The Page ParadigmThis pattern repeats, and applies to the user ALL OF THE TIME. The interesting part of this is that the end result is that users don't care about where “Content should live”, but rather if they can get to that said content. Or whatever the goal for the user is. (I'd bet that 99.9% of the time, it's getting that content). So the bottom line is that you had damn-well-better make it easy to get the user to his/her/it's goal. It's a good article. It stresses some really basic usability principles, ones that people can easily overlook. (I know that I've overlooked it at times.)
On any given Web page, users will either...
- click something that appears to take them closer to the fulfillment of their goal,
- or click the Back button on their Web browser.
Tagged As Info Architecture, Interaction Design, Usability
Comments are Open (3)
Posted at 07:39 AM
Comments
eliot
Watching my mom or dad on webpage reminds me that important things need to be BIG and have lots of whitespace so they stand out. Carefully-laid out navigation is completely wasted most of the time.
Posted by: eliot | February 23, 2004 10:28 PM
Tony
Hey Eliot. Nice to see you here again. Seems like it's been a little while.
One of the things I always find myself doing is using my grandmother as a gauge when desiging a solution/site/etc. My mind is always asking is SHE could use it.
Posted by: Tony | February 24, 2004 07:01 AM
eliot
Yup, that's an excellent plan. Being around reasonably technically-minded folks all the time makes you forget that some people haven't a clue about web navigation. Watching someone from another generation is very beneficial to wipe away notions of "well, everyone knows that".
Yeah, with Christmas break and then my blog being down for a few weeks, I kind of disappeared from the web. I'm just now getting back into the habit of reading blogs again. NetNewsWire is helping out with that!
Posted by: eliot | February 25, 2004 03:00 AM