12.30.2009
Miranda Capra /
Usability /
Web & Software
When my husband and I went home for the holidays, we got his parents on Facebook. They’re still not sure whether or not they should thank us – time will tell. But the process of explaining Facebook was much easier because we had them use Facebook Lite. This is a new version of Facebook, still in beta, that has pared the interface down to the essential features. It’s different from Facebook Mobile, which is designed for mobile phones and also has a more limited feature set, but doesn’t translate well to large-screen displays.
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12.18.2009
Miranda Capra /
Consumer Products /
Gestural Interfaces /
New Technology /
Usability
Our friends at Amberlight have written a review of Apple’s Magic Mouse.
If you haven’t heard, the entire surface of the Magic Mouse is touch-sensitive, and the mouse supports several touch gestures for interacting with your computer. So head on over to our other blog, TouchThinking, and read all about it!
TouchThinking is a gestural interfaces blog that members of the International Usability Partners contribute to (including us, HumanCentric).
12.14.2009
Alexander Hussain /
Trends /
Usability
In our high technology world it is easy to forget one of the most tried and true tenets of product design: simplicty sells. Just in the kitchen there are and unbelievable amount of simple devices that we all use everyday: measuring cups, spoons, forks, cutlery, cups, plates, bowls – the list goes on and on. Now what would you say if I wanted to build a new kitchen device that would replace all of these devices with a single product? Your first question may be - how would it work? How big would it be? How could you sharpen the knives? Wouldn’t the built in bowl get in the way of the fork? Are you crazy?
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12.02.2009
Miranda Capra /
Usability /
Web & Software
Last week I needed to create a special website for a client project. The specific website is unimportant, but it’s a service that several companies offer – you create an account and configure the site, and they host it. I looked into two different companies for this web service…
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11.12.2009
Corinna Proctor /
Local /
Usability
In honor of World Usability Day, today, November 12, hundreds of usability conferences, design challenges and meet-ups are being sponsored and organized around the globe! Check out events in your local area and around the world.
HumanCentric will be attending North Carolina’s Triangle Usability Professionals’ Association and Carolina Chapter of HFES event at SAS. The event starts at 6 pm.
Staff from HumanCentric will present their solution to this year’s design challenge.
Happy usability!
11.09.2009
Miranda Capra /
Usability /
Web & Software
This week marks the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street. When I visited their website in a browser that didn’t support Flash, I was greeted by a fantastic error message: F is for Flash! What was so great about this error message? It felt like something Sesame Street would say. It used letters and alliteration, it had a happy Muppet character next to it, and it tried to sneak in a little educational information about Flash. It was also great from a user interface perspective. Much of the rest of the site was still usable; it explained what was happening and why I couldn’t use this part of the website (feedback), and gave me a helpful link to download and install flash so I could use the site (feed forward). I love it!
11.03.2009
Sheila Crosby /
Consumer Products /
Usability /
User Experience
I’m starting to pay more attention to how sound is used in product design. When it’s good, I don’t notice it. When it’s bad, it’s all I focus on. This brings me to my coffee maker.
Coffee is a big deal at my house. When it was time to buy a new coffee maker, I was concerned with two main things: how it looked (as it’s the only appliance, other than my mixer, that sits out on the counter) and an auto-start feature. I loved the idea of prepping the coffee maker the night before and having fresh coffee made and ready when I woke in the morning. Sounds good in theory, right?
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09.15.2009
Sheila Crosby /
Trends /
Usability /
Web & Software
I recently attended an open house at my daughter’s middle school. It was one of these events where you get to wander around the school campus and learn about the curriculum and school environment. We ended the evening in the media center. At first I was looking for a computer lab, only to learn that what I saw as the library is now considered a media center. It was there that the differences between my education experiences and that of my children will be worlds apart. But it didn’t start in the media center.
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09.15.2009
Miranda Capra /
Consumer Products /
Usability
I have played computer sales associate for my family for years, helping guide them when they buy a new computer and translating the technical jargon that goes into computer specifications. I’ve patiently explained that the new laptop probably comes with an 80GB hard drive, not an 80GB CPU, that RAM is for running programs and not storing photos, and that you don’t need a high-end graphics card designed for gamers if all you’re going to do is watch a few YouTube videos. So I’m very excited to see that AMD is launching an ad campaign focused on tasks, rather than technical specifications.
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09.09.2009
Miranda Capra /
Consumer Products /
Usability /
Web & Software
My husband downloaded the Kindle application for his iPhone recently, and, despite having a PhD in Computer Science/HCI, immediately proceeded to accidentally purchase a book. He started off well, downloading a free sample of the book from the Kindle store (screenshots 1 + 2). When he reached the end of the sample (screenshot 3) he wanted pricing information for purchasing, so he clicked on “Buy Now” and poof! purchased the book (screenshot 4). I’m not sure what surprised me more – the fact that Amazon, which has been doing online shopping for almost 15 years, managed to create an application that made it so easy to accidentally purchase a book, or that the accidental purchase seemed to be anticipated. Because after purchasing the book, the confirmation screen asked “Purchased by accident?” and provided a large “Cancel this order” button that immediately canceled the order. After I found out how easy it was to cancel the order, I had to try this myself, and decided that the design wasn’t nearly as terrible as I thought at first. Let me explain…
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