Tis the season to think about user experience
December is upon us and that means shopping for lots of us. Long lines, tired credit cards, and crazy parking lots await you… unless of course you shop online. When you shop online you get exposed to a different navigation structure almost every-time you go to a new site. Not much different than when you visit the brick and mortar store except figuring out a brick and mortar store layout is a lot easier than an online store in most cases. Why is that (no answer here, just wondering)?
There is a good conversation over on Drew’s site in regards to supermarket usability. But imagine if you did everything online? That would make things interesting. After spending that much time online it must become easier to figure out online stores.
Perhaps an explanation or at least an understanding can be found reading Mike Rundle’s On User Experience: Part 1. In that article are so good thoughts on user interaction, ergonomics, etc. Looking forward to part 2. Careful not to use the phrase beyond Usability though. Of course you really can’t adequately judge a good interface until you spend some time with it.
Now off to play in the snow 