> I've had my fair share of Psyche classes... believe me :) > When you take out > the details of the brain and what it's made of, there's > nothing left that > common sense wouldn't tell you.
> Common sense would also tell me that if all the usability > research methods > people have used (or been forced to used) through their > careers as > developers were worth anything, people wouldn't be > screaming for better > solutions. Who did you say came up with those again? The vast majority of software (probably more than 90%) never involves a usability expert in its design process. A large percentage of the software projects that do involve a usability expert involve them after the project is mostly complete, at which point they're not allowed to make any changes that would result in noticeable improvements for the user. The process of designing user interfaces in today's software by and large is done by programmers, most of whom are rather involved in a very different thought-world than the average user. For that matter, I've met quite a few programmers who seem to actively hate users. It's evident not only in the "stupid user" humor like ID10T errors and PEBKAC but in much more telling ways like "gee John, I'm surprised you're not more familiar with CSS"... "Well, you know, CSS is for the user, so I've avoided it." I would venture to say that most software is designed by people who see no problem with the user being frustrated and in some cases actually prefer it that way. That was the whole reason Alan Cooper wrote the Inmates Are Running the Asylum (although he's less jaded about programmers and more jaded about the interface than I am, believing that a) programmers genuinely care about users and b) file systems and search features should be completely abolished). s. isaac dealey 434.293.6201 new epoch : isn't it time for a change? add features without fixtures with the onTap open source framework http://www.fusiontap.com http://coldfusion.sys-con.com/author/4806Dealey.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:11:2946 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/11 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:11 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.11 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
