Evolution of Gmail chat

This is a very cool article. Nika Smith explains just how Gmail chat came to be. Here’s an excerpt.
“Often, the features we launch seem so simple that you might think they’re the result of blatantly obvious design decisions. In fact, every feature is subjected to a healthy dose of scrutiny within the Gmail team, and [...]

Nielsen’s latest Alertbox

Mr. Nielsen does a great job at keeping us honest in his latest Alertbox article for June 23, 2008.
Here’s a sample.
“We often observe users who hesitate before clicking or initially misinterpret information, but then correct themselves before they get into trouble. In such cases, it’s tempting for the design team to simply utter a collective [...]

Manipulating time and space

New Media Buzz has done a very good retrospective on one of Jared Spool’s recent speeches. The article focuses on “…how important manipulating time and space is for the user experience. And if you look at TV and Film, a lot of the concepts…have been practically applied for more than a century: and we all [...]

Don’t listen to your users…watch them

I’ve posted in the past that users don’t always answer questions or choices truthfully. I’m not suggesting that they lie, but merely guessing incorrectly. Jakob Nielsen explains how this idea relates to usability studies in his article, First Rule of Usability? Don’t Listen to Users. Here’s an excerpt.
“Too frequently, I hear about companies basing their [...]

Imagine the ideal first–just like Jef Raskin

Jef Raskin was to computer science (specifically human interface design) what Einstein was to physics. While the rest of the industry imagined computers as gangly rigid beasts, Jef didn’t understand why they couldn’t be as simple as he imagined. As Mr. Raskin states, “Where they saw huge, wild behemoths, I saw tiny, tame household pets.” [...]