I didn’t know that usability testing was so important! In my opinion, this has definitely been the most intense couple of chapters yet. I see that user testing is very important and it ultimately shows perspective on the web page usability. I was thinking of my mom, and how she uses the internet (I’ve watched her navigate through her email and Huffington Post before) and I noticed how differently she and I both use websites. I’m all about the organization and visual elements, while she’s very to-the-point and “on a mission” if you will, to get to what she’s looking for. She’s slower when scrolling through pages, and takes her time. I, on the other hand, am very interested in analyzing what the designer’s choices were. Even this, my observations of my 55 year old mother using the internet, has put a new perspective in my mind, and helped me with my portfolio website design. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again; dumbing down the design to make it almost inevitable for your user to go off-track is so important. I’m not into clutter, and neither is the user. I saw that Krug’s one-on-one user test with 25-year-old Janice showed that she wasn’t sure of some elements so she just ignored them. That tells me that having complicated icons or graphics may not be such a good idea. Now I see how essential it is to have individuals (of preferred audience, of course) test the website before anything goes live. It can bring in money or take it away!
Here is a website which I'm having a hard time using and two websites which have better usability.
Bad:
Good:
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