Progressive Disclosure

[email protected] (Jakob Nielsen) Mon, 04 Dec 2006 07:00:00 -0800
Newsgroups gmane.comp.web.alertbox
Message-ID <SPARKLIST-7313542-5321181-2006.12.04-07.00.09--gcwa-alertbox#[email protected]>
Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox for December 4 is now online at:
  > http://www.useit.com/alertbox/progressive-disclosure.html
		
Summary:
Progressive disclosure defers advanced or rarely used features to a
secondary screen, making applications easier to learn and less
error-prone.

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Usability Week 2007 conference

  > Hong Kong, March 5-9
  > Washington, DC, April 22-27
  > London, May 6-11
  > San Francisco, June 18-23

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

10 specialized full-day tutorials:
  > Fundamental Guidelines for Web Usability
  > Application Usability (2 days)
  > Intranet Usability (2 days)
  > B2B Sites
  > Websites That Sell
  > Presenting Company Information on Corporate Websites
  > E-Mail Newsletter Usability
  > Writing for the Web

  > http://www.nngroup.com/events

At our last conference, we had one day with application design guidelines.
It got good feedback scores, but most people commented that they wanted
more details, more examples, and more in-depth guidelines. So for 2007,
we're expanding application usability to a two-day tutorial.

See, I do read the feedback forms - and act on them.

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Top-10 Book

The book I recently wrote with Hoa Loranger, "Prioritizing Web Usability,"
was selected as one of Amazon's ten best books of 2006 in the Computers &
Internet category:

  > http://tinyurl.com/ym5eqk

The ITALIAN edition was published under the title "Web Usability 2.0:
L'usabilità che conta." While I dislike the "2.0" moniker in other
contexts, it's descriptive of this book, which updates the guidelines from
my early books with the findings from our recent studies.

  > http://www.apogeonline.com/libri/88-503-2539-8

The JAPANESE edition is being published this week:

  > http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/4844358928

The SPANISH edition is also out:

  > http://agapea.com/Usabilidad-Prioridad-en-el-diseno-Web-n629275i.htm

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Irrelevant "Related" Search Results

I tried an ego search for my own name on Microsoft's new Live Search site
(search.live.com). The image search helpfully presents a list of related
people in the right column. In my case, 16 people were listed, including
Albert Einstein, Martin Luther, and Benito Mussolini.

At least the list contained more Nobel prize laureates than war criminals,
but not a single one was even remotely relevant to me. Where was Don
Norman, for example, who co-occurs with me on thousands of Web pages?

Microsoft: you must do better to beat the current market leader. "Related
people" is a great search feature, but only if it dredges up people who
are actually related to the user's query.

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Old Users Are Valuable Users

Old people form a huge customer base for the music industry, according to
the New York Times, even though the industry mainly ignores them in its
incessant chase after young people. People aged 50 or more account for 24%
of Internet music sales. Can you afford to throw away 24% of your revenue
because you don't like customers with gray hair?

Full NYT article at:
  > http://tinyurl.com/yfj3r7

Guidelines for making your site suitable for older users:
  > http://www.nngroup.com/reports/seniors