The Web Usability Expert Conflict

Web usability is big business. Companies striving for competitive advantage quickly acknowledge the customer interface as a point of advantage/disadvantage and are prepared to throw money at it.

Like SEO, which is well over ten years old, it is considered a relatively new field. Hey, everything is new until you hear about it and as it gathers momentum the early birds will monetize the industry to within an inch of it's life.

So what's the scoop? Well most people who talk and write about usability have no idea. Take the most popular usability site on the web, useit.com.

Now look at this page http://www.useit.com/papers/noncommand.html - it's a disgrace. It's fails on just about every measure of usability - but written by a usability expert.

Like the mechanic has a clapped out car, or the dentist has rotten teeth, how can we listen to what you say when what you do is in direct conflict?

This is a relatively easy question to answer. When people don't know much about a subject then it is easy to blabber on as if you are an expert, as long as you tell people you are an expert they will more likely believe you.

So when things abstract themselves from common sense and your reality seems fuzzy and somewhat undefined, it is because you have a wanker calling themselves a usability expert blowing wind where the sun don't shine.

My advice is to take it all with a grain of salt and most importantly stick to what you believe to be common sense