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Ecommerce Design Tips
Monday, February 25, 2008
A while ago, frustrated at writing the same things over and over when doing an Expert Review usability document I decided I was going to create a pattern of design tips using a wiki.
I thought at very least, if I worked on the content long enough then rather than having to explain what I meant by Design One, Two, Three or Primary Actions or Web Sites Are Journeys Not Structures, then I’d be able to, boiler-plate-style, slap together the relevant concepts and be able to:
Explain a concept to do with usability or information architecture
Have links to the relevant research
Have images that showed what I meant
The plan was that all I’d have to do is describe why something was relevant to their site. The plan was to make writing usability reports much less arduous.
So What Went Wrong?
The first thing that went wrong was a classic and all my fault. I started by listing everything I thought was important and then failed to write up the content. How many times has a project failed because of this tendency, to want everything in?! Hell, I even have a tip called DeathByHierarchyAndGoodIntentions that points out just this problem of over-ambition… I am an idiot (please quote me). Guy calls this the Magic of the Content Fairy, which is a better name by far.
The second thing that went wrong was the tool. You knew this was coming didn’t you? Well, the tool I used was Wikka Wiki, which although adequate has a terrible editor, making adding images a pain and little to no spam protection.
The third thing that went wrong was spam. Megabytes of it.
The fourth thing that went wrong was to do with motivation. Whilst I really needed a large library of connected usability tips, nobody else did and so participation was slim to none. I didn’t design how I expected to engage a creative audience and lull them into contributing.
This is often the worst aspect of most wikis, it’s the “Why should I contribute?” factor that if you don’t have an answer to then why is your wiki even online?
In conclusion…
After removing the spam with a blunderbuss and some tweezers I still want to flesh out the pages. Lots of the ideas still stand (for me at least) in the sense that lots of people are still making the same fundamental usability cock-ups.
Although my attempt at using a wiki to create a design pattern crashed and burned, I still think it’s a good idea™.
After struggling with MediaWiki (you can’t grow to love PHP you know), I’ve rediscovered MoinMoin which is python powered (I’ve already fixed a few bugs) and I’m delighted with what it can do. A new wiki is on it’s way and this time I’m not going to kill it with good intentions, I’m just going to let it evolve like germs on a chopping board.
I thought at very least, if I worked on the content long enough then rather than having to explain what I meant by Design One, Two, Three or Primary Actions or Web Sites Are Journeys Not Structures, then I’d be able to, boiler-plate-style, slap together the relevant concepts and be able to:
Explain a concept to do with usability or information architecture
Have links to the relevant research
Have images that showed what I meant
The plan was that all I’d have to do is describe why something was relevant to their site. The plan was to make writing usability reports much less arduous.
So What Went Wrong?
The first thing that went wrong was a classic and all my fault. I started by listing everything I thought was important and then failed to write up the content. How many times has a project failed because of this tendency, to want everything in?! Hell, I even have a tip called DeathByHierarchyAndGoodIntentions that points out just this problem of over-ambition… I am an idiot (please quote me). Guy calls this the Magic of the Content Fairy, which is a better name by far.
The second thing that went wrong was the tool. You knew this was coming didn’t you? Well, the tool I used was Wikka Wiki, which although adequate has a terrible editor, making adding images a pain and little to no spam protection.
The third thing that went wrong was spam. Megabytes of it.
The fourth thing that went wrong was to do with motivation. Whilst I really needed a large library of connected usability tips, nobody else did and so participation was slim to none. I didn’t design how I expected to engage a creative audience and lull them into contributing.
This is often the worst aspect of most wikis, it’s the “Why should I contribute?” factor that if you don’t have an answer to then why is your wiki even online?
In conclusion…
After removing the spam with a blunderbuss and some tweezers I still want to flesh out the pages. Lots of the ideas still stand (for me at least) in the sense that lots of people are still making the same fundamental usability cock-ups.
Although my attempt at using a wiki to create a design pattern crashed and burned, I still think it’s a good idea™.
After struggling with MediaWiki (you can’t grow to love PHP you know), I’ve rediscovered MoinMoin which is python powered (I’ve already fixed a few bugs) and I’m delighted with what it can do. A new wiki is on it’s way and this time I’m not going to kill it with good intentions, I’m just going to let it evolve like germs on a chopping board.
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