ned23 - 'done and dusted'

well, this blog is finished as at 4.00pm EST today, the 25th May 2007, so I am just signing off officially... I am on to ned24 next study period, and I hope that I enjoy that unit as much as this one...I actually dont have a clue at this stage what it is about... I had a great bunch of classmates this time around, and a good tutor that kept it fun...and interesting at the same time...so Ciao for now...

Keith has left the building...

Should links be Underlined

An interesting article by Beth Martin can be found at http://www.usability.gov/pubs/052007news.html regarding 'Should Links be Underlined... her conclusion is:

'Links should be organized and presented in such a way that users should be able to intuit "clickability." The specific solution, underlined or not, is less important than consistently using one or the other. For example, if no underlining is preferred, this can be accomplished with (unlinked) bulleted text below a title with blue text.' (Martin, B.2007)

Now that makes perfect sense to me...Usability is Consistency...

Improve Usability with Friendly URL'S

More research - a good idea, which I will incorporate into my ned23A4...can be found at http://builder.com.com/5100-6371_14-6183568.html

As a gateway to everything on the Web, URLs form an important part of the user experience. One of the many issues bandied about by Web developers is providing user-friendly URLs that are both friendly to the eyes and the fingers while typing. This article explores the issues surrounding this subject and some possible solutions. (Patton,T. 2007)

However, methinks someone should have addressed their own url first,... what's up with '... com.com/whole bunch of no's and hyphen, underscore, hyphen ... or am I being nitpicky...

Google Search Rankings

hmmm...interesting,.. on a whim, whilst waiting for a download, I decided to google 'ned23' and... as of today's date, I appeared at positions 1, 2, 6 & 9 on the first page of results. A little scary really when you have the responsibility of potentially being read by just about anyone... I continually post under the illusion that only the course tutor and classmates will have access... but of course that is not the case. All the more reason to edit my own posts, I suppose...

Alternate Plans

I have had to make alternate plans for the screenrecording - after the failure of certain software...luckily, would you believe good ol' Woolies had Canon video camera's on special for $396.00... yes only VHS, but still...it gets the job done. Also a package arrived from software author today,..it is the installation cd for the errant software,.. but I will muck around with that little problem later.
When my 'lappy' started playing up after downloading new software, I could connect certain other issues to this problem... but when my perfectly good lappy battery went out all of a sudden, I mistakenly tried to connect it to the other problems... just shows you can learn something from all those medical dramas, like 'House' (good show)... and it was not another symptom at all...it was completely unrelated... so new battery is charging up, vhs tape is loaded, and shooting tests tomorrow...better late than never...

Software Failure & System Crashes

I have had a torturous few days trying to get my software to 'play nice'... but it just aint happening... my screen recording software with which I intended to do my usability testing just went haywire... then, almost as if in sympathy, my normally fairly stable PC decided to crash & burn, (well the burn part was me)... at this point, and for the sake of brevity, my best guess, is that I have downloaded some corrupted system files... and the software company tends to agree with me... so now I have to wait for the cd to arrive, and then remove and re-install... my PC behaviour is like a virus, but two scans have revealed nothing... it is crashing repeatedly, and I have several programs being disabled, including my D:drive and my cd & dvd burning software, I have error messages I have never even seen before, and I thought I had seen them all... I have been able to edit some messy files of usability testing that I did manage to get done, and I have spliced it together and saved as an MS .avi file and am currently trying to upload to my ned23 website... please stay tuned...

Usability is Design

Still kicking on with A3 and usability testing, it is a very time consuming process complicated by other people's timetables and un/reliability... throw in the mix, finding the time to navigate new software needed for screentesting and trying to come up with something even slightly professional... never enuff time...
However, I came across a short blog entry titled, "Usability is Design"...from Mike Cherim, and a lot of it made sense... I think he has a site called the Green Beast or something... great slogan for a T-shirt too... so here is the link, http://green-beast.com/blog/?p=169

Numerals over Text

I recently came across this link to another good article...this is a short article outlining the theory of using numerals over text on webpages... I had often wondered which was the best practice... mainly because in the past I have been 'pinged' by tutors for using numerals 182 over text...in say an essay...so now I know the opposite is true for webpages. Apparently, "...numerals often stop the wandering eye and attract fixations, even when they're embedded within a mass of words that users otherwise ignore."
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/writing-numbers.html

Camtasia Studio

In my lead up research to completing this unit, I was made aware that we would need to do some video testing... and since my last video died a natural death, and I did not want to purchase another until I get just what I want...I started looking into screen capture software. I have been a long time user and big fan (read 'HUGE') of Techsmith's 'Snag-it' software, so naturally I had a look at (and purchased) Camtasia Studio... well I was rapt to find that in Reading Steve Krug's book on Usability, that he highly recommends it... I have been playing around with it, and it seems to be very user-friendly....but I have to get real serious soon as the A3 deadline looms...progress report soon...

Usability for Bloggers

In my ongoing Usability research I seem to come up with a lot of collateral links that are very handy and interesting reading... this one is from Tom Johnson, who has included in his blog a post on the top 'Twenty Usability Tips for your Blog'...can be found at http://www.idratherbewriting.com/2007/04/09/twenty-usability-tips-for-your-blog-%e2%80%94-condensed-from-dozens-of-bloggers-experiences/
there are some very good tips here for serious bloggers or even those new to the experience (not that there can be too many that fit into this category by now)...

Usability link

I came across a good link to an article that proved to be very interesting reading. It was in regard to usability testing and the way in which a little psychology can make it a more valuable and intuitive experience. It may be more than is necessary to know for fulfilling a Unit requirement, but it is interesting all the same. I prefer total honesty over some type of psychological manipulation...but that is just me... some of the ideas do make sense however... here is the link... http://www.uxmatters.com/MT/archives/000183.php

Progress Report

OK... thought I had better check in and give a status or progress report. In the last week or so I have accomplished quite a bit... I have finished reading the Krug book, 'Dont make me Think'.. what a well written book and so easy to read. It is full of simple ideas that make so much sense. Secondly, I can report that I finished and uploaded my Assignment 2 on time despite the Easter break. I am only 80% happy with it, so I figure that gives me about a 60-70% grade.(We'll see) Thirdly, I uploaded my website usability questionnaires from webct, module 4, in relation to several websites. In an effort to display these for easy reading, I have uploaded them to my companion website at: http://www.users.bigpond.com/keith.riley/ned23.html
they are located on the right hand side of website as hyperlinks, I have also uploaded them to my student presentation area on webct. Finally, I have made a start on Assignment 3, which is quite involved. Interestingly, at the start of this unit I purchased and downloaded Camtasia Studio from Techsmith, as I have been a long time user and fan of 'Snag-it'... and Krug gives it a huge plug in his book, especially the advanced version titled 'Morae' from memory... well, no rest for the wicked, ...

Optional Excercise

Part of the optional excercise listed on Webct is to arrange a variety of shapes in some sort of hierarchical structure. The images were to be various shapes, textures, colors and brightness. I have already completed this excercise in NED12. just last study period, and as this is just listed as an optional excercise, I have only posted one new version in this format.
I have hopefully formatted this page to show the European trend of starting top left corner, scanning across and then down. Admittedly, I probably could have used more 'whitespace' but was skimping to save room. Also I think I was emulating a newsprint format which does not display as much 'whitespace' as say a web design etc...

Understanding Visual Organization

Came across a good article by Luke Wrobleski that has a lot of the main concepts of good visual organization condensed into the one brief article. There is an interesting section that explains how we see visual relationships. The principles of gestalt are something I studied during VIS18s. (see image)

'Whenever we attempt to make sense of information visually, we first observe similarities and differences in what we are seeing. These relationships allow us to not only distinguish objects but to give them meaning. For example, a difference in color implies two distinct objects (or different parts of the same object), a difference in scale suggests one object is further from us than the other, a difference in texture (one is more blurry) enforces this idea, and so on. Once we have an understanding of the relationships between elements, we can piece together the whole story and understand what we are seeing.' (http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/visible_narratives
_understanding_visual_organization)

Visual Hierarchy

Whilst researching visual hierarchy, I thought I would try to google the World's best-designed newspapers - and up she popped. There is a website that showcases some of the world's best designs and layouts and they are awarded prizes. It is located at: http://www.newsdesigner.com/archives/002113.php there are some excellent examples of page structure and the principles of visual hierarchy. There is a long list of graphic examples that can easily be viewed.

The Presidential Website

Visual hierarchy

In reading Krug chapter 3, dealing with the conventions associated with visual hierarchy, it is easy to see how these visual prompts can lead the viewer, both in print form and websites. The two papers that are featured (see pic) are good examples of this as they are two leading journals in the States.
Reading on in chapter 3, I was intrigued at the mention of Senator Hatch's site V's the website of the Pres. as far as usability goes...so obviously I had to take a look. Hatch's page can be found at http://www.orrinhatch.com
and the Pres's page can be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/
It was very interesting to see both sites and make the comparison. I think that Hatch was correct about the official Whitehouse site having a distinct lack of visual hierarchy.

some great resources

In my research for A2 I have come across a couple of ripper links for not only my assignment but for my browser bookmarks for future use... you can never have too many good links... the first is a site for all things 'usability', it has comprehensive cover and can be found at:http://www.usabilityfirst.com/websites/design.txl
I have also posted this to the webct db for my classmates..
link number 2 is a great site for referencing copyright issues. I have several sites like this in my bookmarks, but I recognized that this one covers the issues comprehensively and in plain english...I have also posted this one to webct db...
it can be found at: http://www.benedict.com/ ...back soon...

Update on questionnaire

well, I have finally stolen ten minutes to report on my progress...I have sent out my questionnaire and after some technical difficulties with MSWord'07 successfully posted it to the ned23 db... most of the problems have been compatibility issues with file formats and differing programs... but this is also topical because poor compatibility leads to inadequate usability... already had a dozen or so responses and appreciate my classmates and even tutor's response... have tried to answer several of my classmates 'Q's' as well... still madly trying to catch up with my reading of Krug's book...would only take 2 hours to go from cover to cover but as usual 'life gets in the way'... also reading the ned23 modules, my market research tutorial, the returned questionnaire's, and trying to at least get the formatting ready for my ned23A2pdf that will be due before I know it... so I wont waffle on here any longer...back to the books.

logo for website

above is the existing logo for OUSA, and the new one that I created... after a lengthy design process with a selection panel it was put to a vote from students...the inspiration was for the new logo to be modern, relaxed, and a little 'funky'. As other designer's will know, you are never quite happy with the end result...you always feel you could do better, but at the end of the day you need to move on to bigger and more important issues. I think that it is only once people become familiar with and accustomed to a new logo that it truly becomes branded.For example a red tick was... just a red tick, until Nike got a hold of it and the public did the rest.

OUSA West Midlands

This is the screenshot of the OUSA from West Midlands in the UK. The url for viewing is: http://www.ousa-west-midlands.co.uk/ and finally a link to the OUSA in Frankfurt which has on its homepage the links for all the OUSA's in Europe and the UK, which is well worth a look. The headquarters has a particularly nice looking corporate style structure and design. Here is the link: http://www.ousa-frankfurt.de/links/

OUSA Italy

This screenshot is of the OUSA in Italy and the url for viewing is: http://www.geocities.com/ousaitaly/

OUSA Luxembourg

Well, I have taken screenshots of the 3 or 4 competing websites for usability testing and critiquing as per study outline. The above screenshot is of the OUSA in Luxembourg and the url for viewing is: http://www.ousalux.info/

my website topic

Well I have chosen the website I will be using as a subject. It is the OUSA student association website. It can be found at: http://www2.open.edu.au/ousaa/
I have included a screenshot with callouts that point to the most obvious deficiencies. One of the most obvious is the uncontrolled 'whitespace'. If you visit the site you will notice that the blue header area and the white area to the left, container for the nav links, are actually fixed in position and do not scroll with the page. I have three other Uni student association sites for usability testing and critiquing, which I will include in the next post complete with links. I have completed a 'rough' of my questionnaire and I will post a copy to my website with links to it from this blog. In my research, I have been noticing that a lot of usability issues arise from a lack of communication in many areas...I refer to the following article, http://www.uie.com/articles/usability_tests_learn/

Market Research & Questionnaire

Module 2.2 Practice: Well I have read the preface, foreword, introduction, Chapter1 and Chapter 2 of Steve's book...now I am on to module 2.2 and reading my selected tutorial on Market Research & designing a questionnaire. I was hoping to find a University site for my research, but in the end I used some of the usability guidelines I have been learning to select my research sites. For Market Research I have chosen the following site: http://www.marketresearchworld.net/
and for designing a questionnaire I have chosen:
http://www.fao.org/docrep/W3241E/w3241e05.htm
so I will report my findings once I get my research underway.

Dont Make me Think

Started reading Steve's book on usability - a very comfortable style of writing, and quite enjoyable for a unit text...makes a nice change.

For mine, the conclusion to the first chapter is, "...the main reason why it's important not to make people think is that most people are going to spend far less time looking at the pages we design than we'd like to think." (Krug.2006)pp19.

and after chapter 2, my new designers mantra is, "If your audience is going to act like your designing billboards, then design great billboards." (Krug.2006)pp.29.

I think this book is going to be invaluable...

Class discussion #2

Ten things I hate most about the web:
these may seem a little abstract in terms of usability, but they
reflect honesty, and thinking outside the circle,
1/ Eye strain   (believe it or not, it goes to usability, poor design,
poor color theory etc etc)
2/ Sitting immobile too long   (pages, images taking too long to
load dont help)
3/ Pop-ups    4/Viruses    5/ Hackers
6/ Lack of Censorship   (This includes all forms of pornography
and extends to sites dedicated to the 'daily drearies' that some
people bother to memorialize on the web)
7/ Spyware and Adware
8/Security    (some sites are like Fort Knox,...password, pin,
secret question, username, log-in, sign-in, sign-up,...sadly it is
all necessary...I still hate it tho)
9/ Changeability    (just coined new word I think,...seriously tho,
who can keep up with the changes..it is almost impossible)
10/ That web pages will perhaps eventually be so automated
that designers and coders may be obsolete...  (my opinion only,
but is it heading that way??I dont know,.. I am merely asking
the question)
Five things I love about the web:
1/ Truly beautiful sites   (of the artsy, designer, graphic artist
ilk...think zengarden)
2/ Truly functional sites  (of the corporate style, snappy,
functional, crisp)
3/ Truly hi-tech sites  (of the technologically advanced style,
flash(y), not overdone)
4/ Accessability to all (anyone can use, anytime, anywhere, rich
or poor, tech savvy or not)
5/ Information availability  ( you can find out about anything, I
mean what would someone like Socrates, or Plato have said
about the W3 ??....)     

Usability definition

I really like this definition from webct:
Usability is the broad discipline of applying sound scientific observation, measurement, and design principles to the creation and maintenance of web sites in order to bring about the greatest ease of use, ease of learnability, amount of usefulness, and least amount of discomfort for the humans who have to use the system. (Pearrow 2000)

Class Discussion

Think about your own opinions on the usability of
products you use. What are your favourite products?
Why? VCRs? Mobile Phones? Other products? What
specific brands do you prefer? Why? Does their
usability have anything to do with your preferences?
How? Share your answers with the rest of the class
on WebCT's discussion board.

oh my god...where do I start... I could write a book
on this!! ..here goes...in a nutshell...
a few fave products in descending order:
1/ my camera(film), 2/ my camera(digital), 3/ my
laptop, 4/ my video camera, 5/ my mobile, 6/ my
ipod, I guess...
specific brands in same order: 1/Nikon F90X(film),
2/ CanonEOS400D(digital), 3/ my laptop Compaq
Presario R8000V IP4, 4/  Sony DVD/Hard Drive,
5/ Motorola V3RAZR, 6/ apple 30G Black LE ipod
in my choices, I do my research before I buy, and
usability is my first concern...and I realize that in
my choices branding directly relates to usability
and therefore choice...unfortunately branding also
directly relates to exorbitant prices...especially
here in Australia...just take a trip to the states
or Japan and see what they are paying for state of
the art electronics and gadgets etc...

My ned23 scrapbook

Welcome to my blog for the unit ned23, undertaken at Curtin University whilst completing the BA in Internet Studies. This blog will be linked with one of my web sites for the same subject. It can be found at http://www.users.bigpond.com/keith.riley/ned23.html
Occasionally, I may need to refer certain items to this web site, but I will clarify this as the need arises. Back soon.