[Sigia-l] Faceted classification browsing tool

[Boniface Lau]

> From: sigia-l-admin at asis.org [mailto:sigia-l-admin at asis.org]On
> Behalf Of Listera
> 
[...]
> 
> Let me repeat this one last time, users are *not* designers, they
> are not expected to understand/apply finer points of design.

No one ever said that users are designers. Users just recognize what
is comfortable to read without having to understand or apply the fine
points of design.


[...]
> 
> We don't ask users to design their own pages. Neither do we ask them
> to develop their own applications.

Not at all. We are not asking users to design their own applications.

If the same users can choose font face and size using a word
processor, there is no reason to assume that they are not capable of
choosing font face and size for their browser.


> More to the point, we don't dump all relevant decisions on the user.

Choosing font face and size is not making all relevant decisions.


> Designers get paid to anticipate and solve those potential problems,
> even before the user may get to notice them.

And good designers know where their boundaries are.


[...]
> > 
> > Being a designer doesn't mean one has free rein on the solution
> > space.
> 
> If you want to argue against a straw man, go ahead, because nobody
> has so far suggested that designers should design without any
> contextual considerations.

But you were ignoring constraints such as user font face and size.


[...]
> I don't want to get into a (often repeated) discussion of whether
> design is art, craft or commerce, but here's another data point for
> you: of all the interviews on great writers, photographers,
> musicians, poets, painters, etc., not once did I come across anyone
> claiming that they create for their user, reader, listener,
> audience, etc. Great design, like great art is not reversed
> engineered or poll-driven. Now, not all web design (I think our
> subject matter here) needs to be (great) art, but the notion above
> ought to give you a starting point.

Definitely a starting point for understanding why some designers are
ignoring users' preferences. ;-)


Boniface