The key challenge in designing part-page updates is making sure people see them. Full Article on DigitalWeb.com >>
Finally - some input from the usability world to possibly temper some of the hype around “Web 2.0” applications.
IA/Interaction Designer Donna Maurer’s article for DigitalWeb.com isn’t apparently based on hard usability-lab type research, but does feature some recommendations for developers working on “rich internet applications”:
- Go slowly, adding richness where it significantly improves usability, and relying on traditional models where these better suit your user group.
- People must be able to identify that a control exists and easily determine how to use it.
- Visual attention is attracted by movement and high color contrast (that’s why bright, animated banner ads are so distracting—our eyes are constantly pulled toward them). We can use this to our advantage and draw the eye to the updated part of the page.
- Don’t disable the back button, reducing users’ control of their situation.
I hope to see more input from the usability world around these types of applications, as I know we web-heads tend to get excited over new ways of doing things, sometimes to the detriment of our users.
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