“Usability dagene 05” day 1 roundup
I really liked Jakob Nielsen’s keynote.
Jon Lund has written two excellent posts that sums up on the two most interesting presentations: Users smile back – the Bon’A Parte learnings, Jakob Nielsen: Usability drives up revenue.
Furthermore, Andreas Johannsen of Synkron CMS gave a good presentation where he (among other things) spoke about whats behind the surface of a usable website. He touched on some important points, that I also focus on: Validation. Valid HTML, CSS and validtation of accessibility standards (WAI).
Other things
Met a lot of persons and just wanted to link to some of the things we talked about.
Online banking: 37BetterBank
We’re frustrated with the online banking experience. Too many screens, too many clicks, too much confusion. But, rather than just complain, we put together our ultimate online bank “my account” page. We call it 37BetterBank and people who’ve seen it call it a big step forward. Visit 37BetterBank.
In case you missed the old Jacob Nielsen Gangsta style cartoon here it is:
Also, there is a fantastic follow-up which is a double edition.
By the way, Jared Spool has a good presentation available as mp3 on his blog BrainSparks. One of the things that caught my attention is that he compares two online hiking shoe retailers. One of them has photos of the shoe soles. Which one do you think sells the most? Jared has the answers.
Technorati tags: usability conference event jakobnielsen okcancel 37signals usabilitydagene
November 30th, 2005 at 13:47 (GMT-1)
With regards to the 37 Better Banking example, I just want to mention that Capgemini in Spain has worked with a client to deliver an accessible web bank. They’ve developed it and user tested with blind people.
December 2nd, 2005 at 13:29 (GMT-1)
Do You have any numbers of the percentage of users using the web bank beeing blind vs. the amount of money put in making it Blind-user-friendly?
It would be interesting to se if there is a need to adress those issues acoss the interne or if someone screwed the pooch….
Love to see that ROI…
December 2nd, 2005 at 14:18 (GMT-1)
I guess you could dig into the server logfile and figure out which user agents are used. I think the majority of users will never be blind or disabled on these types of solutions. However, I think the banking business are on of the examples that can be used here:
Banks have traditionally done a lot to make their physical banks accessible: Wheelchair ramps, bank desks that can be lowered, ATM machines outside that can be used by wheelchair users.
The Danish article here goes in depth “analysis of accessibility politics for financial institutes” : Analyse af pengeinstitutternes handicappolitik from Center for Ligebehandling af Handicappede ( Equal Opportunities Centre for Disabled Persons).
Accessible solutions are definately a topic for this blog, so I encourage readers to share examples
December 5th, 2005 at 16:41 (GMT-1)
I agree with you that its proapably very few blind users who use the website.. specialy because still so few websites support it.
I hear your comparison between offline and online, all thou i dont completly agree with it…
I think you are right regarding there are political and PR-related reasons to make websites blind-ppl friendly …. I thought about that making the prior post, but even including the positive PR etc. – which would be a nightmare to make up in cash – it would be a questionable investement. Thats what i think, in not the expert, and i dont know the numbers.
Above is said by the Cold cash ROI focused guy ;)
If i have to try to be human:
I thinks its a cool interessting idea, and i like it..
The good thing is that the danish goverment has set web-standarts for how goverment websites have to be. (Dublin Core and stuff like that which i dont know that much about).. I think its a great idea. But thats a needed public service, and i think it should be like that :)
December 12th, 2005 at 17:14 (GMT-1)
Hi, I’m one of the guys who worked in the accessible banking services in Spain.
Various points, no numbers (I’m sorry):
1. The Bank has a social compromise with people with dissabilities, not only blind users, also deaf users (In fact, it has a sign language version).
2. As his main channel is the internet, accessibility has benefit making the services accessible for other devices, platforms and browsers that before had problems to access the services. More market.
5. Sincere accessibility: What does want any person (disabled or not?): access to information and… over all, services!!
As other banks say: “We are accessible” but is not a sincere compromise, it’s just an “About Us” accessibility. In this bank, all the key services are accessible.
4. Their brand has been reinforced: they’ve been pioneers, innovators.
5. And don’t forget, Fidelity!
Put yourself in context: If you have a family member who is disabled and a company gives him an accessible service, is probably you simpatize with the company, so it’s easy you also become another satisfied customer.
Accessibility and usability is about solidarity, making human lifes better for good. A lot of empathy, a bit of standards and you are almost done! ;-)
Best regards from Spain!
January 23rd, 2006 at 14:19 (GMT-1)
More on banking user experience. There was a meetup in FDIH (Danish ebusiness assoc.) about online banking November 17th, 2005. Notes are available online (but a bit shallow, in my opinion):
http://fdih.dk/nyheder/referatfrafdihkonferencenonlinebankingden17november2005.aspx