CivicActions

From error to error one discovers the entire truth. Sigmund Freud

In my last posting (Usability Basics: Keep the User Informed) I talked about how the interaction with other humans differ from interactions online because of something called a feedback loop- the ability we have of constantly assessing the verbal and non-verbal communication that is happening.

"The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate." Joseph Priestly

I really don't like Captchas, the squiggly words that many websites use to protect forms from spam bots. Unfortunately, sometimes they are the only thing that can protect a site from clever spammers.

Yesterday I heard a great story about reCaptcha, captchas that are used to crowd-source digitizing of old print books and newspapers on NPR. If you have ever tried to use a scanner with OCR, you know that it can be pretty hit or miss.

"The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them." Mark Twain

It wasn't until after I got my Kindle, Amazon's electronic book, that it dawned on me- "Why didn't Amazon do this years ago?" Considering they're one of the biggest channels for moving books one would have thought selling a device that taps into their distribution channel as seamlessly as the Kindle does would be a no-brainer. Eventually Amazon had its "ah-ha" moment, probably after witnessing the popularity of the iPod and the iTunes music store.

The Usability Testing Suite is in Beta! Google Summer of Code student Jimmy "boombatower" Berry has been coding hard and fast all this great usability testing tool.

The Usability Testing Suite is intended to be used for remote 'guerilla' usability testing. Currently it allows a usability test designer/engineer to create a study with a bunch of tasks, and invite participants to attempt the task, whilst remotely capturing data about the pages / urls the participant visited, the forms they submitted, what data was entered, and allows the participant to log typed live feedback as they go. More data capturers are planned (outside the scope of SoC) that will make this tool a really valuable asset to the Drupal Usability community.

Website Redesign Glossary - Entry 5

Breadcrumb: An element on a web page (usually directly below the page title) showing the click path a user traveled to arrive at the current page. For example: Home > About Us > Our Staff Usually the terms are active links, which enable the user to retrace their click path (or skip back several clicks). Breadcrumbs, especially in deep sites with multiple levels of navigation, improve usability because they help users understand where they are now as well as the overall structure of the site, and navigate back to the pages they've visited.

The term "breadcrumb" comes from the trail Hansel and Gretel left to try to find their way back home.

Every once in a while it's good to review the basics and yesterday I virtually attended a website usability presentation given by NTen. Using three simple criteria they reviewed the websites of various not-for-profit organizations to deomonstrate how some simple changes could potentially have a positive impact on the site and, more importantly, online donations.

Usability Principle #1: You can't join the party if you can't find the front door.

Monday night, after using the three-day weekend to re-landscape my front yard and launch my new un-business, I faced the reality that I had to get to San Jose for the NetSquared Mashup Conference at 8am. (The day after a three-day weekend seemed a strange scheduling choice.)

I went to the NetSquared site to find the conference location.

This proved surprisingly difficult, as I couldn't find any link referencing the logistics of the conference. After clicking back and forth through 20 other links featured above the fold, I found it discretely hidden in a side bar labeled "Hot Spot."

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What I didn't realize until later was that the address didn't identify the building number (Cisco has 2 blocks of buidlings with the same general address). None of the the employees I asked in the parking lot had any idea where the "Vineyard Conference Center" was. Should I be looking for grape vines?

I WANT YOU TO READ MORE

The CivicActions team is in the process of redesigning our website at this very moment. In my role as information architect, I am helping to design the site's navigation and page structure so that users can meet their goals. Here are some sample scenarios:

• A potential client wants to find a savvy web consulting firm to transform their site and increase their audience and fundraising base.
• A job-seeker wants to find a cool place to work.
• A CivicActions team member wants to be sought after in their area of expertise, and more broadly, wants to express their ideas and get feedback from creative, brilliant people.

Click on the tiny Read more link on the far right side of the next line.