PUBLIC MARKS from amyrussell with tags usability & uxd

This past weekend I was up on Howell Mountain in Napa, tasting the ultra tasty wines there and taking in the gorgeous views. On the way back to SF, we stopped at a Shell gas station. It took me a good 20 minutes to gas up. Why? Lousy user experience. Let me explain.

My colleagues Matt Nolker and Shalom Sandalow have put together a nice little webinar entitled "This Won’t Hurt a Bit": Designing the Invisible Interface.. For those of us writing Web 2.0 applications, there are some key insights here, such as: "interacting with the software is not the primary goal or responsibility of the user." So when you use those nifty Ajax widgets, think about whether you are placing a usability burden on the user or are using the power of Ajax to make the interface disappear.