Two recent blog posts and some interesting recent work.
• Secret questions allow you to recover passwords, but they're also a self-service feature. Read about good and bad aspects of secret questions, and see how users react to self-service features.
• See an example of recent design work -- a complete redesign of a Web application.
Another parking-payment system. A great convenience, but the process is different enough from what I expected that I couldn't make it work. Can you figure it out?
Some Web apps seem to have an attitude. I'm sure they do it on purpose, but what happens when someone outside of the expected user group uses it? Do they get confused? Offended?
Every time I try a new Web site or device, it's like a usability study. Here's an example with my favorite class of devices -- devices for members of the public to use for mass transit or parking payment.
Installing software on my new Macintosh was confusing. It's easy once you figure it out, but it took me some research to learn what to do. That was too much work! See some examples of installation screens and see if you know what to do.
Giving something away is great for vendors at farmers' markets. And at your Web site, the right amount of free information may convince people to register. Plus information about Group Design Workshops and recent work.
I’ve watched hundreds of participants in usability studies for software and hardware: early prototypes, beta releases and live products. It’s fascinating to watch and an important reminder that we can’t take anything for granted in designing products.
Recently, I reviewed what I’ve learned over the years and decided to share some of it in this blog, UsabilityLessons.
