[thelist] Inspiration source?

[Steven Streight]

I think we all have web sites we visit or vaguely recall, that influence us.
Content quality, design, navigation, usability, credibility, frequent
updating, relevance, astonishment...rarely are more than a few qualities
exhibited in any one given site.

So I have one site that inspires me content-wise, another that is visually
beautiful, another that has great, relevant functionalities, another that is
simple and fast to use, etc.

Our greatest inspiration must come from users, not design theory or web
aesthetics. Simplicity, ease of use, relevant content, frequent content,
accurate content, reliable content, linked content, original content,
scannable/skimmable content, behavioral familiarity, mission congruence,
error recovery, logical navigation, enhanced interactivity, and extreme
customization/user control configurations are all governed by user needs,
limitations, and psychology.

Biggest inspiration should be this user reality: users are hurried,
impatient, distracted, specific, hype-abhorent, aggressive, opinionated,
peer-influenced, cynical, memory-impaired, anti-authoritarian, multitasking,
and fickle.