[Sigia-l] length of nav labels

[Jared M. Spool]

At 12:39 PM 8/10/2005, Listera wrote:

>Jared M. Spool:
>
> > Do you have a good way of distinguishing between the two?
>
>No, I don't. Because, to me, there's one and only one kind of designer: a
>person who solves problems. The problem could be strategic, architectural,
>interaction pattern based, usability oriented, visual, cosmetic, etc., or,
>most likely, combination of all. Segregation of Design into little
>disjointed fiefdoms by label-mongers is something I've been fighting against
>for over a decade.

Same, which is why we adopted the use of designer to include anyone on the 
team who has influence over the resulting design. It's exceptionally broad, 
but without a better term, it will have to suffice for now.

>A practitioner who doesn't study and understand users is not a Designer.

Well, I'd like to think that's true. Unfortunately, our experience with our 
clients doesn't bear that out. (At least, it doesn't bear true for people 
who refer to themselves as Designer.)

> > (For example, where would you find our on-site advisory courses, where 
> we work
> > with a team to help them learn new techniques?
>
>Services.

Huh. Not Events, where our courses are listed?


> > Or where would you find a transcript of a recent talk I gave in
> > Seattle?)
>
>Publications.

Huh, not Events, where our talks are described?

My point is that our labels suck. I know this. And when I can break away 
from our client responsibilities and other business issues long enough, 
we'll come up with a better way to divide up our content. And, I'm guessing 
we'll have to gravitate to something that contains more than one word. 
Maybe even as many as seven.

> > However, specific to whitespace and information density, our research also
> > shows that whitespace (non-information bearing space) is inversely related
> > to task success.
>
>I live to refute such research.

Me too. So far, I haven't been successful. But, I'll keep trying.

> > In other words, denser pages tend to do better. It's an artifcat of the
> > limited space in a browser window and the demands of information research.
>
>Browser window is infinitely extensible in one direction, and people do
>scroll if/when they are given an incentive to do so.

Yuppers. And our research has shown that lots of whitespace actually 
reduces their incentive. (Old article, but it gets into some of the issues: 
http://www.uie.com/articles/page_scrolling/ Maybe it's time I update it a 
bit? The research is the same, but examples are way different now.)

> > I can't judge whether something is a good design or not, per se. I can only
> > judge whether something measures well. That's what I do for a living:
> > measure things.
>
>Fair enough. But as I think you can appreciate, without precisely explaining
>the context within which the phrase was used ("It tests well") you'd be
>contributing to the urban folklore that denser pages always lead to "better"
>results. While that may be true for certain *tasks,* it's patently absurd as
>a general rule, which gets circulated enough to confuse non-discerning
>practitioners.

The urban folklore doesn't need my help. It seems to populate itself with 
unfortunate misunderstandings all by itself. I find it hard to believe I'm 
a major contributor in any way, but who knows? Maybe I have more reach than 
I realize.

It all comes down to what works in *your* design with *your* users. Just 
because something tests well in other places doesn't mean it will work in 
your context. It doesn't matter what I saw that tests well, except that 
maybe, something I've found could be useful in your design, with 
adjustments. You'll need to test your own designs to find out.

I try to say that as often as I can. I'm sure I can say it more.

> >> Let me ask you this: is vanilla ice cream better?
> >
> > Better than what? ;-)
>
>That's the whole of point of design, isn't it!

Wow. That's zen.

Jared

Jared M. Spool
User Interface Engineering
http://www.uie.com    jspool at uie.com

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