Will Marlow

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Filed under

User experience

 
October 4, 2010
 

Why some people hate the Internet (and what to do about it)

Wild_flower_in_montana

We all know people who hate the Internet, or claim to hate the Internet. But most of those people don't really hate the Internet, they really just hate websites.  Because somewhere along the line they were traumatized by a website that made them feel stupid.

This is why, when you're designing a website, one of your goals should be: avoid making users feel stupid.  Make your site easy to navigate, helpful, and intuitive.  Make links and buttons look "clickable."  Make text scannable.  Watch real people as they navigate your site, and look for areas that cause them to stumble or pause.  

Too often we focus on wowing people, impressing others with our technical abilities, knocking their socks off with bells and whistles on our websites.  A website that is easy to use, helpful and intuitive is a beautiful thing.

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Will Marlow is an online marketing consultant.  He can help you build an awesome website.  He's also the co-founder of  AlumniFidelity, which you should check out if you care about fundraising for schools and nonprofits.  Email him at will@alumnifidelity.com.

Filed under  //   UX   User experience   Web design   Web development  

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July 12, 2010
 

Where Microsoft missed the mark on their phone

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"If you see a stylus, it means they failed." - Steve Jobs discussing Microsoft's next smartphone. 

Microsoft pulled its new smartphone (the Kin) off the shelves this month after just 45 days.  In D.C. yesterday, Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer said, "In the case of phones, I've said this many times before: We missed."  
 
Here's where I think they missed the target: the Kin has buttons, not a touch screen.  I know many people love buttons on a device, but here's the problem with buttons: you need to learn what the buttons do.  Then, after you've learned what the buttons do, you need to learn what happens on the screen when you touch the buttons.  These are two distinct things, and for lots of people, it is very frustrating to learn devices like this.  Contrast that with a high quality touch screen: all you need to learn is what happens when you touch the screen.  On a device like a phone or a computer, the difference between one layer of complexity (a touch screen) and two layers of complexity (buttons and a user-interface) is staggering.
 
The goal of both hardware and software is to make the user experience completely intuitive and natural. Microsoft should take a page from Apple and ditch buttons on their next product, just like they ditched the stylus.
 
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Will Marlow is a digital strategist/online marketing consultant.  He's the co-creator of  AlumniFidelity, which is a Web 2.0 fundraising platform for colleges, nonprofits and secondary schools.   He’s working with clients such as UVA, the College of William & Mary, the University of Oklahoma, and Bowling Green State University and he loves nothing better than a thorny marketing challenge.  He would love to help you market your business on the Internet, boost the fundraising numbers for your school or nonprofit, or sellout your next big event.  Email him at will@alumnifidelity.com.

Filed under  //   Apple   License plate   Microsoft   Steve Ballmer   User experience   Vanity plate  

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