WebWord

I Love Jack Daniels is an interesting little design site.
“Here you’ll find articles, tutorials, code snippets and resources for web design, web development, search engine optimization and other web-related topics.”
Kind of broad in scope, but there is some useful information available. Check it out if you have a chance. And, be sure to email Dave […]

Lane Becker on Adaptive Path claims that 90% of All Usability Testing is Useless: “Ninety percent of all usability testing performed on Web sites is useless. This is not to say that it doesn’t have a significant role to play in user experience design. When done right, usability testing will improve your Web site […]

Scott Berkun’s latest article covers some decent advice we probably all need to hear from time to time.

“However you choose to deal with your situation, pay attention to yourself. What works and doesn’t work for you? When did you feel most inspired in your life? Least? What things in your life seem to influence your […]

DevX — “The primary reason for this is that mobile devices have different constraints, and therefore users interact with mobile devices differently than with desktop computers. For example, a cell phone does not have a mouse, or similar pointing device to guide user interactions. Most likely, a user will be limited to a fairly small […]

“Which got me wondering, how often does this happen? A quick test on the Food Ferry site showed that it also refuses to accept the relatively new ‘dot name’ format (name@server.name). I didn’t run through all of the new domain name formats but there may well be more that are being missed.”
“.info” and “.name” email […]

BBC News — “Dr Rekimoto’s lab has extended the drag and drop technique used in most PC software to create a ‘pick and drop’ technique. So the owner of a handheld computer can pick up a file from their device, using a special pen, and drop it onto the screen of another computer, by placing […]

Computer World Malaysia — “Most shoppers, Schueler says, follow a predictable sequence of steps before they make a purchase. Making a purchase is really the culmination of the shopping process. The first steps — information-gathering and price comparisons — are ideally suited for the web. In fact, 86 per cent of people go online to […]

“Focus groups continually fail to tell us what customers want. The fundamental problem is that, in spite of what conventional wisdom tells us, it is not the voice of the consumer that matters. What matters is the mind of the consumer. The big mistake is in believing that what the mind thinks, the voice speaks. […]

Steve Outing — “Some major sites have responded to the problem by trimming back the clutter in the last year. But perhaps there’s a solution in the concept of hiding content behind layers — having lots of content on a home page, but much of it not being visible until users pass a mouse over […]

The latest Gotomedia newsletter discusses about café testing: “Need to test your product or service with limited cash to burn? Café testing - the new low-calorie alternative to traditional market testing - can yield results that taste great.”
Read about it!
(Editor’s comment: Fantastic idea!)

The Age — “Nokia has been losing ground to all other major cell phone makers, a survey by market researcher Gartner Inc. has said, adding that the Finnish company is suffering from a lack of catchy designs, innovative new models and partnerships with operators.”
Do we believe what Gartner says, or do we look deeper? I […]

People like to talk about dealing with email overload. Kottke brings up the topic, again.
First, before you give away your email address, you can “force” or “ask” users to read an FAQ, or disclaimer. You can tell them what to expect and what the rules are. Basically, the idea is to manage expectations. Second, there […]