Users Are Not Aliens: Why Usability Testing Often Fails

Somehow we’ve lost sight of the fact that we’re more alike than different. Our basic knowledge of self is core to our understanding of others. Humans wouldn’t be so adept socially if we were so inept at understanding others. It’s this very adeptness that’s allowed us to survive and thrive for eons. The puzzler is why does the usability / user experience field often lead us away from the tools for the job we we are actually equipped with?

If you’ve got the time to kill on a video, this preso from Adaptive Path touches on the topic a bit as well (starts around at the 15 minute mark)

Stop Adobe Media Player From Launching At Startup

So far (one year later) I’m pretty non-plussed with Adobe Media Player. It reminds me too much of Real / WMP which means I must not be the target market, or I’m just old and cranky. The source of much of my irritation has been that it launches at startup and I don’t remember giving it permission to. Regardless, every time I reboot (admittedly infrequent on OS X) I’m confronted with a slow starting app (AMP) and I can’t figure out where startup preferences are that would stop this.

Just today, I decided to again nose around in the “options” and discovered that launch at startup is actually tucked away under a category called “Automatic Notifications”.

Whether in the iPhone, RIAs, or new age desktop apps, motion patterns are all the rage. I dig this and I’m a big advocate for pushing the boundaries of usability and user / brand experience, but at the end of the day some of AMP’s animations don’t add much value for me and end up feeling gratuitous. This contributes to a sense of bloat and “fakeness” in the app which is also part of the “brand experience” that’s often not accounted for.

There’s lots to like it in AMP (rss playlists, file system playback of flv, etc.), but there’s also a disturbing sense of bloat (it sometimes feels like a big advert to me), a slick, but gratuitous, ui which reinforces emotional unease and an overall lack of concern for user control (launch at boot up). Add it all up and it makes me feel like AMP is just more of the same in the media player market.

An ActionScript Compiler Written In ActionScript

It’s enough to warm the cockles of one’s heart. ActionScript nerds around the globe can celebrate their graduation to “real programmer” status (whatever that means).

I’d seen reference to this around the time of Tamarin announcement, but its nice to be reminded and see a link to the source. The big question is what’s going to happen? How complete is the compiler? Will the AS compiler eventually replace the open source Java compiler used by Flex (assuming mxml compilation was added)? Has anyone used this in a project? Lots to think about.

Tamarin, ActionScript And ECMAScript: Where To Now?

I’ve tried not to get too riled up over the demise of the ECMAScript 4 draft spec and the political accusations that have been chucked back and forth. You know, the whole MS, Yahoo, Apple vs Adobe, Mozilla, Google soap opera. Anyway, I’ve read quite a bit of the inflammatory stuff over the last couple of weeks, but was disappointed to not find a clear understanding of the future of Tamarin, ActionScript and the relationship between Adobe and Mozilla. Specifically I was looking for additional commentary from Brendan Eich and the Adobe folks working on Tamarin. After some digging I finally found the go to article and am including some of the relevant comments that help clear things up a bit.

Brendan Eich downplays the impact on JavaScript’s evolution:

Adobe’s Dan Smith on Tamarin, Mozilla and ActionScript:

More from Brendan Eich:

Transparency Means Little Without Integrity

LibraryThing’s Tim Spalding might just have renewed my belief in transparency. Skip the spin, deliver the truth and stand by your convictions with competitors and users.

Transparency has been a trendy web 2.0 business tenet for awhile and I’ve been a huge fanboi, but after reading Tim’s post I realized I had only seen half the value. The ingredient that’s been missing and always made transparency feel like just another slimy sales / marketing technique was integrity. Eschewing pr and marketing is an attempt to engage users and win trust by being direct and genuine. However, kowtowing to the whims and arguments of customers breaks the trust and voids the contract.

The mantra, “the customer is always right” is often interpreted as, “I’ll say anything to get / keep your business” and that’s, well, slimy. Part of the “transparency” movement is an attempt to completely cut the bullshit and broker honestly. We’re telling the customer directly about our our motivations, roadmap, financial health and products / services–everything the consumer needs to make an easy and effective evaluation. Implicit is the guarantee that customers will be treated honestly and fairly throughout the relationship and that means the courage to stand by your convictions.