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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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March 12, 2002                      Newsletter #66
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Table of Contents


1.  Usability Versus Quality
2.  Web Sites That Heal
3.  Perceived Information Architecture: User Feedback
4.  Norton AntiVirus 2002: Feedback from Symantec
5.  CNN Money and META http-equiv="refresh"
6.  Launch of Boxes and Arrows
7.  Learn How to Think Like a Usability Expert 
8.  What Can You Find at WebWord.com?


       
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ITEM #1

Editorial: Usability Versus Quality

A colleague talked to me about the quality of Japanese 
cars a couple of days ago. He argued that usability was
really no different than usability since the end results
are often the same. I was forced to explain some of the
differences between usability and quality. Here is a
brief summary of what I said.

1. If you care about quality, you often care about 
usability. This will happen even if you don't know 
anything about usability.

2. The end results of quality activities are often 
similar to the end results of usability activities.
Quality makes life better...usability makes life better.

3. Usability is often more important than quality because
quality is often applied at the end of a project. Put
another way, if you catch a problem early through 
usability testing, it is more cost effective than 
catching a problem during final (quality) testing. When
quality controls are applied at the start of a project,
the results are similar to the results from usability
methods (very broadly speaking).

4. The most important difference between quality and 
usability is that quality is mainly about products
whereas usability is mainly about people. This is the 
key. Quality focuses on products and technology but
usability is focsed on humans and human needs.

If you read the literature, you'll see that the Japanese 
are incredibly focused on product quality. This works 
very well for those companies since people really like
high quality products. Quality is a lot like usability; 
quality often leads to usability.




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ITEM #2

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


"Web Sites That Heal"

The first purpose of this article is to explain the true 
causes of linkrot. The second purpose is to outline a 
new way to solve the linkrot problem.


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




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ITEM #3

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


"Perceived Information Architecture: User Feedback"

The purpose of this article is to explain how the 
Perceived Information Architecture test was used by 
BBC New Media. The testing procedure is outlined, along 
with a list of pros and cons of the method. Several 
actual user diagrams are provided.

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




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ITEM #4

Norton AntiVirus 2002: Feedback from Symantec


As many of you already know, I wrote an article about my
installation of Norton AntiVirus 2002. It generated a 
lot of feedback. Quite a few people told me that they 
had problems both during and after the installation. 

I'm happy to say that someone from Symantec sent me an
email about the article. I'm posting it on WebWord, with
their permission:

--> http://webword.com/readers/osorio.txt


If you would like to read the original article, follow
this link:

--> http://webword.com/moving/nortonav.html





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ITEM #5

CNN Money and META http-equiv="refresh"


I recently visited the CNN Money web site and left the 
browser window open. I then opened several other fresh
browser windows. While I was viewing another page, I was 
abruptly interrupted when the CNN Money site refreshed. 
When that happened I was whisked to their site, away 
from page I was reading. It was quite annoying. 

Here is something that I don't understand. Why do some
web sites automatically refresh their home pages? I 
suppose one possible answer is that web sites like to 
force users to look at new advertisements if you are 
staying on one page. Maybe another answer is that some
web pages include time sensitive information, such as
weather reports or stock quotes.

If you ask me, this is a poor use of the browser refresh 
meta tag.




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ITEM #6

Launch of Boxes and Arrows

I suggest that you visit Boxes and Arrows. What is it?
Here is an introduction:

"Boxes and Arrows is the definitive source for the 
complex task of bringing architecture and design to the 
digital landscape. There are various titles and 
professions associated with this undertaking information 
architecture, information design, interaction design, 
interface design but when we looked at the work that we 
were actually doing, we found a community of practice 
with similarities in outlook and approach that far 
outweighed our differences."

Go there now!

--> http://www.boxesandarrows.com/?webword




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ITEM #7

Learn How to Think Like a Usability Expert 

Steve Krug wrote Don't Make Me Think, which is one 
of the best books available on web usability. I just 
found out that he is teaching a usability workshop.
If you are interested in web usability and you have a
little money to spare, I recommend that you immediately
investigate Steve's work. Details are provided below...


What: A day-long usability workshop taught by Steve Krug

Where: Brattle Theatre, Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA

When: Tuesday, April 9, 2002 9 am to 4:30 pm

Who will benefit from it: Designers, programmers, 
writers, business developers, sole proprietors, 
VPs--anyone who works on, manages, or signs the checks 
for Web sites

Cost: 

Before March 21 
- Grownups $399 
- Students $200

After March 21 
- Grownups $450
- Students $225

Visit the web site!
--> http://www.sensible.com/workshops.html?webword




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ITEM #8
    
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/

Career Center
>> http://careers.webword.com/

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



----- End of WebWord.com Usability Newsletter #66 -----

      (c)2002 by WebWord.com and John S. Rhodes. 
                 All rights reserved.