“King of usability” questions effect of Web 2.0
May 14th, 2007
I read on BBC news this morning that Jakob Nielsen believes the essentials of good design are being overlooked through the eagerness of web firms to implement Web 2.0 technologies.
I alluded to this in my comment in a recent post regarding the recently launched boo.com and that I felt the implementation of certain AJAX functionality had detracted from the user experience. Mr Nielsen also comments “They should get the basics right first,” and “Sadly most websites do not have those primary things right.”
Funnily enough, although, not particularly suprising, the writer cites a reference to the original boo.com regarding Mr. Nielsen’s warning of a return to the dotcom boom days, as an example of a site that looked great but was not easy to use.
AJAX is a development method for creating interactive web applications and can lead to more reactive browsing and contextual content. The prime examples are the multitude of flight fare aggregators that use AJAX to provide a fast user experience when sorting through flights without the browser reloading.
Implemented well and the enhanced user experience may well be a factor in a site visitor switching loyalty to a different travel company, however, it is important not to lose sight of the principles of usability design.
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May 14th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Very true. I am reminded a lot about the beginnings of flash based sites where functionality definitely came second when I look at some of the “cool” Ajax sites around. Granted, it makes a lot of things possible but it is crucial to get the basics right.
May 15th, 2007 at 12:57 am
Granted usability is important. Having said that, the key measurement of success is conversion in whatever form a site owner defines it. There is always a risk that new software is overused gratuitously to enhance the geek factor as in the early days of flash.
There are so many sites with different objectives out there that it’s not easy to define common usability criteria any longer. Also, there are certain search maximizations that actually reduce usability but might increase the commercial return.
Tough decisions to make for a site owner / developer / designer and my guess is there’s not one rule that applies across the board.
It AJAX improves the conversion then it’s advisable to use it.
May 16th, 2007 at 9:41 am
Peter, thanks for dropping by and agree, certainly reminiscent of the trigger happy flash days…
Good points Joe – along with usability improvements, AJAX can increase the interactivity and speed of a site, all of which can give a site an edge over a competitor and increase the conversion rate.
Agree that certain AJAX interfaces may not follow particular usability principles (cross-browser compatibility, problems for visually impaired users and lack of expected page refreshes) but still increase the total conversions, providing tangible benefits to a larger percentage of site visitors.
My thought is how AJAX has been integrated on the new boo.com and and in particular, the accommodation search element. I think many users will not find this particularly intuitive and in some part because of basic usability being overlooked. I’m sure improvements in this and contingency design will increase customer loyalty and improve the rate of conversions.
I came across this quote from Ray Nolan, the CEO of boo.com, “If it works, who knows how many zeros you can add to our valuation. And even if it doesn’t work, we enjoyed making it.” A refresing take and with the amount of effort gone into the site and much of it treading on new ground I hope it works out!
May 16th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Well Web 3.0 is around the corner. Check out this interesting definition by Sramana Mitra, silicon valley entrepreneur and strategist. Web 3.0 = (4C + P + VS).
June 1st, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Dominic,
I don’t know if Web 2.0 Web Sites are usable or not but I’m sure that the content generated by users of Web 2.0 Web Sites allow the Sites themselves to be more and more usefull.
First of all for that 90% of users that (Nielsen says) don’t give their contribution!
Do you agree ?
June 4th, 2007 at 9:44 am
Hi Marco,
Thanks for the comment. Good use of web 2.0 technology can certainly help and selective use of AJAX can enhance usability. See this example for filtering through a large number of products down to few without the page reloading – http://www.amazon.com/gp/gsl/search/finder?productGroupID=loose_diamonds
You could imagine a lot of form submitting without something like this! Another one is auto suggestions – see Kayak.com as an example. As users begin to enter an airport AJAX is used to suggest possible names below the text field.
Yes, I agree, although a large number of users do not give their views or upload their own content, the user generated content is great for consumers on the whole, giving them more information and consumer feedback on which to help make their decisions.
June 4th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Thank you Dominic for your reply!
I’ve just posted on my blog about this interesting topic.
Ciao