What Is Usability?
I've been working on some of my marketing materials and put together this short, introductory blurb about usability. I'd love to get feedback on it:Remember how technology was supposed to make our lives easier? These days, it seems like we spend more time trying to figure out our gadgets than we save using them. Even recently, modern technology was rarely designed for the people who use it. Fortunately, designers and engineers are finally beginning to understand the need to focus on the human element. Usability is, simply put, the science of making technology work for people.
Dr. Pete
· Wednesday, February 20@James: It's really hard to define usability without "use" or "user" (even Nielsen's definition has "use" in it), which feels like cheating to me. This is actually an introductory paragraph to a marketing piece, so it's admittedly a little wordy. It's all just sort of an excuse to give the short definition at the end.
Mike Maddaloni - The Hot Iron
· Thursday, February 21So would that make artists scientists? :)
I like the definition!
mp/m
Dr. Pete
· Thursday, February 21@Mike: I was going to say "the art and science", but unless you're a designer, clients don't like to pay for art :)
Maybe I should change my byline to "Dr. Pete - Mad Scientist of Usability".
Tim Courtney
· Tuesday, February 26Pete - Good definition. One thing to incorporate, perhaps deeper in your materials, is something akin to Aza Raskin's philosophy on user interfaces (I know I'm really, really butchering it, but it goes something like this:) the best user interfaces disappear to the user to the point where you're just doing, and don't realize there's an interface there. I took this away from his talk at the MITEF a few months ago.
Dr. Pete
· Tuesday, February 26@Tim: I should dig that one up; I really like the simple definitions. Once specialists start breaking it into 5 parts and the definition takes up half a page, I think it quickly becomes clear why too many clients still don't get usability.
Tim Courtney
· Tuesday, February 26Also, consider a visual illustration. Show something decidedly unusable on one screen, and elegant and usable on the next.
Russ
· Tuesday, February 26I think your definition is missing something rather significant.
Currently, technology IS usable by people.
However, is it usable by THE RIGHT PEOPLE and is it EASY?
Simply put, Usability is making technology work for a determined/defined group of people with the lowest possible learning curve.
I think that can be massaged more, too--and I understand why you're trying to keep it simple.
Try it with this image.
Dr. Pete
· Wednesday, February 27@Russ: I just bought a laptop with Vista and Office 2007, so that image is all too familiar :)
I admit my definition isn't complete; I'm aiming it more at people who have little or no idea what usability is about. My primary point, though, is that technology is still often designed for technology's sake, as if the thing itself is an accomplishment.
Ron Patiro
· Friday, April 11What context is this going to be used? A landing page, a whitepaper, etc.? It is important to address that before deciding how much room you can give yourself to write creatively.
jameszol
· Wednesday, February 20I'm a fan of simplicity so I like you to tell me what usability is right away...then, I don't mind reading an explanation if I have more time...so this would suffice for me:
"Usability is the science of making technology work for people."
I really like the definition found in the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing...perhaps you can dress this up, make it shorter and more succinct...try summing it up in 10 words or less:
"The effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction with which users can achieve tasks in a particular environment of a product. High usability means a system is: easy to learn and remember; efficient, visually pleasing and fun to use; and quick to recover from errors."
I need to take my own advice for my site and blog posts...maybe I should make the books about copy editing and writing a priority... :)