Re: UCD and Innovation

To answer Gilbert's question:

> Also, given that mail order worked well for 1.5 centuries 
> with some thing called an order form, one wonders where all 
> this shopping cart nonsense came from in the first place.

It came along about 0.5 centuries later when Clarence Saunders opened
the first self-service store in 1916.

There are times when innovation is suitable and times when incremental
change is more appropriate. Bringing internet shopping to the masses was
a time for incremental change. In this respect, the shopping basket
metaphor has at least three advantages over mail order:

- In the later part of the 20th century mail order was not nearly as
popular as "physical" shopping
- The shopping basket metaphor allows more visual clues than the mail
order domain (the shopping basket and checkout/cash register)
- A "virtual store" (with shopping basket) offers a more immediate
experience. Many mail order customers would be accustomed to posting an
order and then waiting weeks for delivery. Sites like Amazon were trying
to sell the idea of almost-instantaneous gratification.

I think it will be a while before an truly innovative approach can be
applied to internet shopping without a major risk of alienating less
sophisticated users.

BTW, the red dots in art galleries are a very low-tech way of indicating
whether the item in question is still available. If it's a series of 50
prints and there are 48 red dots (you have to count them), then there
are two left. I hope I don't see this approach on a web site anytime
soon<g>.

Regards,

William Hudson
Syntagm Ltd
Design for Usability
US Toll Free 1-866-SYNTAGM
UK 01235-522859
World +44-1235-522859
mailto:[email protected]
http://www.syntagm.co.uk

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