WebWord

In the last couple of weeks I have tried to point out several business practices that don’t make sense, or frustrate me. The “usability of the experience” has been my focus. I think that I’ve been reasonable thus far.
However, today I’m not sure that I can contain my anger and frustration. Last night I […]

Andy Edmonds of Uzilla pointed me to the Better Multi-Select Widget.
“In a recent usability test with non-information workers in an intranet application, we discovered that none of the users successfully selected multiple responses when presented in a HTML select element with multiple selection enabled. To solve this problem, a new form of multi-select was […]

For years I went to a dentist who caused me pain. Every time I would completely dread my visit if I needed a filling or a repair because every time it would hurt. I didn’t think novocaine worked and didn’t bother getting it because it would hurt no matter what.
However, today I went to […]

I placed an order with Buy.com on 12-June for a cell phone. It has been nearly two weeks since I placed the order and I’m tired of waiting for it. So, I decided to cancel my order. In a previous posting I talked about how Buy.com confused me by email. Well, now they are confusing […]

The Age — “A new text-based information service offers answers to mobile customers on any network. Tap out a question on SMS, send it to MojoKnows (0410 665 646) and the company will text back the answer: within 15 minutes if customers are willing to pay $3, within the hour for $2 or within 24 […]

“We may not be able to provide you information about the wireless plans but we have Buy.com Wireless Customer Support Department who will provide you the further details about the wireless plans.”
Can they provide information or not?

“Apparently, just like with named anchors in HTML, although you can only go to a specific spot if the original author put in named destinations, you can still do quite a bit with links to PDFs.”
Read the posting…
Also, don’t miss Why PDF sucks. The biggest issue is that PDFs are proprietary. Or perhaps more accurately, […]

A Soft Launch for UXnet
uxnet.org

June 21, 2004: We’re extremely pleased to announce the preliminary launch (or soft launch) of UXnet (www.uxnet.org), an organization dedicated to exploring opportunities for cooperation and collaboration among organizations and individuals involved in the field of user experience (UX).

UX is an emerging field concerned with improving the design of anything people […]

UsabilityWorks.org — “And here then we come to the crux of everything we do. How do you know usability testing is being done correctly? How do you know if you have a good designer? How do you know that requirements were gathered properly? The answer to all three, of course, is: you don’t.”
Read the article…

Site Point — “Information architecture (or IA) is the science — some would insist art — of defining the structure, organization, navigation, labeling and indexing of a Website. It is the role of the information architect to decide how a site should be structured, what kind of content it should host, and how to accommodate […]

Darwin Magazine — “On a less serious note, managers out of touch with reality put their own interests first — Ken Lay, Richard Scrushy and Dennis Kozlowski come to mind. None of these supposed leaders demonstrated one iota of humility, and, in the process, ran their businesses into the ground. By contrast, leaders such as […]

For a variety of reasons, good and bad, I decided to use Travelocity to book some flights in the near future. I submitted my membership information and moved forward with my purchase. When I checked my email, this is the first part of the message they sent:

Dear JOHN,
Thanks so much for joining Travelocity!
Your private login […]