Week 5 Reading

I think its funny that Krug brings up the difference between the developer and the designer because I can completely relate and agree to the designer aspect. Even when building interfaces I have a tendency to try and make things just look great. While developers are looking for a website with original and elegant ideas. Either way working in teams can prove to be tough when everyones personal beliefs get in the way. It's not productive to ask questions like "Do most people like pulldown menus?" You have to be really specific with the question and think of the design aspect rather than your personal beliefs on the subject. However, the best way to decipher whether or not to use that pulldown menu is by doing a usability test. Usability testing can sometimes be confused with focus groups, but there are differences. A focus group is a small group of people (between 5 to 8) that sit around a table and react to ideas and designs that are shown to them. It's a group process, so the majority of this value comes from participants reacting to one another's opinions. Focus groups are good for quickly obtaining a sampling of user opinions and feelings. Now usability testing, brings one user in at a time and shown a website, a website prototype or sketches of individual pages and asked to either figure out what it is or to navigate a simple task.

Website Usability testing: recommended procedures

Web Designers vs Web Developers

Focus Groups vs. Usability Testing