Boxes and Arrows: Comments by James Kalbach

James Kalbach — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:22 GMT

Great work, Helen. Thanks for this.

Wondering what the usage of the site index at the BBC is? Jared Spool has observed that few people turn to such indexes. See: http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2005/12/16/what-about-site…
I’m sure many readers need a pretty solid justification to be able to tackle such projects for their sites. Seems site indexes are perceived as having limited value. Maybe they do?

James Kalbach — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:53:46 GMT

Great interview. Thanks, Liz.

In terms on navigation and page design, I think you also have to take the mode of seeking into account when deciding on the number of options. For known-item seeking, having more trigger words on the page should increase information scent. That’s why Jared Spool and even Forrester recommend making your home page the site map.

But if a visitor is just casuallly browsing best sellers, then yeah – having fewer might be better. It all depends, of course, but challenging the notion of “more is always better” is an important consideration. This is why a thorough understanding of what people are doing on your site is so important. Otherwise, you’re just guessing.

James Kalbach — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 07:05:36 GMT

Nice article, Frances. It is about time that Boxes and Arrows has an article on accessibility. Hopefully there will be more to come. I particularlly like your point about controlled vocabularies having a positive impact on accessibility.

James Kalbach — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 13:26:36 GMT

Peter,

Thanks for a great article. Really brilliant stuff. For me, this is one of the most significant stories ever written for B&A to date. That may just be my personal reaction because it felt like you were talking about my organization directly. (Maybe you were, in part: I work for LexisNexis).

Many UX practicioners in large companies are indeed at the bottom of the food chain, with little or no prospect of changing anything outside of his or her immediate project. So, I was hoping for even more practical advice on how to get the message out. I understand the difference between socialization and institutionalization, but some of your recommendations are still high level. Take #6, for instance: Build an organic demand for UX. Can you be more specific? How? With what activities?

Anyway, great story, and I appreciate your taking the time to share experience and knowledge in this area with the UX community at large.

Cheers,
James