Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Jacob Nielsen: User skills improving, but not much...

I've recommended subscribing to Jacob Nielsen's Alertbox before, but I would still like to recommend this months issue on web user skills.

Nielsen refutes the claim that users have now learned how to use advanced websites, so that simplicity isn't a requirement anymore. When testing he finds that users now do basic operations with confidence and perform with skill on sites they use often. But when users try new sites, well-known usability problems still cause failures.

Read the full article here. You can subscribe to e-mail alert to new issues of his Alertbox here.

1 comment:

brindis said...

I fully agree. I did not do any testing, but user experience should be (as in most usable things) the first issue.
With more giggles and gadgets and toys to put in a page, with less time per page for the reader, design and performance is needed more than ever.
Personally, I prefer pages with clear design, separate and easy to identify areas (headlines, in-depth articles, menus, search, links) and few "moving" things.
Time IS money.