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.