[Sigia-l] the lesser importance of home pages -> more splash pagefun?

[Lyle Kantrovich]

On 12/18/05, Listera <listera at rcn.com> wrote:
> Here's a "minimalist" design favored by Jared, in his own words:

Jared never claimed to speak for all usability folks, nor did anyone
dub that site the best example of minimalist design.  Nevertheless,
Chris Fahey did a good job of explaining some of the good aspects of
the site.  Thanks for helping to prove my point.

> > Please quit smearing "usability testers".
>
> Why?

I happen to care about the credibility of the usability profession,
and the IA profession as well.  What you do about your credibility is
your own concern. Just don't expect the people you misrepresent to sit
idly by.

> > Just because you put a smiley after it doesn't make it humor or less
> > accusatory.
>
> I accuse them of all sorts of things frequently, with or without smileys.

...and facts and fairness seem to be optional as well...

> > One of Nielsen's heuristics is "Aesthetic and minimalist design:
> > Dialogues should not...
>
> What dialogs have to do with homepage design (the subject of this thread)
> escapes me. As is the notion that anyone should pay any attention to Nielsen
> on anything concerning aesthetics and design.

I knew this was coming.  Evidently you think Nielsen could NEVER be
right...  Better to discount all he says than to actually consider the
merit of his ideas and arguments.  Your attitude is similar to that of
folks I've talked to who delete any SIGIA post from anyone named Ziya
(and I've talked to a number of them).  They are as wrong as you are
in this case.

Of course Nielsen's heuristics were created some time ago, and have to
be adapted to web design.  If you'd scanned the Boxes and Arrows
article, your question would've been answered.

> > Useful isn't equal to usable.
>
> In design terms, that *is* humorous.

How so?  The terms are highly related but not equivalent.  Homepages
and web sites should be useful, but that alone doesn't make them
usable.

--
Lyle

--------------------------
Lyle Kantrovich
Blog: Croc O' Lyle
http://crocolyle.blogspot.com