[thelist] Jakob Nielsen [was Anti-aliasing]

[Ben Dyer]

On 10:40 AM 2/26/2002, Bill Haenel said to me:
>Now, out of those surveyed, at least 33% (me) have found it's good, and 66%
>(Martin & Ben) found it bad. What does that mean? Not much, except that so
>far we've discussed the issue as a matter of taste.

I'm discussing it as a matter of usability.  If a user moves the mouse
towards a navigational element and then, when the mouse arrives at where
the brain thinks the navigation element should be and it's no longer there
(because it has moved), that's poor usability.

So, what happens then.  Hopefully, the user hasn't just moved the mouse and
then immediately clicked because, if they have, they are going to be going
to the wrong place (hence the example I gave earlier about the Mac OS X
dock).  But, even if they haven't clicked, the user has to readjust to move
back (in the *opposite* direction) to the desired navigational element.

Now, this all happens in under a second, but this is exactly why usability
is critical.

>= It is certainly necessary for government-funded service-oriented sites to
>be as usable and accessible as possible.

True.

>= It is certainly necessary for sites who wish to open their doors to as
>many humans as possible to be as usable and accessible as possible.

Even more true.

>= Is it necessary for ALL sites to be as usable and accessible as possible?

Yes.  Period.  If it gets in the way of people's fun and experimentation in
a public forum, then tough.

--Ben


Ben Dyer, Senior Internet Developer, Imaginuity Interactive
http://www.imaginuity.com/

     If you save the world too often, it begins to expect it.
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