Re: the Nielsen book (was: Modern Contemporary Web Site)

----- Original Message -----
From: <MauraZebra(at)aol.com>
To: <macruimmon(at)earthlink.net>; <Isabel.Hay(at)icl.com>; <hwg-style(at)hwg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2001 9:49 PM
Subject: Re: the Nielsen book (was: Modern Contemporary Web Site)


> A second reason for buying his book is that it gives you ammunition for
> arguments with your customer about your proposed design.  You may need a
few
> statistics when arguing with customer about why her picture, which does
not
> hide a link or convey info, should not be  positioned on the site's prime
> real estate.

All of which is -- or at least should be -- common sense.  I always find it
more than a little amusing when people get placed on pedestals for revealing
magical truths that make most of use scratch our heads and say,,,, "well, I
knew that... why didn't *I* write the book and make all the money??.. oh,
that's right.. I'm too busy building websites...."

It all boils down to the same few golden rules
- know your site's message
- know your audience
- know how your audience is going to access your site's message

you don't need flashing lights and an orchestrated soundtrack if you're
publishing instructions for making a peanut butter sandwich, or a 1024x800
image on a site where 85% of visitors are running 800x600 res.

"Does it annoy me to try to get the message out of this site?" is often the
best usability test there is.

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