Usability

["Christensen, Kent" <lkchris -at- sandia -dot- gov>]

Jakob Nielsen's latest Alertbox
(http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20010204.html) covers usability and addresses
the notions "(1) we select stupid users for usability studies; our findings
do not apply to smarter users; (2) our recommendation to make simplicity a
major design goal stems from our misguided view that all users are stupid.
In reality, they claim, many users are capable of navigating complex sites;
and (3) some people are so stupid that technology is beyond their grasp;
making websites easy enough for everyone to navigate is an unrealistic
goal."

While the article obviously addresses *website* usability, I'd offer it's
quite relevant to any form of technical writing.  I like Nielsen's work but
have no other relationship to it.  While this list experiences many
recurring threads, the notion of usability testing has not, in my view, been
very thoroughly discussed here.  Perhaps this is the opportunity.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Develop HTML-Based Help with Macromedia Dreamweaver 4 ($100 STC Discount)
**WEST COAST LOCATIONS** San Jose (Mar 1-2), San Francisco (Apr 16-17)
http://www.weisner.com/training/dreamweaver_help.htm or 800-646-9989.

Sponsored by DigiPub Solutions Corp, producers of PDF 2001 
Conference East, June 4-5, Baltimore/Washington D.C. area.
http://www.pdfconference.com or toll-free 877/278-2131. 

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit 
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.