I've used pairs while doing rapid paper prototype testing. We get two people in to do the test and ask them to talk aloud and note the conversation - the ...
2142
Jeff Patton
jeff621
Jul 10, 2006 10:15 pm
Just now a coworker asked me a question on inputing numbers into a text box... the form is asking for a number that can be up to 8 digits long. He asked what...
2143
Jon Meads
jonmeads
Jul 11, 2006 12:20 am
Jeff, Regardless of what the developers would like, the correct answer remains, "it depends". Anyone seeking who wants to use "rules of thumb" instead of ...
2144
Tobias Mayer
tobiasgmayer
Jul 11, 2006 12:30 am
Jeff, John, I am not in favour of "rules of thumb" either, but in this particular case would one of you provide a concrete example of when it would NOT be a...
2145
Jon Meads
jonmeads
Jul 11, 2006 1:00 am
Tobias, If the user has the number in a different format than that expected by the implementers (e.g., has leading zeroes or a non-significant set of lead ...
2146
Jeff Patton
jeff621
Jul 11, 2006 2:15 am
Hi Tobias, Hmm. let's see if I can come up with a couple of reasons where it might be a bad idea: The application as a whole has lots of places where numbers...
2147
Tobias Mayer
tobiasgmayer
Jul 11, 2006 2:20 am
Thanks Jon... ... This implied that there were no leading non-significant characters, but only up to eight digits, so I'm not sure your first example is valid...
2148
Jon Meads
jonmeads
Jul 11, 2006 4:01 am
See notes below -- jon _____ From: agile-usability@yahoogroups.com [mailto:agile-usability@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Tobias Mayer Sent: Monday, July 10,...
2149
Desilets, Alain
alain_desilets
Jul 11, 2006 1:37 pm
I can't speak to the rules of thumbs thing, but I think "it depends" IS the right answer. For example, if the N-digit number happens to be a credit card...
2150
Desilets, Alain
alain_desilets
Jul 11, 2006 2:05 pm
... From: agile-usability@yahoogroups.com [mailto:agile-usability@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Tobias Mayer Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 8:31 PM To:...
2151
Pascal Roy
pascal_roy_1967
Jul 11, 2006 5:01 pm
I think you can have it both ways: 1- if you just enter the numbers without the spaces, the software could put the spaces for you when it reaches the...
2152
Desilets, Alain
alain_desilets
Jul 11, 2006 5:21 pm
IMHO, Web interaction as it is implemented now by a large majority of sites really sucks big time. I hope that rich client side technologies will improve...
2153
Tobias Mayer
tobiasgmayer
Jul 11, 2006 6:21 pm
Thanks everyone for the examples. A few remarks on user studies... ... Clearly not, I would agree. ... This being an Agile Usablity list, that seems a fair...
2154
Pascal Roy
pascal_roy_1967
Jul 11, 2006 6:53 pm
Alain, I agree with you completely. More interactivity does not necessarily mean a more usable site. Highly interactivite technologies could and are used to ...
2155
Desilets, Alain
alain_desilets
Jul 11, 2006 7:11 pm
It seems to me that much of what is discussed on this list falls more in the category of Design than Field work. I think Design is a good thing, as long as you...
2156
Desilets, Alain
alain_desilets
Jul 11, 2006 7:13 pm
Here's another one in the vein of X vs Y. Back in May, I faciliated a short Agile-UCD exercise à la Jeff Patton, at the Ottawa XP chapter. The exercise used...
2157
Desilets, Alain
alain_desilets
Jul 11, 2006 7:30 pm
! was mostly expressing my high level of frustration about Web apps in general which I believe are much worse than traditional non web applications (and that's...
2158
Elizabeth Whitworth
eliz_nz
Jul 11, 2006 9:18 pm
Hello Jeff, There is a growing body of UX/UI patterns that can provide some guidance in design. Related to your specific problem, the following seem relevant ...
2159
Desiree Sy
desireesy
Jul 11, 2006 9:41 pm
... [...] ... Yes, this type of work can be done more quickly. The approach that our team takes is a blended just-in-time set of incremental formative...
2160
Jon Meads
jonmeads
Jul 11, 2006 10:45 pm
From below: Maybe my implementation, initially, would be restricted by my imagination, but once a user sees what I offer he has the chance to know very clearly...
2161
Jeff Patton
jeff621
Jul 11, 2006 10:54 pm
Thanks Elizabeth - that's exactly what I was looking for. -Jeff ... guidance in ... relevant ... error ... to ... Central ... products.asp) from ... the kind ...
2162
David LaRue
nature_lover...
Jul 11, 2006 10:54 pm
... Alain, I'm enjoying this discussion. I do slightly resent the implication that pointers in C/C++ are somehow a bad thing. A good design in any language or...
2163
Jared M. Spool
jmspool
Jul 12, 2006 3:22 am
... Damn, I hate that phrase. * This is such a cop-out. Nobody is every happy when they hear this. For a collection of professionals who spend tremendous...
2164
Tim Wright
crazy_timnz
Jul 12, 2006 4:11 am
I agree, but many times we can't give an answer to every question we get asked. Imagine you get asked "radio buttons or check boxes?". I can't answer that. It...
2165
Tobias Mayer
tobiasgmayer
Jul 12, 2006 4:49 am
I like "it depends" because it is the truth. It nearly always does depend... on people, on context, on environment, on application, on users, on many, many...
2166
Chris Pehura
cpehura
Jul 12, 2006 5:47 am
Instead of rules of thumb, I demonstrate how solutions evolve into other solutions that appear to have a different structure. Is there a formal name to this...
2167
Ron Jeffries
ronaldejeffries
Jul 12, 2006 8:39 am
... So, let me see, you're looking for something that will distill the experience of many years of someone like Larry Constantine or Jeff Patton, which has...
2168
PaulOldfield1@...
pauloldfield1
Jul 12, 2006 9:03 am
(responding to Jon) ... I remember being similarly outraged, a good few years ago now, when somebody (Ron Jeffries, I think) started expounding that you ...
2169
PaulOldfield1@...
pauloldfield1
Jul 12, 2006 9:10 am
(responding to Jared) ... The problem is that there are so few truly universally best practices. Even saying "It depends" is not correct in ALL circumstances...
2170
Darren
dchew79
Jul 12, 2006 11:46 am
As a UI designer, I agree with the 'it depends' answer. However this is not to say that there aren't any resources available to help with making UI design...
