM #7

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

"Ground Floor Perspective on the Usability Job Hunt"

Summary: This is a guest written article by Berna 
Tural, a recent college graduate from Carleton 
University in Quebec. She is looking for a job in the 
usability field. I asked her to tell me more about her
experiences so that WebWord readers would understand 
what it is like to be on the ground floor in usability.
Similarly, I wanted people to see the other side of 
the hunt. 


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


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ITEM #8

Tidbits: Associated Press, Headlines, USA Weekend

This newsletter is getting a bit long. I'll quickly 
cover the last few items. First, I wanted to let folks
know that Adam Geller of the Associated Press contacted
me about an interview regarding marketing and usability.
It seems that some folks are taking me seriously on 
this topic. On a related note, USA Weekend, which is
the weekend edition of USA Today, had a pretty good
article on usability testing and the U.S. election.
Here's the URL:

>> http://usaweekend.com/01_issues/010121/010121techsmart.html

On a final note, I wanted to remind people that we are
coming out with a report on headline usability. It has
morphed into something a bit more focused. We'll be 
talking about email subject lines. If all goes well in
the next week or so, we'll have a load or normative 
data, and some interesting research results to give
you. We are investigating many things, for example:

* Does the length of a subject line matter?
* What subject lines grab the most attention?
* What subject lines are immediately deleted?

If you want to be notified when the report is available,
please sign up:

>> http://webwordheadlines.listbot.com/

Note: We are only going to use the list to announce the
research. After we do that, we are going to delete the
list forever and we'll never bother you with another
email from that list. There's no risk. 


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ITEM #9
    
What Can You Find at WebWord.com?


WebWord.com Services
<http://webword.com/services/index.html>

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

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>


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