Boxes and Arrows: Comments by Alok Jain

Alok Jain — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:19 GMT

Great Article and very relevant to practical use.

I would like to add that the change from PIA to RIA doesn’t just mean direct manipulation of page elements but a change in what is destination for the user.

Previous destination was like navigating through listing pages to reach a product detail page and then configure the product, go to shopping cart and so on. With RIA the sense of destination is changed and then users manipulate that destination space. So they do not “move across spaces” but they manipulate objects in same space.

I belive the we are in transition phase rightnow and are merging current interaction mechanism with what RIA offfers, as we move forward we’ll see fundamental interaction and navigation mechanisms changing.

I am writing an article (hopefuly soon) about this on my blog (http://www.iprincipia.com) in more detail.

Cheers
Alok Jain

Alok Jain — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:19 GMT

I am enjoy using this, appreciate the thought behind. Ratings on Suggestions does not show how many people rated though. Will be interesting to see that.

Cheers
Alok

Alok Jain — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 23:39:34 GMT

Customer loyalty and advocacy is at the center of business success. Reports from Forrester have constantly found that. Some interesting viewing:
http://www.forrester.com/vvlogin?referer=http://www.forrester.com/findresearch/results?geo=0&dAg=365&N=50170+691

Also, one on my blog:
http://webxm.blogspot.com/2005_03_01_webxm_archive.html

Cheers
Alok Jain

Alok Jain — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 17:21:04 GMT

I think it depends on what is the problem you are trying to solve. The Article seems to assume every interface has same goals but Usability itself is not absolute. There are trade-offs in usability and the biggest one I believe is efficiency v/s intuitiveness.

Mostly usability tends to get associated with intuitiveness, which I disagree with. It has t be based on user goals

Let me take an example, if you are building an application a call center, the user goal (tied to their appraisal) is to complete max # of calls per unit of time. This task involves several complex sub tasks like checking user’s profile (consisting of 20 different attributes) finding right information based on user’s call and profile etc etc..

The goal is efficiency. In such scenario it is fine to let intuitiveness take a back seat and can be supported with training.

But if the base goal of system requires greater intuitiveness then there is no point investing in training alone.

I agree that budget constraints would require alterations to process and finding more efficient mechanisms but conclusion that training is better would not be the right one.

Alok Jain — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:47 GMT

Thanks Matt,

Any researcgh that you are aware of on benchmarks relating to fitts law?

Cheers
Alok

Alok Jain — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:47 GMT

Jay,

I agree with your view on testing v/s user behavior. This is one of the things that I always highlight to my clients that accessibility is experiential and the user navigation and interaction behaviors must be kept in mind when building accessible systems.

The problem traditionally as I have seen is that most companies and organizations are really looking for minimal compliance to guidelines and do not have keen interest in investing dollars on deeper aspects which empower people.

Cheers
Alok Jain
http://www.iprincipia.com

Alok Jain — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:48 GMT

This is a challenge anyone without formal study or prior experience faces. Here are a couple of good resources:

http://www.iawiki.net/ControlledVocabularies
http://www.controlledvocabulary.com/index.html

Hope this helps

Alok Jain
http://www.iprincipia.com

Alok Jain — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:57 GMT

Interesting article, but I think, it’s scratching the surface right now, at deeper level I think you are really talking of innovation culture and beta is just 1 manifestation of it. Actually most end users in my belief do not care about that, it’s more of a company’s safeguard than anything else.

Innovation ofcourse is the hot topic these days and like the last 2 words – Are You? very relevant.

Cheers
Alok Jain
http://www.iPrincipia.com

Alok Jain — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:58 GMT

Good Article

Alok Jain — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:53:00 GMT

Your are right Masood, my observation is based on my experience so far. I listen to a variety of subjects from news, to innovation, tips and tricks and found my attention span as I have mentioned. This tumeframe actually represents a particular subject, some podcasts contain several subjects within them, thise could be longer.

Alok Jain — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:53:10 GMT

Raj,

I have struggled with the same in my mind, and have still left it there to highlight the quality of understanding around that particular issue that a company has. Leaving it out of radar would not be advisable, and rating it will lead to focus and investment in that space as well.

Cheers
Alok

Alok Jain — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:53:11 GMT

Shiv,

I think what’ll enhance this article is reasons for introducing Web 2.0 to the Intranet Environment. Lets say an organization moves to a tagging solution instead to meta data models – is it the right approach? Taking your example of Directory – I see value in bringing social networking concepts in Intranet scenario, but are there any case studies that show the value of this in Intranet.

What are companies like Ernst & Young, Nokia, Kodak, Lucent Technologies, and IBM experimenting with etc?

Cheers
Alok

Alok Jain — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:53:11 GMT

Adriana,

I would disagree on Advanced search, research has shown only a small percentage of people really use it.

Here are my thoughts on the subject – http://webxm.blogspot.com/2005/11/loose-advanced-search.h…

The current problems around search revolve around “Intent based Search” – how dowe capture user intention . Try searching for “Jobs” in Google, you’ll see an ability to provide zip code leading to specialized job searching site from google.

Yahoo mindset – http://mindset.research.yahoo.com/ is another example of explorations on this side.

Cheers
Alok
http://www.iPrincipia.com

Alok Jain — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:53:11 GMT

Alison,

One of the things we work with our clients on is defining Key Performance indicators (KPIs) for the particular site/system we are working for. Many times the siets are built with vague expectations, which leads to misguided decisions ‘during’ solution process.

SAM is one measure, but depending on kind of site it is and business goals, more measure should be defined early on, as it is critical while building and not just afterward.

Cheers
Alok Jain
http://www.iPrincipia.com

Alok Jain — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:53:12 GMT

Hey Masood,

The article would be of great relevance, it’s a problem everyone is trying to solve. give us a little glimse into what you have in mind.

Cheers
AloK Jain