Technology's Untanglers: They Make It Really Work
SOMETIMES there is a huge disconnect between the people who make a product and the people who use it. The creator of a Web site may assume too much knowledge on the part of users, leading to confusion. Software designers may not anticipate user behavior that can unintentionally destroy an entire database. Manufacturers can make equipment that inadvertently increases the likelihood of repetitive stress injuries. | Enter the usability professional, whose work has recently developed into a solid career track, driven mostly by advancements in technology. —Barbara Whitaker —Technology’s Untanglers: They Make It Really Work (New York Times)
The techno bloggers sort of scoffed at this article when it first came out, since usability is a basic concept to people who work on the internet. Still, it’s a good thing that a reporter took the time to educate the general public.
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I can't say that I agree with your statement that usability is fashion. While any particular usability guideline may change over time as people get used to a product or a convention, usability -- the professional field that involves watching what people try to do and then redesigning products so that they actually do work the way people expect them to -- is not about identifying fashions.
Certainly if you are designing a software system so that other programmers can come along years later and continue to develop it, that's a very different issue than burying the "shut down" option under the "start" button. I seem to recall that the way you ejected a floppy diskette from a Mac machine was you dragged the icon of a disk to the trash can -- that was awful design.
Usability is a ever changing point of view. What is usable now may be unusable tomorrow. On the other hand, bad designs get common over time. Consider the way you shut down your Windows-PC - you have to press the "start" button!
Usability is fashion, stability - in terms of software design - is another business.