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Usability Guru Jakob Nielsen’s Site Not So Usable
By Reshma Kumar at August 20, 2008 8 CommentsThere was a post recently on how “UI Guru Jakob Nielsen’s Site Is Unreadable“. The writer, Hank Williams, states that:
Unfortunately, I have to say, Jakob has perhaps the worst site design I have ever seen. It is as if, while he is handing out the Oscars, he is wearing a plaid polyester suit. In truth his site is fine from an information architecture perspective. But from an aesthetics perspective it is awful. And aesthetics is important in UI. If you begin to look at something and want to avert your eyes, the site has failed.
Although design is usually associated with the graphical presentation of content, the design of a site is a combination of elements such as information architecture, navigation, functionality, as well as aesthetics - all of which determine usability. So, if we do more of one than the other, a site’s usability could be impacted. However, something like aesthetic design is highly subjective and you can’t please everyone. But, there are accepted standards or norms of visual design appeal that meet most users’ liking or at least, don’t evoke strong negative reactions. Nobody wants to look at something that’s not easy on the eye.
Lets face it, we all make mistakes on our sites but I think it’s really dangerous for an influential usability expert to send the wrong message that for a site to be usable it needs to be devoid of visual appeal. Google, who is always blowing their usability horn, has also been criticized for purporting - through their site design - that to be usable, your site needs to look bare and minimalist which they’ve blamed on poor early html skills and site performance. But even their sites have been evolving into more visually appealing formats without sacrificing usability. In fact, that’s part of the challenge and art of design - i.e. striking a balance between form and function.
Labels: usability, user experience
8 Comments
This seems way off course… I have followed Alertbox for years. I consider his stark design to be his brand, not what he is advising us to do. And for his stuff, I think it works well. I always read his summaries. I can’t say that about 95% of the other stuff I get.
The site looks pathetic. I wondered why no one said it sooner.
[...] Hat tip to Web Guild [...]
People go to Jacob’s site to read his articles and to learn about usability issues. He has thousands of followers, over 100,000 inbound links, and tons of quality information on his site.
We don’t visit his site because of its asthetic value. We go to his site to learn from the expert that he certainly is.
Do I care what his site looks like? Uh . . . no. Keep the great info coming, Jacob. Your site is easy to use and full of high quality info. That’s why I visit and subscribe to his newsletter.
If you applied the things Jakob talks about to your web site today it will be a disaster. Jakob thrived in the old world - the rules are different now. There are many fountains of information now. He is like O’Rielly - they failed to evolve and keep up with the web. It maybe too late for them to catch up.
I agree with “Usability God”. Jacob was an innovator albeit a decade ago and has not changed with the times or technology.
Folks I am new in this field. Is Jakob meant to be a guru in this field? Even I can design a site like his. Seriously, I went to the site http://www.useit.com/ and it looks like a spam site. Thank GOD nobody is designing sites based on what I see at useit.com.
I think its about, who is to adapt. Either we can make user adapt to the design or design adapt to the user.
One might have a bad comment about criagslist but it does its work efficiently.
I think jacob’s site is excellent for his purpose.