Usability Consulting
For most of its life the web has been a usability nightmare. Things have become better in more recent times, but it’s got a long way to go yet. To that end, I develop websites and web applications that are a pleasure to use, rather than a pain.
There’s a long-standing problem with a lot of technical or creative people, and that is that somewhere along the road to their current position they’ve stopped speaking English. If you’re not a “computer person” I’m sure that you’ve dealt with people who can casually use four or five acronyms you’ve never heard of in a single sentence, and then get exasperated when you don’t understand.
The Ivory Tower
These people seem to be everywhere you go whenever you want to get something done in computing or media, and you want to know the really scary thing? These same people design the user interfaces for the systems that are now essential for survival in business in the modern world. If you ever talk with a programmer and you hear: “The user will figure that out,” or “It’s fine, it’s in the manual anyway,” you know you’re in hot water. When was the last time you actually read a computer or software manual from cover to cover? I thought so. Don’t feel bad, you’re not alone.
Don’t Make Me Think
I believe that documentation, no matter how well-written, can never atone for the sins of an interface which is simply badly designed — software that regular people, the ones who do the other important work outside of computer science, just can’t use. Part of the reason this has been tolerated for so long is that once an expensive system is in place, and it has to be used, resourceful people like yourself will struggle to get by with it, because you don’t have any choice.
But with the web, particularly for websites designed to attract and keep attention, this loophole doesn’t work. The moment users get frustrated with your website, they leave. Even your really cool website, with the spinning logo and the naked lady. After all, there’s millions of other sites out there.
Do It Right
So when I design websites and web application interfaces for you, I do it right. After all, your users are paying you to make this easy and convenient for them … let me help you get on the right track.