User Centered

It's really old, but this useit.com article: "Top Ten Mistakes of Web Management", especially numbers 2,3,and 6 relate well to this post.



Off Topic- Vaspers- you got me thinking about the "read more..." links here at my.opera.

I really want to use them more, but at the same time I like to be able to include an image in the first section as well, the intro text won't allow it... I realize that for feed reading and the like, the simple text is best, but use of images sometimes helps to draw the reader into the post.

Ideally I'd like the blog to show the most current post in full and then older posts get the "read more..." link, but this is well enough.

Hmmmm plus, I'd like the "Read More..." like to be a little larger (anyone know where this is styled?). That way when scanning the front page the user can clearly see which posts are just "the tip of the iceberg" although that's admittedly a minor gripe.

Actually, I'm coming around to the preference of all posts on home page having the Read More link, and even the most current only showing the Intro. But it's up to you.

Yeah, um, I hate the "Read More..." link. It's just one more thing for me to click to get to the content I'm after.

Perhaps if it was used more as a summary of what I was about to read... nah, don't like that either.

As for the idea of 'observing users interact with your website' -- ideally this would be the case. However, no one I know who does website design has that actual ability. Moreover, I would expect even moderately large companies like Opera would have a challenge when addressing an International audience.

For the small websites I manage, we certainly do not have the resources to do user observed testing. We must rely on concepts, styles and tips and tricks we learn from others and then do our best to apply it.

On the flip side, I think "give feedback" links on websites and monitoring traffic patterns would help fill in some of the user data. (If you have a search page and no one ever uses it... that would be a clue, for example).

Yum

READ MORE: I feel that users like the Read More links, because then the home page acts more as a portal to a list of posts, and enables users to see quickly which titles might be relevant to a pressing need or question. You are reducing the amount of (1) visual noise (2) irrelevant content blocking (in mind of user) and (3) the scrolling necessary to find relevant content.

I mean here "relevant" not to the intent of the blog or blogger, or the general audience of the blog, but to a specific and hurried user's immediate need. Read More follows a brief Introduction to the post, and that is even better than Recent Posts and Post Archives lists in sidebars.


USABILITY TESTS: I can explain exactly how to do your own user observation tests, and it doesn't matter how big or small your company is.

All you need is to find 5 typical users of a site, and design 6 to 12 use cases, or anticipated priority usages of a site, what you expect users will want to do. NO COST need be involved here. Just investing in the time and place to do the testing, plus some sandwiches or pizza and soda for the test participants.

I did a test on a volunteer basis for a local Boy Scout Council, and it didn't cost them or me anything. They merely paid for the food and drink, which is highly advised, the best food you can find in your city. The information you gain from these test subjects is extremely valuable and worth a nice treatment of the participants.

Then you quietly take notes on how these test subjects attempt to accomplish these uncoached tasks.

You can then improve the link and nav titles, content categories, page titles, etc.

People tend to keep trying the same path over and over, is one thing you notice, thinking "I'm sure it's got to be on this page".

I'll drag up a link to my User Observation Tests: Forms & Procedures white paper and post it here ASAP.

Read More: I stand by my statement: One more link between me and the content I want. I got my "introduction" via my News Page in OC, clicked the link expecting the content, not wanting an additional unnecessary step.

Usability Test: Interesting, look forward to it.

Yum

"but it's up to you..."

Well, not really. I don't have a lot of control over the blog workings- it's mostly up to Opera.

I tend to side with WillYum on this- I want to give the user the content without having to click through for it. At the same time I don't want the recent post to dominate the front page and push everything else to the bottom.

eh- I'm open.. but I will reiterate that the fact that I can't include an image in the intro is a big minus as to why I don't use it very much.

Yes, I see, this is a tricky one, isn't it?

Well, one extra click is not, to me, a big deal.

We click how many times per day, on average? 200? 2,000? And one more click between wherever you're at, to the content you desire?

You can't please everyone.

Sure, it's not good to needlessly require users to drill down and click like crazy just to get to sought after content. But weighing this problem against the problem, larger is it not?, of the most recent post pushing all the other "less recent" posts down to the bottom, I side with using a "Read More" link on all posts, unless they are really short.

It is tricky and the answer is most often just "it depends." some posts I think it works well for and some it doesn't

But it's more about interrupting the train of thought or the "activity" that the user is engaged in more than the clicking. But since we've been turning pages of books forever I'd say I don't have a powerful argument.

Yes books. You could do a comparison: usability of book vs. blog.

Yes, I guess one of my complaints is there is no division in the post to identify the content you've already read. So you read down to the "Read More" link, then you click it and want to pick up where you left off... but first you have to figure out where that is..

Was the intro one paragraph, two? Was it only the first sentence. If it were a book, I wouldn't turn the page and find a repeat of the last paragraph and it'd be easy to follow.

So it's more than a click, it's "Oh, I have to click this link... okay, I want to read more... not reread what I just read. Oh, but wait now here is the same text I just read and I have to figure out where to pick up."

This is usability at it's finest... The logical flow is not "read again" but "read more" so if it were changed to actually flow in that manner or at least provide clear identification of the part of the blog that is the intro and I don't have to reread.

I realize it sounds nitpicky but isn't that exactly what usability is about sometimes? Realizing that we have the power to make it easy by changing the little things.

So for example, "PDF not valid information format?"

The author put the first paragraph up as an intro. I click the Read More link after reading the intro paragraph, then, as mentioned, the entire flow is broken because I "lost my place"

The only comparision I can make with a book is to say, you read the last paragraph on one page, turn the page only to find the paragraph is repeated. All of a sudden your entire mindset is changed, from reading and comprehending to determining that this is repeated content and then searching for the new content.

As I said, small thing, but definitely an annoyance to me. And to repeat, a simple fix would be to set the intro paragraph aside in the actual blog post (different background, divider line?) something to help me out. (but it could be argued this breaks the flow of the blog post by itself).

The ideal, in my mind, would be to click "read more" and have the rest of the content on the page simply unhidden right in place, so it fits in context with what I'm trying to do.

Yum
who hates rambling on about usability but is glad he has a home.

P.S. The "Intro" function doesn't seem to show your avatar or properly link to your profile. Weird.

Well the off-topic comments have superceded the other ones... maybe we'll break this out into another post.

Was the intro one paragraph, two? Was it only the first sentence. If it were a book, I wouldn't turn the page and find a repeat of the last paragraph and it'd be easy to follow.

This is one of the few uses for animation. When the user gets to the page through the "read more..." link, use an underline or border or something to communicate "here's where you just were." Then fade away.

The same applies to the final page-down action, if you're using the keyboard to read pages of text. Every page-down, you know exactly where to look to continue reading: At the top of the page. except the last page, which ends up somewhere in the middle. Same issue. Flash an inverse line that represents the "top of the page" for that last page down.

I'd love to see something like that demoed. I'm going to suggest it to myopera too! (one of the perks of working here...)

Alex writes: I would like to emphasize this fragment: Site users care about quickly, easily finding information, entertainment, or task-accomplishing functionality. They shut their eyes to your "we" and "our" corporate fluff copy. They open their eyes to "you" and "your" and "how to" and "15 tips". I handle many text-related tasks in my company (translating and writing documentation, the info on the web-site, the GUIs of the software, etc). I'm having a hard time convincing the others to use "you", "your" & co, instead of "the user", "they", etc. My explanation is that it sucks when I read the manual of the program I paid for, yet the doc keeps telling me about somebody else who has purchased the product. This makes it more difficult for the end-user to identify themselves with the 'character' in the documentation. Are there any other arguments? Some statistics? Or anything else that would help me promote this approach? So far it's just my personal opinion against the others' personal opinion...

Without consulting any documentation myself, I'm almost positive you should refer directly to your audience.

It's more direct, it's easier to read and is friendlier.

Yum