After his now infamous (and totally fair) October, 2000 column, Flash: 99% Bad, usability dude Jakob Nielsen and his Nielsen Norman Group, are joining up with MacroMedia to help product usability guidelines for Flash developers (see the press release).
Jakob cites usability improvements in the tools, such as a common set of UI controls and the restored functionality of the browser's Back button.
This is obviously more about PR for MacroMedia than usability, but I'm curious to see the results of the Nielsen Norman Group's research.
I was also unable to link directly to Jakob's post about this news on his site UseIt.com, since he doesn't have permanent links for news posts. In related criticism, CNet says of Jakob's UseIt.com site:
"...no wonder Nielsen thinks people won't spend any time reading Web sites. His site makes me feel like I'm in the bathroom."
Ouch. Fair criticism though - I'd love to have a day with UseIt.com. I can think of a zillion little visual improvements that would improve the esthetics and the usability of the site.
Comments
Kirby - June 4, 2002 10:58 am
Does Jakob Nielsen really know anything? Sure, his heart's in the right place, but does he make sense?
Nublog has a long tradition of Nielsen bashing.
Steven Garrity - June 4, 2002 12:19 pm
Nice to hear from you Kirby - As for Jakob, I know he knows a good intranet when he sees it. Beyond that, I would encourage people to read his books and read his critics - both make good points. I'll even lend you his books (if you happen to be on PEI).
Stephen - June 5, 2002 10:29 am
I agree. His books were well worth the read even if you don't agree with everything he believes. Some of it may seem like common sense but many of the small details he talks about can be overlooked very easily and often.
Although I personally dont agree with everything he says in his books, there are some issues he points out that I wish more websites would adopt.
Zak - June 19, 2002 8:46 pm
Nielsen has sold out. No matter. However, Steven, I must say that to support the efforts of people to get software makers to create products that respect standards *and* to ra-ra for Flash is to be a hypocrite - Flash is a proprietary technology and until it is open should not be advanced as worthy of use on the web.
Cheers
Zak
Zak - June 19, 2002 8:49 pm
Oops. Apologies Steven, I somehow misread your opening line - "After his now infamous (and totally fair)..." as "After his now infamous (and totally <i>un</i>fair)..." :(
Obviously my above post is meaningless when you don't mis-read things! Again, I'm sorry...