Usability - Out-Sourced or In-House?

Should usability work be provided by external consultancies or provided in-house? This is a question that we often encounter when working with clients, many of whom are keen to establish their own usability departments. Of course there is no short answer – depending on the client’s situation either alternative may be valid. But there are good reasons for thinking carefully before making a decision either way.

Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2002). Articles>Usability

Usability and Cost-Cutting

As in any downturn, most businesses are examining expenditure and looking to cut back in any areas that may not be deemed essential. For better or worse, spending on usability engineering is often under the spotlight in this environment. There may be a feeling that the company has survived without such flights of fancy in the past, and can no doubt do so in the future – ‘usability’ is a luxury that can be done without.

Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Articles>Usability

Usability and Online Bookmaking

One industry that seems to be weathering the current online storm – and which has a reputation of being ‘recession proof’ in any case – is bookmaking. A combination of established offline players (William Hill, Ladbrokes and Paddy Power for example) and online-only companies (such as Blue Square) continue to provide plenty of choice to punters. This in itself is hardly surprising, as bookmaking is one industry tailor-made for the Internet environment.

Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Design>Web Design>E Commerce

Usability and Online Branding

Improving ‘brand experience’ online is not normally regarded as the primary goal of a usability strategy. In some circles usability and branding would even be seen as mutually exclusive, based on the assumption that successful branding relies on ever more garish visual design and an extensive use of animation, audio streaming, or whatever the latest cutting-edge technology might happen to be.

Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Design>Web Design>Marketing>Usability

Usability At Microsoft

The concept of the 'persona' has interesting implications for software design. It is particularly effective for reminding designers of the importance of designing for an individual, rather than the population at large. Without a concrete impression of who exactly the user is, it is easy for designers to add features continuously because 'the user' demands them. For 'user', read 'marketing department'.

Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Design>Usability

Usability in Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

In CRM, user acceptance is a huge issue. End users, who are rarely the same people who choose applications in the first place, can be extraordinarily resourceful when it comes to undermining or working around new products or implementations introduced by manager. All this means that creating applications that are efficient and enjoyable to use is imperative for both ISVs and CRM implementers.

Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Articles>Web Design>E Commerce>Usability

Usability in Software Development

Usability does not begin and end with the web. In fact, long before the Internet was a gleam in the Pentagon's eye, computer professionals were already aware of the need for human-computer interaction to be as natural and intuitive as possible. In fact, there are many compelling reasons to suggest that usability is even more critical to successful application design than it is for winning websites.

Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Design>Software>Programming>Usability

Usability: The Irish Experience

Ireland’s meteoric growth and current status as the world’s largest software exporter (larger even than the US) is already the stuff of IT folklore - or at least it is over here in Europe. Such a large and fast-growing industry, which emerged from almost nothing in the space of a dozen years or so, creates an interesting environment for those practicing usability. There is certainly a sizable potential market out there, in the shape of indigenous software houses and major web developments. The question is when the consultancy sector will catch up with them.

Farrell, Tom. WebWord (2001). Articles>Usability>Regional>Ireland

The User Champion

Is your organisation in need of a user champion? It might not be the perfect solution, but as a first step it can have far-reaching consequences. If your organisation already has significant resources assisting with interface development, but tends to make key decisions on the basis of hunches or personal opinions, a single individual with a remit to judge the interface from the users point of view may be beneficial. Of course, any appointment must be more than a gesture. A user champion must be confident of management support and fully involved in the development and design process, at every stage.

Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Careers>Web Design>Usability

WAP Usability

WAP technology, which brings text-based online services to the mobile phone, is already causing considerable excitement in European markets. With the focus on 'the mobile Internet' and 'm-commerce', WAP is already being touted as central to the future of 'online' business. Perhaps as a reaction to the hype, some commentators (among them usability 'guru' Jakob Nielsen) are already lining up to burst the WAP bubble.

Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2000). Design>Web Design>Wireless Web>Usability

What Causes Usability Problems

With so much good advice available, and the need for user input being so much a matter of common sense, it seems fair to ask why usability issues are so common amongst websites and applications - even those which have invested significant resources in development. What is it that drives otherwise sensible organisations and businesses to build products and services that are counter-intuitive and actively annoying for many users? The answers to these questions are revealing, in the sense that they illustrate how easily usability can be subverted by alternative agendas. And they highlight the need for a user champion within the organisation, an individual outside any internal interest groups, and potentially the company itself, who acts as a corrective to the forces that can leave usability on the back burner. This list is not one of objections (no time, no money, etc.), most of which are spurious, but rather of explanations for apparently baffling decisions that are often taken without even thinking about the consequences.

Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2000). Articles>Usability>User Interface

What's Going On? The Importance Of User Feedback

It is a basic assumption on the web that download times should be kept to a minimum. After all, the longer people are left waiting, the more likely they are to back out (quite literally) of a transaction and look elsewhere for the same service. But despite the general accuracy of this point of view, there is perhaps slightly more to it than this. What frustrates users about slow download times is not so much the wait as the uncertainty. The online environment remains somewhat unreliable - certainly unreliable enough for a user to be unsure that every page request is likely to be successful. In this situation, the lack of ability of the browser to accurately reflect progress is a serious issue in terms of web effectiveness and user satisfaction.

Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2000). Articles>Usability>Methods

When To Introduce Usability

On the basis that user-centred design, user testing and other forms of usability engineering are a 'good thing', it is worth asking how they are best integrated into the development process. Specifically, the issue of timing is critical to the successful implementation of a usability strategy. At what stage of development should these techniques be introduced? Of course the answer to that question rather depends on the unique circumstances of each particular project, but the general principle seems to be 'as early as possible' - with the important caveat that any user involvement is better than none, even at a late stage in the day. But the accepted wisdom that usability engineering should be introduced as early as possible in the development process has many arguments in its favour.

Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2000). Articles>Usability>Methods

Who Is "The User" Anyway?

As we have pointed out before, understanding the user is a pre-requisite of high quality interface design, whether online or offline. This means taking the time to find out what motivates typical user groups, what they expect from a given site or application, and how they prefer to work (or play). The alternative to proper user profiling is simply plucking an imaginary 'user' out of the air - usually to add weight to personal preferences or prejudices. The latter situation often consists of a so-called expert dismissing design features because 'the user wouldn't like it', when he or she is really saying 'I don't like it'. This common reference to a single undefined 'user' conjures up amusing images of a God-like entity casting judgment on interfaces from on high. In the real world, as we know, things are a little more complex. If 'the user' is frequently invoked but never defined, it may be time to rethink your usability strategy. Of course, after profiling has taken place, or when talking in generalities, there is nothing wrong with 'the user' being used as a convenient shorthand. But during specific projects it is essential to think in terms of real people rather than abstracts. This approach creates both better design and makes usability more understandable, in concrete terms, for others involved in the development process.

Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Design>Usability>Methods>Personas