Good Usability – Not an Accident, a Decision!
By: Joanne | November 12, 2008 | Category: General
Today, in celebration of World Usability Day on Thursday, Nov. 13, we welcome Nicole Burton as our guest blogger. Nicole is a usability specialist at the General Services Administration on the USA.gov Web Best Practices Team, where she helps web teams makes their websites easy to use. Nicole is a playwright, publisher author, and certified usability specialist.
![potato peeler](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20090115190338im_/http://blog.usa.gov/roller/govgab/resource/images/potato_peeler.jpg)
Why are some websites are easy to use and others drive you crazy? Why do some kitchen gadgets feel so good in your hand while others lead straight to the first aid kit?
Why do some city street signs guide you while others cause crashes?
The answer: Good user experiences are planned. Twelve years ago, I discovered usability while working as a tech writer at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. At a conference, the presenter showed us how to test a computer system design with real users using nothing but paper! I realized that doing several rounds of testing and design early on was the key to making a system or website easy to use. I’ve never looked back.
On Thursday, November 13, 2:00-3:00 pm ET, the National Institute of Standards and Technology is offering a free webinar on how to write great usability requirements. It’s part of World Usability Day, an international event to draw the public’s attention to the benefits of good usability.
Usability engineers (yep, it’s a real job title) help build ease of use into websites and other products. We usually earn at least a masters degree or certification, but experience is the best qualification, and lots of people master usability basics. For tips to get started and usability guidelines, check out Usability.gov and Webcontent.gov.
Be warned: Once you start looking for good and bad usability, your world will never be the same. TV remote controls, doorways, websites will all announce whether they’re easy or hard to use.
Actually, usability awareness is good. As consumers, we send a powerful message to government and industry when we choose to use websites that are easy to use and avoid or critique those that waste our time.
Remember, good usability isn’t an accident, it’s a decision!
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