RE: another Acrobat question or three

Subject: RE: another Acrobat question or three
From: "Richard Smith" <Richard -dot- Smith -at- windriver -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 16:02:45 -0700

> Granted, he wasn't the only one doing usability
> work at Sun - there were others who simply didn't
> get as much ink as he Nielsen did - but he had a
> major role in getting Sun to the head of the pack.


Sun is the head of the usability Pack?

I'd say Sun's employment of what it learns from usability testing is kinda
spotty. I have an Ultra 5 that has the worst, most unusable GUI (I'm talking
CDE here) that I've ever seen. It's pathetic. I'd even go so far as to say
CDE makes the system less usable than a command line UI! It's that bad.

OTOH, the Javadoc integration, format, and Java core documentation from Sun
is quite good. Although Java apps are slow as molasses. I think the way Sun
has committed to making documentation an integral and functional part of
Java has raised the bar for API doc usability in general.

I have a Sun Style guide that I really like, but several Sun books that are
awful.

I'd hafta say I'm not sold on the idea that Sun is a usability leader.

--
Richard



> Subject: Re: another Acrobat question or three
>
>
> J Bailey wrote:
>
> > <Neilson (a self-proclaimed usability expert) frequently makes
> statements
> > (like this one) that are unsubstantiated by hard data.>
> >
> > I agree. I was just pointing it out.
> >
> > Publish a book and you're an expert. I've looked at Neilsen's books and
> > don't care for them. But, people do take his advice, so it's
> something to
> > consider. I've had people complain about reading pdf's online.
>
> Geez! Neilson happens to have been the lead player in Sun Microsystem's
> much-vaunted Usability Labs for a number of years. Dismissing
> his findings as
> "unsubstantiated by hard data" is to discount the years of research - both
> academic and hands-on - that led to the development of Sun's
> current usability
> standards. Granted, he wasn't the only one doing usability work
> at Sun - there
> were others who simply didn't get as much ink as he Nielsen did -
> but he had a
> major role in getting Sun to the head of the pack.
>
> Elna Tymes
> Los Trancos Systems


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