Comments on: Trade Your Website

By: Joel Mark Witt

Joel Mark Witt — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 01:20:25 +0000

@Conrad

I have to laugh at your story. I’ve been in the same situation – from both sides. I was recently helping a friend test some social media tracking software. He was VERY frustrated that I didn’t get the interface right away like him. I reminded him that his team built this and it was only my first time. Needless to say it was difficult for me and I’ve stuck with using Hootsuite as a result.

~ Joel Mark Witt

By: Joel Mark Witt

Joel Mark Witt — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 01:15:36 +0000

Laura,

This is an excellent idea! I think we will be very suprised by the things we take for granted on our site. Because I live and breath on there I expect everyone else to know their way around too. Thanks.

~ Joel Mark Witt

By: Is your web site working? | Web Site Design, SEO, Internet Marketing, and Training for Small Business

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 07:27:37 +0000

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By: Elizabeth Cottrell

Elizabeth Cottrell — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 22:22:57 +0000

Excellent advice! I had the same problem with people saying they were having trouble leaving comments. It’s important to try to see our site through other eyes.

By: Laura

Laura — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 18:12:38 +0000

Yes Ian that’s a great example! There are a lot of things like clicking on a blog title that are standard to more experienced blog readers, but are really difficult to figure out when you’re new.

By: Conrad Walton

Conrad Walton — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 20:47:17 +0000

I used to work for a video game company, building their web sites. They had a test lab where they brought in people to test the video games. It had a one way mirror, like in the movies, and trained professionals that did the testing. They knew not to lead or to help or make faces or call the test subjects idiots.

We built a site for teachers, so they brought in some teachers to use it. Our team sat in awe as these people couldn’t do the simplest things! We were all shocked. We wanted to scream, from behind the mirror “Just click that button! It’s right there!!!”.

I thought I knew about user interfaces until that experience. I was humbled. The whole team started to approach design a different way.

No matter what you think you know about your design, you won’t know anything until you watch someone else use it.

Just try not to yell at them when you do it.

By: Jeremy Bryant

Jeremy Bryant — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 04:56:36 +0000

Great ideas to think about. I like James idea about finding someone who may not be as savvy as one who is constantly online. I’m sure you would get great feedback.

Thanks Laura for an awesome post

By: Ian

Ian — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:35:45 +0000

It’s amazing how we presume that using our websites is obvious. I had a friend tell me that there was no place to leave comments on my blog articles simply because he did not know to click on the title and fully open the post. I learnt a lot from that about assuming things.

By: James Erickson

James Erickson — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 19:09:15 +0000

Laura,

More awesome stuff as usual! I like to use my mom as my test subject because I know that if she can figure it out, anyone can!