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De curand am citit un articol scris de Jakob Nielsen, renumitul guru al usability for web. Am ramas putin socata. Da, recunosc, designul de situri din Romania se face la ghici si putini sunt cei care stiu cum sa construiasca un site corect. Dar nu ma asteptam ca asa ceva sa se intample si afara, si mai ales in state, unde hai sa recunoastem, sunt atat de multe firme de webdesign si cu o asa de mare experienta, incat parca ti-e jena pentru ei.

Credeam ca numai la noi se fac situri pe genunchi, ca numai noi ghicim cam ce ar fi bine pentru utilizatori, iar programatorul face designul sau designerul se da cu parerea despre cum se fac wireframes sau cum trebuie gestionat proiectul. Se pare insa ca e o practica generala si doar acolo unde exista ani buni de experienta intr-o companie de webdevelopment si ceva formare teoretica si practica in ceea ce-i priveste pe specialistii care fac siturile.

Asupra acestui aspect al ghicitului se axeaza si Nielsen in articolul pe care l-am citit. El spune ca 75% dintre cei care ghicesc sunt pe langa si doar o simpla observatie asupra a 2 utilizatori poate determina o acuratete mult mai mare asupra informatiilor ce trebuie prezentate in site sau a asupra functionalitatilor ce trebuie dezvoltate.

Un alt lucru ce este extrem de important este subiectii care testeaza aceste functionalitati si date. Este extrem de important ca acestia sa nu fie cunoscatori in domeniu (de exemplu, asa cum se practica adesea, colegi de birou) si nici sa nu fie rude, deoarece este un lucru stiut ca cei in imediata vecinatate devin de-a lungul timpului cunoscatori ai mediului mult mai buni decat utilizatori obisnuiti.

Concluzia articolului este ca nu trebuie sa presupunem ca datorita dezvoltarii internetului si utilizatorii sunt mai priceputi si deci stiu cum sa foloseasca un site mai bine si mai eficient. Aceasta perceptie e total gresita. Cu siguranta ca exista utilizatori din ce in ce mai priceputi, dar acestia sunt destul de putini si nu intra in targetul unui site obisnuit. Restul utilizatorilor sunt formati din oameni mai in varsta care sunt putin obisnuiti cu noile functionalitati si gadgeturi si tineri care abia acum invata.

Chiar si eu, care ma declar un expert in domeniu am intalnit dificultati in utilizarea unor situri romanesti. Si aici ma refer in special la situri care tin neaparat sa arate spectaculos in detrimentul functionalitatii, dar si la situri care au fost concepute pornind de la o baza gresita.

Poate ca ar fi bine ca designerii, si aici ma refer la cei care construiesc situl sa ia in considerare mai mult utilizatorul si sa tina mai putin la tehnicile noi si la moda.

Usability guru Jakob Nielsen says on his latest article on BBC that people are becoming much less patient when they go online.

Instead of getting caught in marketing traps designed to make them linger on a website, users are more and more determined to search something, rich their needs quickly and leave. More that that, they are becoming suspicious of promotions designed to hold their attention.

In the last 10 years the success percentage of users which found what they were looking for has risen from 60% to 75%. This rise is due to 2 factors: first the usability of the applications has risen, more designer think more about the users needs instead of just designing for creativity, and on the other side, users get more accustomed with the applications they use.

“This makes them very resistant to highlighted promotions or other editorial choices that try to distract them. Web users have always been ruthless and now are even more so. People want sites to get to the point, they have very little patience. I do not think sites appreciate that yet, he added. They still feel that their site is interesting and special and people will be happy about what they are throwing at them.”, said Dr Nielsen.

“Between the ages of 25 and 60, people’s ability to use websites declines by 0.8% per year — mostly because they spend more time per page, but also because of navigation difficulties.” says Jakob Nielsen in his recent article about web usability.

Mainstream users as Nielsen calls them are the most important group because they are generating the most traffic and they are the ones that have the highest buying power. The problem is that the majority of users fall into this category  especially if we extend the target to 65.

Nielsen also says that “the biggest factor is that older users need more time to understand pages, scan the text, and extract the information. [...] The human aging process starts around age 25 and causes erosion of cognitive resources, loss of visual acuity, degraded reaction times, and reduced dexterity. People need more time for the same mental operations; they have less memory capacity and take longer to process the same perceptual input.”

I also believe that another factor for this could be impatience and lack of time to spend on the internet, with so many websites out there.  I used to search an entire site when I wanted to find something. Now after working on the online medium for some time, I don’t have the time to spend trying to understand what a website wants to explain. If I don’t get it they lost me, I move on. In my job I encountered this pattern at most users, the majority search and find quickly what they are looking for and they are gone, or if they don’t find it quickly enough they go away faster.

I tested this on my mother as well, she hasn’t got any clue, so if she doesn’t find the things quickly she says they don’t exist or can’t be found and closes the browser. Maybe, there will come a time when things  will be getting more and more simpler, as are some mobile phones, because are tired to try to learn a new technology, and just want to use something with the knowledge they already posses.