http://tc.eserver.org/publisher/WebWord A listing of works published by WebWord in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/WebWord http://tc.eserver.org/33428.html http://tc.eserver.org/33428.html Many users are highly motivated to complete tasks before they begin and before any external motivation is provided. In other words, usability can easily be an umbrella that covers persuasion. http://tc.eserver.org/23015.html http://tc.eserver.org/23015.html About how to use a sitemap on all of one's web pages. Includes some statistics, that you will see below, that encourage rethinking navigation on small web sites. A sitemap on every page is an interesting idea. I've only seen this done in a few cases, and usually it is not done well. However, Peter obviously spent some time working on his and he solicited feedback form users. http://tc.eserver.org/21160.html http://tc.eserver.org/21160.html If you are a Web site developer and you want to create a safe, warm, and comfortable e-commerce environment for your users, then you will want to consider several issues. Start first by thinking about your own online shopping and purchasing concerns. What do you like? What don't you like? What do think are the indicators of online security and personal and financial privacy? http://tc.eserver.org/21152.html http://tc.eserver.org/21152.html What do you really want your users to do once you get them to your site? What information do you want to get to them? How do you want to them to use your site? What responses do you want from your users? http://tc.eserver.org/21155.html http://tc.eserver.org/21155.html Everyone loves free stuff. Capitalize on this and you can make your site more user-centered. It can also drive up sales, profits, and user satisfaction. http://tc.eserver.org/21159.html http://tc.eserver.org/21159.html Many Web developers have failed to realize that Web content goes far beyond the text of the site. Most people throw around the word 'content' as if Web sites that have many pages and many words are great. Take a moment and reflect on this key question: Is text the same thing as content?  The answer is simple: No, text is not synonymous or identical to content. You shouldn't think that content is all about words, sentences, paragraphs, and pages. Here is the reality: Web content is about user interactivity. http://tc.eserver.org/21154.html http://tc.eserver.org/21154.html Users can improve information flow. They can create robust markets, and they can help fix the problems that a company faces. This can happen at an astonishing speed. If the gateway is open, and the company allows users access, those users will quickly tell the company what they are doing wrong. When users are invited to wallow in the information flow, they will crack the company into shape. http://tc.eserver.org/21148.html http://tc.eserver.org/21148.html I asked folks if they wanted to permanently sponsor some of my web content on WebWord.com. The idea is rather simple. You give me money, and I give you ad space on some of my web pages forever. No one else will ever advertise on these pages at WebWord.com. Your ad is forever bound to that page. You get long lasting, and repeated value for your sponsorship dollars. I thought I had a good idea. But, I didn't get any responses. http://tc.eserver.org/21149.html http://tc.eserver.org/21149.html Take a moment and think about the various portable Internet devices available. You see everything from wireless hand held devices, to web-enabled pagers, to cellular phones with email access. The list goes on and on. Every day you can scan the technology headlines and read about several new Internet technologies being announced. Think about the nature of these portable Internet devices: they probably are not very usable. http://tc.eserver.org/21158.html http://tc.eserver.org/21158.html It is time to drop your title as Webmaster, and pick up something a bit more jazzy. How would you like to be an Internet Strategist or an Electronic Commerce Manager? The time is now to cast your new role. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the once ubiquitous 'Webmaster' position is a memory. There is a need for teams of people with broad skills, diverse knowledge, and an eye for the Internet future. http://tc.eserver.org/21157.html http://tc.eserver.org/21157.html Utilize hypertext to maximize the interactive experience of your site. Above all else, hypertext should be used to help your users find what they want, when they want it. You want your users to be able to get more information at just the right time and place in your pages. This isn't easy. Poor linking is a major problem on almost all Web sites. http://tc.eserver.org/21153.html http://tc.eserver.org/21153.html Self-described as the absolute [sic] easiest introduction to usability testing you could possibly find anywhere. http://tc.eserver.org/21150.html http://tc.eserver.org/21150.html I recently have read a lot about the use of banner ads. My short answer is that they don't work. They might be useful for branding and image campaigns but they are not usable and users don't like them at all. http://tc.eserver.org/21156.html http://tc.eserver.org/21156.html There are basically two types of companies. The first see the Internet as a poison pill, the rest see it a magic bullet. The poison pill companies fear the Web. They see the rush of companies onto the Internet, and they feel that they must join the stampede. They are bitter, they feel slow, and they are angry that the Web has changed the game. The magic bullet companies see the Web as a new frontier, they embrace change, and they capitalize on the Internet hysteria. Rather than simply throwing a Web site out there, they are making the Internet part of their business. They are building the Internet into their strategic plans, and they are taking it for a ride. http://tc.eserver.org/21147.html http://tc.eserver.org/21147.html If you try a bait and switch tactic on your web site and you are trying to sell to customers, you will fail. You must provide the right information to people. You have to exceed their expectations.Sales follow the delivery of solid, respected content. http://tc.eserver.org/21151.html http://tc.eserver.org/21151.html You should only link out of your own site as a last resort. In general you want to keep your visitors at your site. Heck, isn't that why you built it? But there are times when it makes sense to stop the insanity and add that link. You must send visitors away sometimes. http://tc.eserver.org/21140.html http://tc.eserver.org/21140.html I've been watching people type in web site addresses for a long time now. However, I only started watching people closely about 4 weeks ago. I recorded 75 observations of people typing in URLs in the address bar (I kept a notepad with a running tally). I'll be the first to admit that this was not scientific and, as you might guess, I was acting in a biased manner. Nevertheless, I think the results are somewhat useful as a starting point. I found that in about 20 of the 75 observations, when people typed in a new URL they first tried the address without the 'www'. So, my findings indicate that about 27% of the time, users did not use the 'www'. http://tc.eserver.org/21135.html http://tc.eserver.org/21135.html First, there were butlers. Then, there were search engines. Today, there is Jeeves, a hybrid less expensive than the former and more user-friendly than the latter. Others have followed in Jeeves's footsteps, but his loafers are hard to fill. While he is no longer an original, he continues to be invaluable for net-novices and net-addicts alike. http://tc.eserver.org/21132.html http://tc.eserver.org/21132.html The language you use on your web site is critically important and shapes the user experience in ways that you might not expect. You can seriously harm or augment the experience by changing words in small ways. http://tc.eserver.org/21134.html http://tc.eserver.org/21134.html I'm now going to tell you the #1, surefire way to land a job with a great salary and benefits whenever you're ready to start working. http://tc.eserver.org/21138.html http://tc.eserver.org/21138.html The more time you spend at a site, the easier it is to use. Your investment in that site pays higher and higher dividends. Here's another metaphor. Your site and your users form a relationship. http://tc.eserver.org/21137.html http://tc.eserver.org/21137.html People will swear up and down that they love a particular product. They will tell you that the colors are right, the size is perfect, and the information is exactly what they needed. However, until you watch and test users you will not see how well the product works. You will not find out if they really would continue using the product, in the right amount, at the right time, under the conditions you expected. People have a funny way of deciding when, where and how they will using something. http://tc.eserver.org/21139.html http://tc.eserver.org/21139.html Some users are out to destroy you. Some users want you to fail. Some users would like to crush your business. They hate you. They hate your web site. They don't like you. They don't like your company. They are poisonous, vengeful, and twisted. And they're smart. http://tc.eserver.org/21131.html http://tc.eserver.org/21131.html There are problems with usability and the usability community. This article is my attempt to raise some of the most important and interesting issues. In my opinion, usability as we know it is dying. It is outdated, misunderstood, and it faces very serious challenges in web and software development circles. http://tc.eserver.org/21136.html http://tc.eserver.org/21136.html I was wondering if anyone else is starting to feel ill at ease about the work that we do. I personally do a lot of web development work. I regularly conduct usability testing on people so that web sites, and other technology, fit better with humans. I make it a point to stress that good design work yields higher profits, growth, and strategic advantage for our clients.  While these things are acceptable and fit with our social norms, I feel like we are becoming the defense contractors of the new economy. I remember when folks at General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing were getting heat for being baby killers and the like. Will the masses start revolting against us? http://tc.eserver.org/21111.html http://tc.eserver.org/21111.html Jess McMullin, a Usability Analyst at Cognissa, and a long time reader of WebWord, wrote me a lettera couple of days ago. His basic complaint was that I don't give my readers enough credit. I'm pretty sure that he feels offended that I have called my readers a bunch of 'freeloaders'. What does that mean and what is freeloading? http://tc.eserver.org/21106.html http://tc.eserver.org/21106.html The purpose of this article is to openly display my disgust with Amazon and to discuss the implications. On Monday, 11-June-2000, I ordered a gift certificate from Amazon.com. I was going to use the certificate for Father's Day, however Amazon failed to send the certificate in time. So, I drove to Barnes and Noble, bought some books, and bought a gift certificate. Amazon just lost $82.62. http://tc.eserver.org/21105.html http://tc.eserver.org/21105.html Getting stuck on a web page can be painful. The back button doesn't always work. While there are many ways to escape from web pages, many users don't know the tricks. A company can stop hurting users by doing more testing, using proper development methods, and being aware of the issue. http://tc.eserver.org/21109.html http://tc.eserver.org/21109.html Making decisions regarding your investments is difficult, even during the best of times, and it is interesting to look at the reasons and drivers behind 'putting your money where your mouth is'. Usability, I believe, is a key part of the investment decision process. In an increasingly complex and technological world, a lot of people are perusing, gathering, and analyzing financial information using the internet. This is often the key material that helps people make their investment decisions in one particular way or another.  http://tc.eserver.org/21120.html http://tc.eserver.org/21120.html You might do a lot of usability testing on your web site but you still might lose up to 10% of your audience because of some simple mistakes with colors. Specifically, your web site may be designed in a way that doesn't work well for people with colorblindness. Generally the fix is quite simple: be sure to provide excellent contrast between your various web page elements. http://tc.eserver.org/21117.html http://tc.eserver.org/21117.html You must treat each click on your web site as an investment. If your site is satisfying, and if your site is easy to use, then every click will provide your customers with value. When they see that value, they will not want to leave your web site. If customers don't want to leave your site, then your competitors are not just a click away. http://tc.eserver.org/21107.html http://tc.eserver.org/21107.html As of June 2001, four web properties control more than 50% of all the time spent online by U.S. surfers. This means that you can throw away your usability guidelines and follow these companies. They spend millions on usability testing and they are driving standards by sheer market force. You have no choice but to follow their lead. http://tc.eserver.org/21124.html http://tc.eserver.org/21124.html I have spent a lot of time thinking about the things Dave Winer has talked about in the last few months. Just today, for no good reason, my mind lit up like a firestorm and I think I put several of his ideas together. At the least, I have started to describe a vision of life where technology is so important you would be shocked. However, at the same time the technology takes over, we are all as human as ever. We get what we want, exactly how we want it, without ever suffering through the pain of the technology. http://tc.eserver.org/21103.html http://tc.eserver.org/21103.html Greymatter is an excellent web content management system. After you install it, you can begin to syndicate your content using XML. This article gives you an explicit step-by-step overview of how I created RSS 1.0 and RSS 0.92 files using Greymatter. It is assumed that you have some knowledge of HTML and XML, and that you have already installed Greymatter. Many examples and references are provided to help you along the way. http://tc.eserver.org/21123.html http://tc.eserver.org/21123.html This is a guest written article by Berna Tural, a recent college graduate from Carleton University in Ottawa. She is looking for a job in the usability field. I asked her to tell me more about her experiences so that WebWord readers would understand what it is like to be on the ground floor in usability. Similarly, I wanted people to see the other side of the hunt.  http://tc.eserver.org/21127.html http://tc.eserver.org/21127.html It's often said that a common language divides America and England. If an American says "I'm mad about my flat", there is something wrong with his car. If an Englishman says it, he likes his apartment. If the Americans and the English can't communicate without ambiguity, what happens when non-English speakers use your site? http://tc.eserver.org/21115.html http://tc.eserver.org/21115.html Italy is the fourth largest economy in Europe and the seventh largest in the world. Its status as one of the world's largest economic powers is relatively recent, however. The vast majority of Italy's economic development has occurred since the end of the Second World War. In the 55+ years since the end of WWII, Italy has moved from a primarily agrarian society to a modern post-industrial economy. This extremely rapid economic development has been unique amongst Western nations, and has had a decidedly strong impact on Italian culture and society. http://tc.eserver.org/21101.html http://tc.eserver.org/21101.html Metcalfe's Law basically tells us that as you connect n number of machines you get n squared in potential value. So, with 2 machines you get a value of 4. When you connect 10 machines, you get a value of 100. When you connect 200 machines, you get a value of 40,000. People like to apply this idea to the internet. In particular, people claim that the strength of the internet is a direct result of so many machines being connected. I think that this is bullshit. http://tc.eserver.org/21116.html http://tc.eserver.org/21116.html Technology is not stable. It changes over time; it is a moving target. In contrast, humans are quite stable. Each human might not be stable, but as a whole, humans are very constant. Stability and predictability are good things. Therefore, development and design should be based on humans. Specifically, development should be based on a human platform not a technological platform.  http://tc.eserver.org/21100.html http://tc.eserver.org/21100.html Poor password usability can ruin your web registration process. While passwords are a painful fact of life, there are ways to minimize the problems that users face. This article contains suggestions on how to best collect passwords during the registration process, and it will help you determine if you should allow users to save their passwords. http://tc.eserver.org/21104.html http://tc.eserver.org/21104.html Microsoft doesn't care much about shared source or Smart Tags and we are wasting our time following their marketing trail. We need to focus on Microsoft's true goal, which is to completely dominate the internet services market. We should pay attention to how they are building a services infrastructure, not a technology infrastructure. We should figure out how they are going to use tools like Passport and Microsoft Messenger to control our personal information and various internet transactions. http://tc.eserver.org/21121.html http://tc.eserver.org/21121.html 'Usability', 'user-friendliness', 'user experience' and the like are becoming common buzzwords these days. However, seen from Copenhagen, Denmark, there is still a long way to go. Many businesses and consultants here are beginning to use the terms to promote themselves and their products. The problem is just that: it is used for marketing and image purposes rather than the core of the development process. http://tc.eserver.org/21102.html http://tc.eserver.org/21102.html This short article answers a few questions about entering a career in usability given the poor market conditions, and it offers some general career advice. http://tc.eserver.org/21118.html http://tc.eserver.org/21118.html The Cochran's Q Test can be used to statistically analyze success rate data. It can be used even when only a small number of users are tested. This provides some indication that a vast amount of usability data can, and should be statistically analyzed http://tc.eserver.org/21126.html http://tc.eserver.org/21126.html This page is meant to be a useful and well-rounded list of resources related to usability around the world. The topics range from appropriate design for global audiences to developing good local content to effective global usability testing. The reality is that there is not much information available. This is perhaps the most comprehensive list available on this topic. http://tc.eserver.org/21125.html http://tc.eserver.org/21125.html First, when you are conducting a usability test, it is important to understand exactly what data you should be collecting. You should not run a test without first deciding on what data is required to address your business challenges. Plan ahead! Second, in a usability test, you don't just watch users. You must collect data that reflects how customers actually use your products and services. This is easier said than done. http://tc.eserver.org/21119.html http://tc.eserver.org/21119.html Email is very important to a lot of people and companies. However, very little usability research has been done on email, specifically email subject lines. This article is a summary of a research report written by WebWord on the topic and contains several results. The basic finding from the research is that effective email subject lines are very short, very meaningful, and personal. http://tc.eserver.org/21122.html http://tc.eserver.org/21122.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/21110.html http://tc.eserver.org/21110.html Web developers, web designers, web producers: Wake up. Hear me roar. I am the common user. I am the person that pays your bills. I am the reason you exist. I am your traffic. Heed my words. I am sick and tired of being abused. I am not smiling or winking. I'm not happy. I am a good person, but you have treaded on me for too long now. I am going to tell you what I want. I am going to tell you what I need from you today so that my experience is better. Listen to me. This is no manifesto, this is my life. http://tc.eserver.org/21108.html http://tc.eserver.org/21108.html The WebWord content management system is not technical, it is human. In fact, the technology is minimal and the web site works because a human understands and maintains the content using very simple tools. While this approach consumes a lot of time, it is simple and cost effective. Small and medium web sites can get along without using content management systems. http://tc.eserver.org/21082.html http://tc.eserver.org/21082.html This is a business case for usability in an organization. It is based on academic research, industrial research, case studies, consulting experience, and common knowledge found in the usability community.  http://tc.eserver.org/21088.html http://tc.eserver.org/21088.html When you're designing a transactional web site, you need to complicate it with extra steps and customization. Anticipate the most likely problems, provide clear error handling, and build informative confirmation messages to keep your users happy. http://tc.eserver.org/21086.html http://tc.eserver.org/21086.html In light of recent terrorist attacks on the United States, Amazon.com set up a page to collect donations for the Red Cross. Over the course of about two and half days, I recorded the donation activity on that page. An analysis of the data revealed that the average amount of money donated by each person steadily increased (i.e., donation gravity). This manifestation of donation gravity is discussed, along with several usability ideas that can help you design a better online donation web page. http://tc.eserver.org/21084.html http://tc.eserver.org/21084.html This article discusses turn signals and how they are used. Turn signals improve safety because they give people time to react and they reduce driving ambiguity. However, they are only effective when people actually use them. Several lessons are applied to web usability. http://tc.eserver.org/21068.html http://tc.eserver.org/21068.html The world speaks many languages, and so do an increasing number of Web sites. Yet with these languages and locales come a host of challenges for the Web teams who manage them, challenges that are not likely to go away. As companies 'localize' their Web sites for new markets and languages, they run into the navigational challenges of directing users to their localized Web sites. For instance, if your site offers a dozen localized Web sites, how do you ensure that users arrive at their intended sites without getting confused or lost along the way?  This article presents strategies for building a global gateway. A global gateway is much more than a 'select country' pull-down menu on the home page. It's an all-encompassing term for the devices you use to direct users to their locale- and language-specific sites. And, as you'll soon see, there are many ways to build a gateway. http://tc.eserver.org/21087.html http://tc.eserver.org/21087.html People using Microsoft's Internet Explorer are now being redirected to Microsoft's MSN when they make certain kinds of mistakes. This means that Microsoft is taking control of another part of the user experience. This article discusses how Google might be able to help users and solve a few other problems others along the way. http://tc.eserver.org/21072.html http://tc.eserver.org/21072.html Google Voice Search allows you to make a telephone call to Google with a search query and get the results on a web page. The purpose of this article is to briefly describe the user experience and investigate the usability implications of this tool. http://tc.eserver.org/21073.html http://tc.eserver.org/21073.html Email usability can be dramatically increased or decreased by how URLs are designed and placed in messages. An example of one problem is described in detail in this article. Also, a couple of simple tips are provided to help you improve the URLs in your email messages. http://tc.eserver.org/21079.html http://tc.eserver.org/21079.html The purpose of this article is to explain information architecture in a very simple and clear manner. If you have been confused about information architecture and what it is all about, this is exactly the article you should read. An analogy is used to get at the core concepts and several useful examples are provided. http://tc.eserver.org/21085.html http://tc.eserver.org/21085.html The purpose of this paper is to briefly review and discuss three books related to systems design. The first book is Design Paradigms: Case Histories of Error and Judgment in Engineering (Petroski, 1994), the second book is The Mythical Man-Month, Anniversary Edition: Essays on Software Engineering (Brooks, 1995), and the third book is Notes on the Synthesis of Form (Alexander, 1964). In this paper, an emphasis is placed on describing the core ideas of the books. Brief discussions of structure, context, failure, and usability engineering are included to highlight several themes found throughout the trio of books. http://tc.eserver.org/21070.html http://tc.eserver.org/21070.html Below is a list of my favorite usability, human factors, and web design books. If I did not own these books, I would buy them. I find myself going back to these books again and again. A couple of them have been replaced because I've worn them out. These are the books that I recommend to other people all of the time. Simply put, if I did not have them available to reference and read, I would feel like my library was not complete. http://tc.eserver.org/21067.html http://tc.eserver.org/21067.html A review of the Nielsen-Norman Group's 2002 Intranet Usability tutorial. http://tc.eserver.org/21078.html http://tc.eserver.org/21078.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/21066.html http://tc.eserver.org/21066.html The purpose of this article is to explain the Practical Review System (PRS). The PRS is an outline of 28 characteristics that can be used to understand any usability method, thereby allowing any individual to decide between methods. This solves many of the problems associated with understanding and explaining usability methods. http://tc.eserver.org/21074.html http://tc.eserver.org/21074.html In September 1999, John Rhodes published Are You Creating a Path of Resistance? on WebWord. In the article, John discussed the problem with the Ws - the www prefix before domain names. John rightly recommended that all web sites should be set up to work the same with or without the Ws. In this article, however, I will go one step further and recommend that sites should be set up to work with or without the Ws, but also have the Ws automatically removed from the URL using a server-side technique I will henceforth refer to as 'removing the Ws'. I will detail why I feel this is a more appropriate solution and explain how this can be done. http://tc.eserver.org/21083.html http://tc.eserver.org/21083.html This article discusses two key ideas. First, it briefly outlines four ways to represent the same information. Second, it provides a high-level overview of Perceived Information Architecture. http://tc.eserver.org/21076.html http://tc.eserver.org/21076.html The purpose of this article is to help you understand some business and design issues related to extranets. This article will also get you thinking about the kinds of tools you might offer to your customers. http://tc.eserver.org/21069.html http://tc.eserver.org/21069.html The purpose of this article is to critically review Jakob Nielsen's article, Intranet Usability: The Trillion-Dollar Question. In summary, Jakob Nielsen makes some fantastic claims about intranet usability that must be weighed against other business needs and constraints. For example, there might be better ways to spend money than on usability, not all usability improvements are created equal, and it can be hard to apply the changes dictated by a usability study. The criticisms can be applied to many other usability articles. http://tc.eserver.org/21080.html http://tc.eserver.org/21080.html The purpose of this paper is to briefly discuss design misfits. A cursory overview of misfits is provided, along with a working definition. Eight types of design misfits are revealed. Three examples of each type of misfit are provided for clarification. http://tc.eserver.org/21081.html http://tc.eserver.org/21081.html The article briefly highlights some frustrations sellers have with eBay's Checkout feature. http://tc.eserver.org/21071.html http://tc.eserver.org/21071.html I recently purchased an 'old' Palm Vx of off eBay.com. Let me tell you, I couldn't be happier with it, except maybe if it had a color screen and the resolution were a little bit higher. It has a couple usability flaws from the original Palm V model, but nothing that dramatically decreases the user experience. http://tc.eserver.org/21075.html http://tc.eserver.org/21075.html The purpose of this article is to explain the voyeur web. The central idea is that it is easy to view what other people are doing and experiencing on the web. A list of voyeur tools are provided. http://tc.eserver.org/21077.html http://tc.eserver.org/21077.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/19354.html http://tc.eserver.org/19354.html Accessibility and usability are independent from content. People will come to your site because they've heard that you've got a great widget that is the talk of all the tech rags. These same people will leave after a very short time if they cannot find what they are looking for. Good information architecture is key; it's the design, the ability to maneuver around and find the information needed to complete a task. http://tc.eserver.org/19209.html http://tc.eserver.org/19209.html The purpose of this article is to explain how evolution and natural selection relate to the web development process. It is suggested that it is wise to encourage designers to create many quick and dirty designs over many short intervals. This is in contrast to asking designers to create a lower number of better designs over fewer intervals. The ideas of failure, prototyping, usability testing, and iterative design are explored. http://tc.eserver.org/19028.html http://tc.eserver.org/19028.html Data indicate that usability offers a better return on investment than almost any other business action. When times get rough, usability shines. The benefits are huge. Usability is a weapon that can save you money, improve your competitive position, and improve customer loyalty. Now is the time to invest in the research. http://tc.eserver.org/13739.html http://tc.eserver.org/13739.html For example, it is often stated as if it was almost a law of nature that the faster pages download, the more usable the site was. But when we actually compared the usability of sites to their download times, we didn't see any correlations. None, zero, zip. If this 'fact' was true, we should've seen something. To go farther, we found that when we asked users to rate the speed of a site, that didn't correlate to the actual download time either. Instead, the perceived speed of the site correlated strongly to whether they completed their tasks! This tells us that, when users are complaining about download time, they probably aren't actually talking about the download time, but about their ability to complete tasks. http://tc.eserver.org/13738.html http://tc.eserver.org/13738.html Our most striking finding is how bad web sites are in general. We have yet to find a site where, if you choose questions at random based on information the developers have placed on the site, users can find the answers more than 50% of the time. (The best we've found is 42% of the time.)