Disclaimer – Despite the fact that I first learned personal computing as it exists today via an Apple, I have long since drifted away from Mac as my preferred computing format.  I switched to Windows OS in college, but tried to return to Mac in 2008.  I did not enjoy the experience, finding it too restrictive.  That said, I have been an iPhone user for nearly 2 years now (as I patiently await the release of Windows Mobile 7).

Travis, you ignorant slut.

While I do agree with you that the App Store is not working, I believe it’s because of a lack of options, not an overabundance.  Specifically, the lack of options and functionality surrounding search.  Perhaps I'm spoiled to the search functions of Microsoft products, such as Outlook, that give me options of what to search and how to search, but I find the App Store’s lone search box woefully lacking.  I have no opportunity to select options such as “show by rating,” “show by relevance,” “search only last 6 months,” “search only the utilities category” – you get the idea.  Granted, under individual categories, I have some options, but that doesn’t really help when I'm searching for a very specific app type.

Recently, I attempted to find a task list program for the iPhone that would allow me to use task lists on my iPhone.  (That’s right, non-iPhone users, there’s no native task list functionality on the platform.)   I wanted an app that allowed me to schedule recurrence, set a deadlines, use multiple lists, sync with Outlook, categorize, and send me reminders.  But all I could enter was one little search box.  With those criteria, the search data returned was maddening.  A little more than half of the results returned were actually focused on task lists, others included grocery lists, note taking apps, and even a sketching app or two .  I tried a variety of search terms such as “business task list,” “outlook task list, “ and “selectable task list.”  No dice.

Thusly I began the arduous task of wading through all the options out there.  I wanted to read other users’ reviews, but I didn’t want to restrict myself to only checking out the apps that popped up first in the list.  But reading reviews after selecting “show me 25 more” multiple times is exasperating.  After finishing a reviews for a specific app, the App Store returns the user back to the initial list of 25.  Heaven forbid you’ve made it down to app #210 – you’ll wind up selecting “show me 25 more 8 times before getting back to where you left off!  Argh!  Had I been able to better whittle down my search by specific criteria, I could have saved hours.

Now I know, Travis, that you oppose the free apps, but after my experience, I say thank goodness for the free options.  Most quality developers provide a free mini version of their apps, so I was able to try a dozen or so before actually paying for anything.  I would have been furious if I'd had to pay even 99 cents for every app I tried.  Yes, the iBeer app and others like it are pointless.  But remember, this is not a business phone (or it would have a native task list app), but a general purpose phone.  That means frat boys are going to want their Virtual Lighter app, teenage girls will want their Hairstyle app, and someone with too much time on their hands will want the More Toast! virtual toast app.

I know it will come as no shock to you, Travis, that I can’t stand the Apple “we know best” way of thinking.  I totally understand that it makes some people feel safe and comfortable, but the last time I tried owning a Mac, I nearly went out of my mind not being able to customize my computer the way I wanted to use it.  

 (And for those who are curious, I wound up buying and trying 3 different apps over the course of 2 months before finally giving up altogether.  Now I use a combination of Outlook’s task lists and Post-its.)

Disclaimer- I have been an Apple user since my childhood. I have been using Macs exclusively since 2001, and I don’t plan on ever going back to Windows … ever.

After finally moving to the iPhone, I can now talk intelligently on the iTunes App Store, and more specifically tell your why it is not working.

The App Store is the antithesis of Apple. Apple is providing a platform, the iPhone, and allowing anyone to create software to run on the platform. The App Store represents the “Microsoft-ing” of the iPhone platform. This is exactly how Windows has been operating for decades. Since its inception Apple has been providing a limited product line-up, which they control from creation to retail, with a “we know how to innovate” attitude. This attitude is highlighted in this article where Steve Jobs admits that Apple doesn’t do market research, and essentially they could care less what their customers have to say. This attitude might not be the best, but many people are excited about the innovative products Apple creates. With the App Store, the control to innovate is being taken away from Apple and given to the masses.

There are many reasons why I enjoy living in Apple’s world, not least of which is I am tired of having to make so many decisions about electronics. People have too many important daily decisions to make about food, shelter, and transportation that they really don’t need to be deciding on which of 12 video cards they should buy. For example, I have been looking to buy an HDTV for the better part of 2 years. I know the specs, I have the cash, but there are too many choices, and the choices keep changing. It is too much for me to take. People say they want as many choices as possible, that they don’t want to be fenced in, and they want options. This, friends, is simply not true. People only say they want options so they can shift blame to the choices, and away from their ability to choose correctly. “I thought this was going to be the best HDTV, but there are too many choices; how was I supposed to know?” This mindset is more of a defense mechanism than a true ideological stance.

The Apps Store brings too many choices to the iPhone. To make matters worse, gathering information on all these apps to make an informed decision is practically impossible. Let’s try an experiment. Please search for a utilitarian app, something that serves a purpose and the iPhone is perfect for: a grocery list app. I’ll wait … for those of you without iPhones here is a screenshot of what you get.

In total there are 112 apps that come up when you search for “grocery list.” Admittedly, some of the apps are not relevant, but the majority of they are. How do I know which one is the best? Apple used to tell me what was the best, or at least there were only one or two options. Now Apple makes me wade through dozens of apps and go through a clunky download process to see if I will like the app. And because there are so many apps, I am always wondering, “Well is there another app that is a little better out there?” Now I have to think about which grocery store app to use, and not something more important, like feeding my dog – which I am sure there is an app for, but how do I know it is the best one for my dog and me? Will I ever know?

Now some of you might be thinking about the App Store approval process, where each app is carefully screened, and only the good ones make it. (Warning, from here on all links will open in iTunes) To that I would say, “Raspberries!” There is an app in the App Store called “Hold On.” It is an app that records how long you can hold down a button, and it now has multiplayer functionality via Bluetooth (no, seriously).

Really? This was rigorously approved? Come on … and let’s not even talk about all the flatulence apps. So in the spirit of offering solutions with my complaints, here is what I think should happen:

1) Apple should create more apps in-house. This will allow them to continue to innovate, and create better apps for their platform.

2) All apps should be $.99 or more. The free apps are the heaviest weight pulling Apple into the mud. If the application is good enough, people will buy it.

3) Focus apps to match the strengths of the iPhone, portability, multi-touch, accelerometer, geo-location, and the Internet. The iBeer app does not really leverage any of these strengths well.

In conclusion, Apple – please stop pandering to the masses. I know the revenue is nice, but you were already a successful company and the iPhone already has a HUGE profit margin. The iPhone has gotten you into more houses than ever, but is this really the company you want to be keeping? You are who you associate with, and I can’t see this going anywhere good. You have been warned …

Content.  Such a pleasant little noun – sitting there all passive and non-threatening, right?  Just try to create all the content for your web-based project, and see how non-threatening it is.  I’ve seen grown men in the throes of a website re-development project weep at the mention of content delivery.  

Content delivery has got to be the number 1 stumbling block for web projects.  It seems easy – you know your product, your company, your service.  The user testing and information architecture have already told you how it needs to be organized – you just need to write it down.  Why not save on your budget by doing it yourself?  Simple.  

Two weeks later, you’re knee-deep in re-written drafts, chasing 12 other team members who owe you information, and pulling your hair out by the roots.  Not fun.  

Content creation is tough.  It’s time-consuming, detail-focused, and research-heavy.  Just because someone runs a fantastic business and knows every in and out of that business doesn’t mean that that person is qualified to put all their knowledge into words.  

If you’re thinking of writing content for your web-based project, consider these issues first:

1. Time –  How much free time do you have right now?  Do you want to start spending that free time writing web copy?  For every page of text on a website, you can assume about 2-4 hours of a professional web copywriter’s time went into research, writing, and editing.  Non-professionals can easily double that.  Take a moment and put a price tag on your time and your team’s time before you decide to write it all internally.
   
   
2. Objectivity – It’s tough to write about yourself.   It’s the same when trying to write about your business.  You know everything about it, so naturally, when you start writing, you start communicating everything.  Your target audience doesn’t want to know everything.  They want to know enough, not be inundated by information.  Can you be objective enough to know what to cut and what to keep?
   
   
3. Tightening your writing – Tuitive’s benchmark statement on writing for the web is “write down what you think needs to be said, then cut it in half, then cut it in half again.”  The copy for your web project needs to be simple and informative.  Readers should be able to scan for the information they want and move through the site quickly and intuitively.  Do you know what keywords your readers are really seeking?
   
   
4. Search engine optimization (SEO) – Do you know how to optimize your content to be maximally enticing to search engines?  How about writing header tags?  Entering alt text?  Setting up 301 redirects?  Are you sure you’re not doing something that will get your blacklisted?  Google pays mathematicians truckloads of money to create search algorithms, and SEO companies spend truckloads of money figuring ways to manipulate those algorithms.  Take advantage of their knowledge.  We do.

Knowing  what information is appropriate for a project and the most effective way to present that information is an art form, not something that can be dashed off in a few hours.  Anyone considering a new web-based project should carefully consider the short-term expense of paying a professional copywriter vs. the long-term costs of “doing it yourself.”  Leave it to the professionals.

Tuitive will be at the Fifth Annual World Usability Day this Thursday, 11/12/09, at the IUPUI Student Center (map). Online registration is now closed, but walk-in registrations are welcome.

The schedule for the day:

• 8 – 9 a.m.:  Registration and posters set up 
• 9 – 9:50 a.m.:  “Usability challenges for a ‘paperless’ office” By Ken Schockman
• 10 – 10:50 a.m.: Two parallel sessions
  • Session A: “Ecological psychology:  How to persuade people to act sustainably” by Suzi Shapiro, PhD
  • Session B: “Introduction to Usability” by Richard Bellaver
• 11 – 11:50 a.m.: “Usability Tools” by Mike Miserendino
• Noon:  Lunch and drawings for prizes (including usability books donated by Pearson Publishing)
• 12:30 – 1:20 p.m.: Keynote address “Sustainability & Usability in Indiana Architecture” by Rod Collier
• 1:30 – 2:20 p.m.: “State of the State:  Usability in Indiana” panel discussion including Tony Faiola, PhD, Travis Smith, and Mark Larew, PhD
• 2:30 – 3:20 p.m.:  Indiana UPA Chapter Forum

Hope to see you there!

More information is available at the Indiana Usability Professionals Association website: http://indiana-upa.org/ind_wud2009.html.

Everyone wants to connect to their users on the web. Share their expertise, and position themselves as competent professionals. We use social media, e-marketing and blogs to share our ideas with users. Here at Tuitive we have a Twitter account (@tuitive if you must know) and we fire out short links to great information on the web on a fairly regular basis. Short, sweet, and out the door. No editing or thinking about how the tweets will affect our SEO. We just fire them out there as we find cool stuff we want to share. We also have a blog, which you are reading right now, by the way… we can see everything you are doing…creepy…. (muahaha!).

Any who…

Why is it so hard for people and companies to blog? I started thinking about this when I could not think of anything to blog about. Then I realized that is precisely the problem. You should not have to think of anything to blog. You should simply be chronicling things that are happening to you in your life and work. There should be no fiction or polishing in blogs (except for spell check, of course). Blogs are a visceral and dynamic way of publishing content in a quick and easy manner. People actually want to hear about new things you learn along the way. The more you stare at that curser trying to think of something to write, the less real your blog is.

So what does this mean for you gentle reader?

First, don't force the blog.

Second, for the love of god don't apologize for not blogging, simply because you have nothing to write. Instead get out there and explore the big, beautiful world and then tell people about what you learned. 

Third, don't wait for something spectacular to happen to you so you can blog about it. Live your life and share your experiences and knowledge with your readers as they happen. We are not trying to save the world here, we are just trying to share knowledge, and help others understand our unique experiences.

Until next time, keep it usable Internets.

Hey everybody!

Tuitive is going to the 2009 Masters of Business Online conference, Wednesday, October 21, 2009. The MBO is an all-day session of great speakers that will teach you how to create an effective blend of online marketing tactics to reach your customers and increase sales.

Make sure to stop us and say hi! If you don’t know what we look like, check out our about us page.

Hope to see you there.

Tuitive

When: Wednesday, October 21, from 8:30am - 4:30pm

Where: Ritz Charles
12156 N Meridian Street
Carmel, IN 46032 (map)

Breakfast and lunch will be provided. Register with this link. For more information, see the 2009 MBO website.

Technology does not operate in a vacuum. The value of your website, corporate intranet, and internal business applications will not be determined by the designers and developers, but by the users. The users - the PEOPLE - will decide how often they want to use your intranet…purchase from your website…leverage your portal. Give them an easy, intuitive experience and you will likely see them come back for more. Give them a frustrating, time-consuming experience and you will struggle to achieve the website conversion or system adoption that you desire.

Enter Ambassador Solutions and Tuitive – two firms who get IT. Two firms who understand that while solid technology and robust visual design are vital, those efforts are in vain if not properly harnessed for the benefit of the often-forgotten element in technology endeavors: the human being

Join us for a complimentary event on September 22 to learn about the benefits of user-centered…HUMAN-centered…design, and what it can mean to the success of your projects. We are also holding a complimentary luncheon after the presentation to offer you a great opportunity for further discussion and networking. At the event, we will show you how a user-centered design process can help you:

• Cut time to market in half
• Reduce project cost by more than 30%
• Ensure the application has all the features needed by the business users
• Dramatically improve customer experience
• Get software projects done in half the time

Register Now

Details
Date: September 22, 2009
Time: 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Location: Gene B. Glick Junior Achievement Center
7435 North Keystone Avenue
Indianapolis, Indiana 46240-3247

Agenda
9:00 – 9:30 AM: Registration and refreshments
9:30 – 10:30 AM: Human-Friendly Design…A Proven Approach.
Jon Arnold, President - Tuitive
Travis Smith, User Experience Analyst - Tuitive
10:30 – 11:00 AM: Seeing is Believing. The benefits of VISUAL project requirements.
Kory Geyer, Solutions Strategist – Ambassador Solutions
11:00 – 11:30 AM: Before and After. A demonstration of visual requirements modeling in action.
Jason McIntosh, Senior Consultant – Ambassador Solutions
11:30 – 12:00 PM: Q&A, Surveys, Raffle
12:00 – 1:00 PM: Lunch and Networking

Register Now

For more information, contact Krista Sellery.

After spending a few days in Las Vegas recently, I began to notice that Las Vegas is built to overwhelm your senses, but not to allow you to actually accomplish anything meaningful. With this shocking realization I came up with 10 Las Vegas strategies that you should NOT use on a website.

1. Impossible navigation - Take some water and a GPS with you and I will see you in 2 days.
2. Overabundance of useless content - There is so much to see, but none of it really matters.
3. Noise - It is too loud to talk. Let’s leave or go towards the loudest thing we can find.
4. High cost of simple decisions - Bottled water should not cost $5.
5. Misdirection - You could win a car... but you won't.
6. Lies - Free isn't even free in Las Vegas

7. Bigger is better - TVs, cars, casinos, European landmarks, 70 oz. cocktails.

   

8. Shock and Awe - They have canals filled with water … inside a shopping mall … inside a casino.

   

9. Elvis and pirate ships - This is self-explanatory.
10. Shotgun marketing - When you target everyone, you hit no one.

These rules are certainly not enough to ensure a positive user experience, but they are a great place to start.

Until next time, keep it usable Internets... and the house ALWAYS wins.

When a client hires a company like us to do a project, user experience is usually seen as the deliverable from user research or user testing. It is a high-level requirement that is completed when we finish user research, and user testing.

User research, check. 

User testing, check.

User experience, check...hold on a minute.

User experience is not simply part of the process, it is the process and it really is a way of life. You can't turn it on and off. User Experience is very difficult to quantify and even harder to explain. User experience happens all around you, every decision that is made about a product, every idea that is manifested into a button– everything has an effect on your users’ experiences.

So, what exactly do I, and other user experience professionals, do all day?
Wouldn't you like to know? ... Here is the short version.

We try to ensure that everyone is aware and focused on the needs of the users; that the users' needs are at the core of whatever product we are trying to create. This need for the users to directly effect the foundation of a product is the main reason we need to learn as much possible about actual users as soon as possible.

How do you do that?
Everyone knows that just talking about something is not enough to convince people you are right. Especially if those people have a budget and a job they would like to keep.

We need to collect data.
We collect website analytics data to find out what people are doing. Then we pair the analytics data with data collected from stakeholder interviews and user research. This combination of data allows user experience professionals to communicate very clearly about who the users are, what the client thinks the users need, and what the users really want.  This amalgamation of data usually takes form as Personas, or fictional users whose needs and behaviors illustrate the real needs of your users. Using data in this way allows stakeholders to evaluate existing and potential issues on an objective level.

But this is really just the beginning. Once we have an initial insight into the users, it is up to all of us to continually refer to the users throughout the project. As the project moves along, we will learn more about users and how to better meet their needs. This focus on improving the users’ experience with our product is truly what User Experience is all about.

Until next time, keep it usable, Internets...and don't forget about the user.

I have to give credit where credit is due. I was inspired to write this post by Whitney Hess (@whitneyhess) on Mashable.com. Link to Mashable.com article - http://mashable.com/2009/01/09/user-experience-design/

As web power-users, things that often seem wildly obvious to us, can be just plain confusing to everyday users. Several years ago we made heavy use of Flash on a jewelry website redesign. We were quite careful to use Flash responsibly and created easy-to-see navigation on the page.

But after the site launched, we found that visitors thought they were looking at a dreaded Flash intro. Some even emailed the site owner asking where the “skip intro” button was. Inexplicably, very few people saw the rather large navigation buttons at the top of the page, which we so lovingly put in place.

Many got stuck.

Visitors fled.

Sales plummeted.

This behavior was the last thing we expected during design and development. But it was a valuable lesson learned: users rarely use a website or web application in the way we expect.

Usability testing for the cost of a pizza

That jewelry website lost a week of online sales before we fixed the problem with a simple, strategically placed “view jewelry” text link. I’ve always wondered how things would have gone had we employed some user testing before launching (or even building) the site.

What if we had simply ordered a pizza and had the pizza delivery boy browse the site? Maybe we would have seen the problem then.

What if we had invited our office neighbors over to devour the remaining slices? Maybe they would have uncovered this issue while trying to place an order.

Had we done either, we may have avoided a big headache for us, the jewelry website’s owners, and its users.

Here’s the take-away: if you have any say over your company’s next web project, be sure to do some usability testing before it’s released into the wild.

Some guidelines for home-grown user testing:

• Recruit a handful of coworkers, parents, spouses, neighbors, or anyone willing to help to be your test subjects.
• Assure each participant that they are not being tested; they are helping you test the website and make it better.
• Observe each participant individually as they complete various website tasks.
• Bite your tongue and keep to yourself inner monologue thoughts like “Click the BIG BUTTON…IT’S RIGHT THERE…HOW CAN YOU NOT SEE THAT??”
• Note the tasks that were completed with ease as well as those that were confusing and need rethinking.
• Refrain from beating yourself up over the things that are now obvious that a few moments ago were not.
• Rinse and repeat.

This is guerilla-style, but you will be surprised at the insight gleaned by watching someone with a fresh set of eyes wade through your website or your web application. Better to have test subjects find the flaws than would-be paying customers!