My Opera Interviews

So, Eddie, how did the usability group at My Opera start? What was your initial thought behind it?

I wanted to build a community that talks to developers and designers from the users' point of view. As consumers we don't care about SQL, AJAX, C#, APIs etc., we just wonder "why can't this form remember my information from the previous page?" I wanted a venue that was "user centered" not designer centered. I wanted a way for readers think about their own everyday products, websites, or software and realize the things we purchase should be made to accomplish our goals, not hinder them. I wanted an open letter to the companies of the world asking: "why did you make this package so hard to open? "

I decided on a group because we're all users and we all have our own frustrations and different opinions. I thought a group would be the best way to encourage other points of view. I don't claim to be an expert, nor do I have the best ideas, so I welcome the contribution of others.

How has the group expanded in terms of members, and active contributors to the site?

You remember the tortoise and the hare story? Slow and steady wins the race. The group has been expanding steadily over the year and half that I've started the site; we have a small, but elite cadre of crack usability authors and regular emailers that bring some very interesting discussions to the table .

What future plans do you have in mind?

For the site? I'd like to conduct more interviews with practitioners and designers in the usability world. I'd also like to do Q&A with the Opera staff on their products and websites. I like the tagline "studying the design of everyday things" and I'm satisified when we talk about them. Web pages and Cellphones are interesting and ubiquitous enough to meet the criteria, but the seemingly simple stuff is always the most interesting to me.

Me? I'd love to move from my development work into dedicated "user experience" work working with developers and marketers…advocating the user experience.

Which writer/author has inspired you the most when it comes to usability, and why?

Toss up: Donald Norman & Henry Petroski. They take "Usability" from the technical and academic senses and apply it in no-nonsense ways. They show that design and usability is important (and difficult to master) in everything we interact with, not just software and web apps. It takes a firm dedication to usability to write an entire chapter on the evolution of the brown paper bag; it makes me feel ok for going on at length about my vacuum cleaner.

Do you practice "good usability" in any way in your real life?

It's hard not to. My son got a "Guess Who?" game for Christmas that he kept asking me to fix. The pictures kept sliding out of the panels and the panels kept coming off the hinges. After the fourth attempt to fix it, he said to me "sorry daddy, the pictures came off again." To which I replied "It's not your fault.. lets think about what we would have done so the pictures wouldn't fall out all the time…" I'm not sure if we ever got around to actually playing the game, but he had some good ideas involving tape and/or glue.

Of course, I am a developer and I do work on user interfaces and web applications where I focus on usability and "activity centered design" when applicable.

Do you have any other blogs/groups besides My Opera?

Yes, the Minnesota Opera Users' Group (my.opera.com/moug) which I use as a platform for Opera-related thoughts. I like to think of the two sites as "a usability site that sometimes talks about Opera" and "an Opera site that sometimes talks about usability."

I used to write for and maintain several other usability blogs and sites, but now all my writing is within the auspices of the Opera domains. It's just easy to use.

You seem to be an active blogger. When did it all start, and have you "changed" in the process (how you write, how you think, etc.)?

Well, I can't take a vacation anymore without stopping to analyze the hotel faucets for one. Most people that hang around me for any period of time also become aware of usability and design and, quite frankly- they're not happy about what I've done to them. When it comes to usability, ignorance is bliss because once you start thinking about how everyday things could have been designed more intuitively you start to go crazy asking "why would(n't) they do that?"

Could you give us a usability review of My Opera? What features would you like to see implemented, and are you in general happy with the service provided?

The service is great. Opera gives us tons of storage space and a clean, easy UI for writing. Before I started here I tried a handful of CMSs on my own domain and I tried some other blogging platforms as well, but my.opera.com just worked easiest and is the cleanest, most aesthetically pleasing platform from which to preach to the masses.

What can improve? I'll just mention a couple things briefly: (check the MOUG group for an updated review of my.opera shortly)

Groups

Lets get the "featured group" page updated or fix "most active" pages. In researching/writing this interview, I found a ton of great groups that I've joined, but promoting them and spotlighting them could be more encouraged in the community, so we don't have to search so hard?

I can't see my watch items or messages from my group blog page at all. I'm not sure exactly what the "messages" link is there for. Message for the group? Can you even do that? Along the same lines, I can MMS from my phone to the usability group, but it's not tied to my user account. It shows up as a "usability" guy.. but I can't change his avatar!

I'd like to feedback/dialog easily with the users that join groups. Maybe a customizable "welcome" message sent to their my.opera message box that tells them a little bit about the site and some ways to contribute. I'd ultimately like to know why they joined... Is it just a pat on the back? A way to "bookmark?" Anything you'd like to see? or just an association? I think it's probably a bit of all that but it's hard to tell with the current implementation. Currently just take note when the number increases and go and check who's new to the group. Well, whatever your reason we're glad to have you.

Main Page

If you're not using RSS to monitor updates, the many different sites Opera uses can get a bit daunting. I use the wonderful "Planet Opera" and "OperaWatch" to get a handle on my Opera news, I'd like to see this in place of the "active forum topics" on the main page (with more real estate). The active topics on the main page always confuses me as it's missing a great deal of context. Seeing a forum topic without the rest of the thread seems really odd to me.

I love the "Member of the Week" and the spotlighted events. That's a nice way to make the users feel welcomed.

Keep up the good work!

We thank Eddie Lopez for being a good sport and made this interview happen. Got a comment, or do you want an interview with a My Opera member? Post your suggestion as a comment here!