Opportunities 2006 - Usability
2006 is going to be a year where the creators of web technology have the opportunity to make their services better in terms of integration, usability, and usefulness.
- Ken Yarmosh, Looking towards 2006
Usability - Web products and services must be dead simple to use
Have you ever tried to show a non-blogosphere, non-techy person how to subscribe to an RSS feed? It’s quite a challenge, especially if they are still struggling with their e-mail inbox. And of course, it requires a preliminary conversation about what RSS is and why they should use it. Despite its name, RSS is not simple.
Mozilla Firefox, Flock, Opera, and Apple’s Safari already have native RSS support. What that means is that users have the ability to subscribe to a feed inside their browser. There is no need to copy and paste the RSS feed URL into their RSS reader. No need to first get a bookmarklet to do a quick subscribe to the feed. No need to find and select the other piece of software - the aggregator - in order to consume the RSS feed. Native support of RSS pushes the technology towards simplicity and greater usability.
If a web product or service requires a conversation prior to its use, chances are it wasn’t designed with the user in mind. Frederico Oliveira, a design expert, puts it as follows:
Usability, user experience and information architecture need to be present from the start of development and design.
Fred highlights an important idea too - usability relates to both development and design. Most companies seem to think about usability only in terms of design. This leads to extensive “how to” sections, describing in detail how to use their service. My experience has shown me that if people can’t just “get it”, they are not going to use the service. First impressions are everything and if you turn someone off right away, the likelihood of a second chance is slim to none (seems Mike Arrington would agree).
Focusing on usability does not implicitly require a complete overhaul of a service. For example, yesterday I wrote about rolling your own Firefox Search Engine with Rollyo. This “new” service actually already existed but in a different form. Previously, users could go to their tools section once signed-in and add a Searchroll to the Firefox Toolbar. Now, however, Rollyo has streamlined the process by: 1) Not requiring a user to create an account. 2) Removing the “Searchroll” Rollyo jargon in place of the more widely known “Firefox Search Engine” terminology. 3) Automatically adding the engine to the Firefox Toolbar at the end of the process. 4) Wrapping all of that into its own page.
When it comes to usability, companies really need to have their target user base in mind “from the start of development and design.” They need to make their products and services dead simple to use. As I reflected on 2005, I noted that “adoption is tied to intuitiveness and knowledge.” There is no better way to develop an intuitive service than to focus on usability.
Stay tuned for the next opportunity - usefulness.
January 13, 2006 at 11:59 am
When it comes to explaining RSS to new users, I find that seeing it work visually is the #1 most helpful thing to do. That’s why in my explanation of RSS (http://marshallk.com/introduction-to-rss-syndication/) I tell people they can go over to http://newsgator.com and logging as marshalldemo pw welcome to see what a feed reader looks like fully seeded with feeds. Talking people through a visual demonstration leads to the most aha moments in my experience.
Three cheers for pushing usability!
January 13, 2006 at 12:42 pm
“usability relates to both development and design. Most companies seem to think about usability only in terms of design. This leads to extensive “how to” sections, describing in detail how to use their service. My experience has shown me that if people can’t just “get it”, they are not going to use the service. First impressions are everything and if you turn someone off right away, the likelihood of a second chance is slim to none”
Ken,
I think the most visible example of a company that actually get’s this concept is Apple. (With Google as a close second). I choose Apple as the primary example because it emphizes intuitive usibility (aka “simplicity”) througout the customer experience.
Everything about Apple, from the user/customers purchase on either the website or Apple Store to opening and setting up the Mac/iPod to using the software/iPod just makes sense. This (and soley this) is why people who use Macs/iPods absolutely love them and are so eager to tell thier friends to get one! They are easy to use! That’s it!
In short: the reason Apple users love their Apple is not because it looks “cool” or is a more powerful machine. Rather, it’s because they can/know how to do more with it! They don’t have to make an effort in order to use it. They just use it!
If RSS and other Web 2.0 applications get to that point you’ll see the adoption of those applications at exponential rates. Until then, only a brave few will actually upgrade from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0.
Would you upgrade to a system you knew nothing about?