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The winner of the Fall 2013 Team Study Groups Pizza Drawing is:
Xixi Chen!
A special thank you to all that entered. There will be another drawing at the end of the spring semester, so keep registering your study groups!
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My article on 24 ways that hopefully inspires a few of you to try and take your own front end ops by the horns. Plus a video.
Direct Link to Article — Permalink
Grunt for People Who Think Things Like Grunt are Weird and Hard is a post from CSS-Tricks
]]>Every time I’m in an electronics store to buy something or whenever I’m assisting one of my friends identify the right new gadget for them, I notice the feature-counting we’re all swept into as soon as we start comparing our options; "Well, this coffeemaker has 15 buttons, it has to be better than that one with only 6 buttons."
As a usability professional, my decision is frequently biased towards the usability and design of a product rather than its number of features or its price.
But, I must admit, even as a person who regards usability very highly, it’s extremely difficult to keep my mind straight and focused on design and usability when I’m shopping.
Here’s why.
For products like electronics and the food you get at a supermarket, a lot of efforts have been made to make comparisons among them extremely simple.
For example, in the European Union, the EU Energy Label makes it crystal clear whether or not your new fridge or washing machine will be energy-efficient.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
The labeling scheme quickly tells us which of our options will save us more money in our electricity bill and which one will have less of a negative environmental impact.
In addition, the EU Energy Label is a simple yet clever way to make us all aware and worry about energy savings in our buying decisions. Every time we’re about to buy an electronic product, the labeling scheme reminds us that energy efficiency is an important factor to keep in mind.
For food, we have standardized nutrition labels to help us decide which breakfast cereal or brand of potato chips is better for us:
Source: fda.gov
The creation of a rating system for usability would appear to be a good solution because, just like with any rating system, it will achieve these two things for buyers:
However, a usability rating system clashes with one of the cardinal points of usability itself: Different users have different needs. In other words, usability isn’t as cut and dry as the number of calories in our potato chips.
Perhaps we could create a usability rating system based on objective qualities related to usability, such as page load time, average clicks it takes to perform a user-action, background/foreground color contrast to measure readability, and so forth. But that type of rating system will only be able to tell a small portion of the entire usability story of a product.
I’ve found myself comparing the features and prices of two or more products on e-commerce sites simply by opening each option in their own browser tab and then just tabbing back and forth between them.
When we are comparison shopping, we can easily count and evaluate features and prices, and then come to a quick conclusion.
The same applies to brick-and-mortar stores, where we can actually see and touch the products we are considering. In stores, feature sheets and salespeople will never miss the opportunity to remind you that if your TV isn’t able to record five TV shows at the same time, you will never achieve happiness in life. And — surprise — the "slightly more expensive" TV right over there has it all. See? It says so right here in the feature sheet.
We do this as well when choosing which web app to sign up for. We can go to each "features" page and "pricing" page and readily decide which app suits us best.
But usability is completely absent from feature sheets because you can’t easily measure it.
Usability is difficult to convey to another person; how can we objectively show that our product is more usable than another? How can a person evaluate usability without first using the product for a significant amount of time?
A product’s list of features and price are easier to use and more readily available to us, so we often default to them for our buying decisions.
I think usability has an opportunity to become a factor in purchasing decisions in the next few years as our design techniques and understanding of user-centered design improves.
As web professionals, we are now much more aware of the importance of usability in the success of our products.
Now we need to figure out how to make usability a significant component in the buying decisions of people.
Daniele Grassi is a UX Designer and CTO of Timeneye Time Tracking, a time tracking web app designed with usability in mind. Follow him on Twitter or on his personal blog.
The post Why It’s So Hard to Make Usability Sexy appeared first on Six Revisions.
]]>Meet Emily. She is a Music major and current Undergraduate Research Award (URA) Scholar. Her current research focuses on the influential American flutist William Kincaid.
How did you find your mentor for your research project?
My flute teacher, Dr. Lisa Cella, suggested that I apply for the URA. We discussed possible projects and decided on one together. It only seemed natural for her to be my mentor after this collaboration.
How did you know that this was the project you wanted to do?
As a flute player, I have always been interested in the history and development of the various styles of playing the flute in different countries. When I learned about William Kincaid, the father of American flute playing, I was fascinated by what I read and desired to learn more.
Is this your first independent research project?
This is not my first independent research project. In my high school, we were expected to successfully complete two twenty-page theses on topics of our own choosing in our junior and senior year. We were assigned faculty mentors to help us hone our topics. This experience greatly prepared me to apply for the Undergraduate Research Award.
Do you get course credit for this work? How much time do you put into it?
I do not receive course credit for this work. I plan to complete much of my research this summer. Part of my research entails attending master classes to interview various flutists who have been influenced by Kincaid’s teaching. Both of these one-week master classes occur in the summer.
How did you hear about the URA Program?
My faculty mentor suggested I apply for the program; I also heard about it from various professors who recommended that I apply.
What academic background did you have before you applied for the URA?
I have played the flute for eight years and I am a music major with a double emphasis in education and performance.
Was the application difficult to do?
For me, the most difficult part of the application was the editing process. I worked closely with my mentor and sent several drafts of my proposal to a few of my professors to get their thoughts. Hearing their insights really helped to hone my proposal.
What has been the hardest part about your research?
For me, the hardest part I think will be pacing myself. I am trying to do most of my research this summer as I have a heavy academic load during the fall and spring semesters.
What was the most unexpected thing?
I did not realize how intensely I had to revise my proposal. Every word had to be purposeful and communicate exactly what I meant. Writing the proposal was a wonderful writing exercise.
How does your research relate to your work in other classes?
My research will greatly aid in my Performance Studies class. My research entails attending several master classes over the summer, which have proven to be both enlightening and challenging.
What else are you involved in on campus?
In addition to my academic classes, I am involved in CRU, Campus Crusade for Christ.
What is your advice to other students about getting involved in research?
I would highly recommend that all students pursue some type of research during their undergraduate years. It is a wonderful opportunity to develop close relationships with professors and it is a great academic experience. It also is a superb addition to any resume.
What are your career goals?
After obtaining my Bachelor’s degree, I would love to pursue a Master’s degree in both Music Education and Music Performance. I also would enjoy teaching music both privately and in an elementary school.
Read Emily's abstract here...
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