[faq] How to know when a software is unusable?

Simple question, right? How can we know when there's something in our software application or website that looks unusable? It's easy:

  1. Check your user profiles and find out if there's too many unanswered questions.
  2. Figure out whether it's something that you, as a designer/developer, can solve by your own or not. If so, then you got it!

Seriously, if you cannot wait to a thinking-aloud user test, try to "listen" what your personas would ask when they're in front of the desktop.
It works for me when I cannot see, in a first sight, from where the smells is comming.

10 . Feb . 2010
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Chrome for Linux

chrome.jpgGood news: Google Chrome has been released for Linux (Debian/Ubuntu and Fedora/openSUSE).

Start downloading!

Note: I'm not telling that Firefox for Linux sucks, it's just a matter of sense & sensibility.

29 . Dec . 2009
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In streamming

For next days I'm trying the social site Tumblr, once again. This time I want to use it for sharing links and other personal stuff in real time.

This "Carmel in streamming" will be connected to facebook and twitter so friends/followers won't need to start to follow me again in other site.

You can also see from this site a new tab: streamming.

21 . Dec . 2009
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The wrong problem, the wrong features

Reading this "Top 10 Application-Design Mistakes" we can make good construstive self-criticism.

So, I'm writting down some of the main ideas taken from Nielsen for not forget:

  • Base the decisions on user research.
  • Don't just implement feature requests from "user representatives" or "business analysts."...Requirement specifications are always wrong.

Basically, as he says: applications fail because they (a) solve the wrong problem, (b) have the wrong features for the right problem, or (c) make the right features too complicated for users to understand.

Via Olga Carreras' Blog.

12 . Dec . 2009
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