Variability in User Performance

Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox for May 15 is now online at:
  > http://www.useit.com/alertbox/performance_variability.html
	
Summary:
When doing website tasks, the slowest 25% of users take 2.4 times as long
as the fastest 25% of users. This difference is much higher than for other
types of computer use; only programming shows a greater disparity.

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Usability Week 2006 conference

  > London, May 21-26
  > San Francisco, June 19-24
  > Sydney, July 16-21

In-depth training:
  > 3-day Intensive Camp: Usability in Practice
  > 3-day Immersion: Tog on Interaction Design

Specialized tutorials:
  > Eyetracking Web Usability
  > Fundamental Guidelines for Web Usability
  > B2B Websites
  > Presenting Company Information on Corporate Websites
  > Wish Lists and Gift-Giving in E-Commerce
  > Writing for the Web (two days)
  > E-Mail Newsletter Usability
  > Intranet Usability (two days)

More info and full program:
  > http://www.nngroup.com/events

Registration deadline is THIS FRIDAY, May 19 for:
   * London - save £140
   * San Francisco - 10% lower early-bird rate

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My new book, "Prioritizing Web Usability," was a top seller in the online
book stores last week and reached bestseller rank #23 out of all books on
Amazon.co.uk.
	
Possibly as a result of cracking the top-25, Amazon UK reduced the book to
50% off. Unfortunately, because of shipping charges, it only works to get
the book from the UK if you are based there or in Western Europe.

  > http://www.useit.com/prioritizing

Once you get the book please post a review to your favorite online book
store.

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MOBILE BROWSING

The Nokia E61 phone has an interesting innovation for small-screen
browsing: a "mini-map" overview of the Web page that you can use to
quickly locate the part of the page you want to read. If users are
targeted and determined during traditional Web browsing, they are
*extremely* directed during mobile browsing, where they typically need
something very specific for their current circumstances.

The "Back" feature shows a list of thumbnails of previously visited pages,
making it easy to jump back several steps in one operation - at least if
you can recognize the place you want to return to.

The key point is not so much these specific features as it is the
recognition that mobile Web use is different than Web use on a PC. We need
different browser features, but we also need different site design.

Note: I am not endorsing or recommending Nokia. I don't own one and I
don't know how good the new phone is in use. I discussed mobile browsing
recently with Virpi Roto, a Nokia usability researcher, who let me try the
UI. I was impressed, but that's not the same as having done a real study
or having used it for an extended period as opposed to a few minutes.