What do they have in common? *pauses* Come to think of it, we don’t really have much of it. We’ve got the standard press button to cross the road, the standard Touch-n-Go tell amount you have left in your card and some other stuff. The places that you’d find investment in usability are those buildings of big corporations or named companies. Example; when going up in the lift of the KL Tower, it tells you how high you’re going and if I remember correctly, a voice would tell you the level you stopped.
In Melbourne, the city has implemented a new cool toy for tram patrons. It’s a device that tells you the next tram arrival and destined route later. Here’s a snapshot of it:
The system hasn’t been fully implemented and is still in testing phase. But this is still quite cool. Now, they’ve went the extra mile with the toy. Below the pole, there’s actually a button you can press that speaks the details out. Convenient and usability. ;)
So, why is usability rare in Malaysia?
So you wanna know why Malaysians take usability lightly?
It’s because our lifestyle doesn’t have much insertion or involvement with it. By the time we adopted it, we were once again behind time and never did put it on our R & D list.
That said already, I don’t blame those who design and develop websites for not knowing any of this. I only learnt about all this when Jonathan Poh mentioned it to me back in college. He’s another web designer but more knowledgeabe than me. And I was but an ignorant student who never took it seriously till the later semesters in college. Since then, I’ve been reading much of the teachings online from various sources like Jeffrey Zeldman, Jakob Nielsen, Douglas Bowman, websites and books.
Learning about usability has taught me to not just look at websites in terms of design but sense and feel what might the visitor demand when using the website. I’ve been analyzing websites posted on forums like LowYat and WebhostingTalkMY to be reviewed by other members, and have found that many aren’t adapting to the standards as well as taking the time to think of how their website is going to be used.
I can understand many clients who disregard this nonsense since all they want is an online presence and I’ve faced members who feel that it’s just a waste of time. However, mentality such as this without change is what keeps us from advancing. I hold my beliefs by explaining to clients and help them understand why standards and usability is important.
If the client turns a death ear, then it isn’t really my lost because I still gain revenue from the job and confidence from trying to switch them. So if you’re about to develop or revamp a current website, please take some time and think about your audience and not just yourself.
A website with good usability not only creates a successful online presence but an enjoyable and satisfying experience for both the visitor and you. If it’s a commercial project, usability helps keep your visitors and turnover new ones.
If you’d like me to analyze or review your website, you could either post it up at any of the forums mentioned or leave a note in the comments. :)
Hei Hie..
I’m updating my blog….
Linking yours to mine.
“It’s a device that tells you the next tram arrival and destined route later” has been fully implemented for train station for years, they started using it for bus stop and tram stop since beginning of last year i think.
The new toy in town is something named IHUB. You can find these small portals in the city, has a huge touch screen where people can get information by pointing into that location. By information i mean public transport, restaurant, toilets etc etc etc.
Alright Cheayee. :) Shall return the favor.
SinArk:
Thanks for the heads up. Though I wonder what’s the interface like and how user-friendly is the device. Hmm..
ho ho…. i’m interested to know what you think about my website… so go ahead and analyze it.. thanks.
Well, let’s take a look at it. :)
It’s quite perfect in design. You managed to tackle a 4-column layout pretty well. The whole blog has been laid out really well with careful attention to colors. One usability issue I felt might be the words compiled before the Remarks link. Some might not assume them as category links. I knew that because I saw the linking URL in the status bar.
The efficiently positioned comment window on the right is really handy. Only problem with it is when you scroll up, it has the possibility of overlaying the Flickr and Related links.
Your archives page doesn’t really have any problems but just 1 tiny one in the individual categories. This one is a matter of personal preference. If you could, probably try having a HR line between each post or a region that clearly defines each post. If you view your comments area, not only have you used a line but also huge space in between them. :)
And lastly, I think the Miscellanea page should either be taken down or a concise expectation should be written so a visitor look forward to it than ignore it later. If it’s possible, include a date or time that it might be up so people will keep looking forward to it.
Hope you’ve found the analyzation useful. Cheers.
Usability in Malaysia everyday life is urm… like u said..not much lar… but in terms of website usability …designing usability is pretty much a problem everywhere as well as Malaysia. Zeldman wrote about it just recently in a post about some design award on his blog.
The thing is, most of the ppl with sites are either ‘too’ much on outlook design (pretty face, no usability) or ‘too’ much on usability (lots of usability, horseshit look). Only a fraction of the designing community have both…like Zeldman. I guess we all have to work towards it eh…
IMO, I’m more of neither one…haha… I design like crap and set up usability pretty much the same way ;)
Usability or rather accessibility in Malaysia is rare mainly because the Government has no legislation in regards to it. There is no fixed law governing the private sector or commercial sector to accomodate disable people. In other words, lawsuits against discrimination doesn’t really exist in Malaysia.
Discrimination. A company in the UK can be sued for discrimination for failing to provide accessible or disabled-friendly everyday facilities. In fact, the EU has strict guidelines in regards to it.
Let’s talk about the web for now. How many disabled users in Malaysia has any access to screen-readers? Or has the ability to acquire special peripherals in regards to it?
I think that simply because there is a distinct lack of users in that sense, that the lobbying of accessible website guidelines is not in place.
I might be wrong on all counts as I have no idea what advances has taken place in the last 2 years.
Usability in Malaysia is pretty crap really… road signs are placed in areas where they are hard to read or don’t make any sense at all.. traffic lights all use different standards of displaying information… but if talking about the web Malaysia is not alone.
Its not easy to define something like “usability”. Sure we have standards, theories etc. But from my experience they hardly ever translate to real life usage as efficient as they are in theory.
The most efficient usable method isn’t necessary the best. Familiarity plays a key role, if the majority is very used to a certain method of doing things. I.e. Dvorak keyboards vs Qwerty keyboards.
Aesthetics are important too. So what if your damn application/site follows all the usability theories if it looks ugly like toad(though some may find toads cute).
So balance your aesthetics and usability… don’t get all hyped up following usability theories and such. Use what works best for your target audience.
BTW danny, i think the recent comments at the top is pretty distracting. Comments should be read after the article, having them appear before the article doesn’t seem right.
A-ha, here’s the thing. The way I look at usability right now is the common sense, human behaviour and other methods naturally done by a user. So for instance, Hawk mentioned the recent comments above the post is distracting. This is an example of the reaction and form of user testing required to identify usability. :)
“Sorry about that, Hawk, will remove it. Doesn’t work for those without TypeKey anyway. sigh..”
As for usability online or offline, all I’m trying to say is that we in Malaysia don’t have any concern in it because our lifestyle never taught us that. To me, there are subtle implications that can related to usability offline and online. The behaviour of a human towards an interface, a machine is the usability that can be brought forth to the web if taken the time.
The reason many Flash websites aren’t user-friendly is because they want interactive, they want to look good, they want this and that. Not many have successfully married both design and usability for Flash.
We don’t need the government to teach us, we can teach one another and learn it easily by just noticing some things. Next time you shop at the supermarket, imagine if the plastic dispenser is in an appropriate place or if you’re buying fish, is there a basin placed nearby for you?
These little things I find is my theory to usability. :)
Hello Danny, how come you thought my website is a 4-column layout? It’s a 2-column layout… at least i think it is.. hehehe… how come i dont see 2 more column?
Well, I imagined the navigation is plain text without the box around it and noticed the placement of the post date. It made me realize there’s actually 2 ‘hidden’ columns there on the left. Sometimes in a magazine, we never realize there’s more columns than were expected because we think the content defines the column layout. :)
Cheers.
Thanks Danny :)