San Jose Merc Discovers Jakob Nielsen
from the and-takes-him-shopping! dept
I guess it's that time of year. Time to write a random article about usability. This time, the San Jose Mercury takes their turns pointing out that most people don't know how to use most technology they own. This is, of course, a usability problem. And, so, out trots the usual suspects such as Jakob Nielsen (they even take him to Fry's to point out bad usability on various products) and Alan Cooper. Now, I agree that usability is a big issue - and folks like Nielsen and Cooper often have important and interesting stuff to say (though, not always). However, these sorts of articles have been appearing for years and it hasn't done much good. Products are just as crappy as they have been in the past. I'm not sure another article telling me about Nielsen's refusal to buy a new computer is going to help any. Besides, as we've pointed out before, these guys make mistakes too.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
