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The cranky user: What you can do about phishing
Phishers lurk in sinister corners of the Internet, waiting to trick your users into providing the sort of information that can aid identify theft. But are you unwittingly helping them run their scams? Read on to find out changes you can make to your Web applications that can reduce the risk of phishing attacks.
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04 Jan 2006 |
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The cranky user: Crash
Frequent computer crashes are totally unacceptable. They cost incredible amounts in lost productivity, frustrate you, and serve as a barrier between you and the promised features of purchased software and hardware.
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10 Aug 2004 |
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The cranky user: Watchen das blinkenlichten
Usability suffers when the design of computer interfaces is driven by the need to make a good first impression. This month the cranky user talks about the relationship between form and substance.
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03 Oct 2005 |
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The cranky user: Macro viruses
Usability and security, it is often said, have an inverse relationship. Developers must consider the trade-offs between usability and security when designing or developing a new system. In this article, I argue that macro viruses show how important it is to consider both sides of this trade-off, and also that, in some cases, security IS usability.
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01 Aug 2002 |
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The cranky user: Everything I need to know about usability, I learned at the arcade
A program that is integral to the operation of your business can be hard to use -- yet you will use it anyway. A video game that is hard to use is no fun, and you won't use it. Forged in this crucible is an attitude that's common to most games: Usability is paramount. Productivity software should learn some of the same lessons.
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01 Jun 2002 |
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The cranky user: Oh, the pixel pickle
Do you think the pixel is the only unit of measurement for building graphical displays? Come on, you can measure better than that! This month, the Cranky user offers tips for user-friendly HTML layout and interface design, and explains why pixels aren't always the best unit for the job.
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03 Aug 2005 |
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The cranky user: Yes, Virginia, security affects usability
Peter gets cranky over incoherent or ill-considered advice about security. In this installment of The cranky user, he looks at how security affects usability and offers some background information on the threats computers face -- types of attacks, types of security holes, and how these problems affect users.
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01 Aug 2003 |
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The cranky user: What can users do?
Since some users have insisted, Peter decides to provide a value-add to bad software. In this installment of The cranky user, the author, against his better judgment, details four ways to get some use out of poorly designed systems. Bonus points: Some ways to help improve the software in the long run.
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03 Sep 2003 |
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The cranky user: Strategies for handling customer feedback
If your Web site doesn't include a feedback mechanism, it probably should. In this month's Cranky User column, Peter explains the importance of listening to the customer, and helps you develop strategies for dealing with the different types of feedback you will receive.
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03 Jul 2003 |
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The cranky user: And in this corner: Copy protection versus usability
Peter gets cranky with software manufacturers that create copy-protection schemes (hard or soft) which affect users' abilities to actually use the software they've paid for. This article looks at the way in which copy-protection schemes have hurt users, as well as the trade-offs users face when developers choose between security and usability in software and Web pages in general.
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06 Jun 2003 |
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The cranky user: What ever happened to professional ethics?
Peter gets cranky on Web designers, software engineers, and even customer service reps; all of whom, he says, could use a refresher course in professional ethics.
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02 May 2003 |
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The cranky user: The cranky user recants
As time goes on, we all have to admit our mistakes; even columnists at respected Web sites like this one. Perhaps it's time I addressed a few of the gaffes I've made during the history of this column. Really, it's not that bad; one column of recanting for more than twenty columns that were entirely flawless. I hope this column is enlightening, as it's a bit hard to back down from my earlier positions. Luck being on my side, my readers will meet me halfway.
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01 Apr 2003 |
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The cranky user: Customer service -- it matters
Usability testing on phone systems is a valuable lesson for Web developers. After all, happy customers help with happy business growth.
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10 Mar 2003 |
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The cranky user: Pigeonholed
Web sites often try to categorize visitors, transactions, questions, and more. These categories can be unnatural or limiting to the user -- as well as annoying. How can online sites please their visitors, while extracting needed information from them?
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01 Jan 2003 |
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The cranky user: Whose computer is this, anyway?
Software that installs unwanted additional programs creates a substantial burden on users, and makes it hard to exercise control over our own computers and software!
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01 Feb 2003 |
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The cranky user: Master of pages
When you have more control over page layout, more things seem to go wrong. This month, Peter explains how page layout goes awry.
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03 May 2006 |
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The cranky user: Bad design can be so taxing
When people design Web forms, they often overlook some great sources of professional expertise in the world -- the existence of form design techniques with which nearly all users are familiar. This month, the cranky user looks at form design and management.
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05 Apr 2005 |
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The cranky user: Have you tried to reboot your computer?
Most users know that rebooting can solve a variety of computing problems. What might come as a shock is the number of technical support departments that fail to offer a better solution when you need it.
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03 Apr 2006 |
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The cranky user: Do you really expect me to believe that?
Peter talks playground rules to corporate liars, big and small.
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02 Feb 2006 |
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The cranky user: Your language usage matters
Have you ever looked at a dialog box -- I mean, really looked at a dialog box? These user interface components, which are among the most important part of any application, are often riddled with typos, logical inconsistencies, mismatched verbs, and other howlers. Find out how to keep your application out of the "Worst Dialog Box Ever" lists.
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01 Aug 2006 |
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The cranky user: Ho ho hum online retailers
Forget about both Santa and ineffective design. It's that time of year again, and the cranky user has some well-timed advice for online retailers in this pre-Christmas column.
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02 Dec 2005 |
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The cranky user: Take off the training wheels
Like dull knives in the kitchen and training wheels on bicycles, many so-called safety features just lead to trouble. The cranky user suggests an alternative approach.
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01 Nov 2005 |
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The cranky user: But does it come in purple?
Customization typically offers users the ability to manipulate shiny objects, but not much real power. Wouldn't it be better to put the time into supporting a more powerful and flexible user interface?
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01 Sep 2005 |
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The cranky user: The Principle of Least Astonishment
When computers are at their most usable, we don't even notice them; when they are at their least, they astonish us. Here, Peter explores the Principle of Least Astonishment, and how it can help you develop better interfaces.
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01 Aug 2001 |
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The cranky user: Flash and substance
Why use tools like JavaScript, Shockwave, and Flash for harm when you can use them for good? Get a user's perspective on where Flash belongs on your Web pages, and where it doesn't.
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06 Jun 2006 |
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The cranky user: My not-so-invisible enemy
Animated annoyances begone! Users don't even wonder anymore why their favorite Web sites take so long to load; they just wait it out. The cranky user takes on page bloat.
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07 Jul 2005 |
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The cranky user: Policy, scourge of the people
Company policies have gradually grown from a way to keep practices consistent into a catch-all excuse for inappropriate responses. In this installment, cranky Peter Seebach explains why policy can be the enemy of the customer and the company, as well as why using the word "empowerment" in a corporate setting is so wrong.
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01 Jul 2004 |
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The cranky user: All I want is a quick, easy install, Part 2
Peter adds a few finishing touches to his thoughts on what does and does not befit a well-mannered software installer.
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02 Jun 2004 |
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The cranky user: All I want is a quick, easy install
With the installer usually the first part of an application that a user sees, why is software installation such a notoriously buggy procedure? This month, in The cranky user column, Peter chronicles the ups and downs of installation, from the golden era of the floppy disk to the rise of the standard installer. He also offers some user-centered advice on building installers that work the way users want them to.
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05 May 2004 |
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The cranky user: Mixed signals on the high-tech highway
Mixed signals have become a fixture on the user landscape that most of you just ignore. Whether you're pressing Start to shut down a computer operating system or marveling at privacy-policy doublespeak, you've become so inured that you barely notice how exhausting and irritating it all is. Not so for the cranky user. This month's column reveals both the madness and the method behind the seemingly random insanity that most computer users are soaking in.
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02 Apr 2004 |
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The cranky user: Businesses behaving badly
This month, The cranky user looks at user reactions to common problems with user interfaces and corporate policies, and how these reactions can make some common business decisions counterproductive. When it comes to inconveniencing your customers, and sometimes even offending them, are some sales tactics worth it in the long run?
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04 Mar 2004 |
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The cranky user: You don't exist. Go away.
People were mistakenly declared dead long before people had computers. Frustration results when something or someone tells you that you don't exist, an experience the cranky user examines in this month's column.
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02 Feb 2004 |
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The cranky user: Anthills into mountains
Tired of having your technology problems solved by squashing your particular complaint into a pre-defined, generically generated problem template? In this installment, the cranky columnist, Peter Seebach, explains why form letters work, or rather, why they don't work.
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07 Jan 2004 |
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The cranky user: Ease-of-use or marketing-driven sabotage
Recently, a router vendor configured its product to occasionally redirect HTTP requests to a product ad Web site and defended the action as an "ease-of-use" feature. In this installment, cranky Peter Seebach discusses why this type of design is wrong and the technical (and ethical) problems it can cause.
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17 Dec 2003 |
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The cranky user: The importance of documentation
Computer documentation is shoddy, or more often absent. Missing information amplifies usability problems, leaving users stuck calling unfriendly technical support lines. In this installment of The cranky user, Peter Seebach explains what's missing in the documentation effort and why it is gone.
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14 Nov 2003 |
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The cranky user: The recent brouhaha with Site Finder
When VeriSign launched its Site Finder service, it included a number of side effects. One was the redirection of mistyped domain names to its own Web site. Under pressure from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), VeriSign has suspended the new service pending further discussion. This article addresses some of the effects of the service.
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24 Oct 2003 |
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The cranky user: Ergonomics, Part 1: The science of not hurting the user
With aching hands and wrists, the cranky user writes about ergonomics, from in-home doctor visits to the proper time for font smoothing.
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04 May 2005 |
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The cranky user: Ergonomics, Part 2: Ergonomic devices
Following up on "Part 1: The science of not hurting the user," the cranky user looks at the various tools and devices marketed to solve ergonomic problems.
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01 Jun 2005 |
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The cranky user: Making URLs accessible
Many Web pages, especially those created in authoring tools, have a tendency to treat URLs as impenetrable magic cookies. Users benefit when URLs are kept readable and understandable, and when the structure of a URL reflects the structure of the site. Even naive users may be helped by such a design. Here, Peter takes a look at why it's important to make URLs accessible, and offers some strategies for doing this effectively.
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20 Jun 2001 |
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The cranky user: Instant back buttons
We'll see how Web sites have the power to attract or repel, and how many commonly-accepted Web design features actually drive users away -- even before the page is finished loading.
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24 May 2001 |
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The cranky user: Respecting user privacy, Part 2
In Part 1, we examined why it's important to have an effective privacy policy in place. Here, we take a look at best ways of earning the trust of your users through straightforward, clearly-worded policies that meet consumer needs.
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12 Apr 2001 |
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The cranky user: Keeping up appearances
Last time, Peter Seebach examined why it's important to implement privacy policies that work. This time he talks more about your Web page content. In your effort to create usable Web pages, don't forget to make sure your textual content is up to snuff.
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09 May 2001 |
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The cranky user: Respecting user privacy, Part 3
In the previous article, we examined why it's critical to have effective privacy policies in place, and what goes into one. Here, we add a few more suggestions for implementing policies that work and discuss the importance of sticking by your policy.
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27 Apr 2001 |
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The cranky user: Respecting user privacy, Part 1
We'll look at why privacy is a much-abused buzzword. The e-commerce industry has failed miserably to produce consumer confidence; not because we haven't tried to do so, but because we've done it through dog-and-pony shows, rather than real respect for personal data.
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24 Apr 2001 |
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The cranky user: Curbing JavaScript dependency
Here, we'll take a look at the pitfalls of JavaScript. JavaScript can be used as an enhancement, but too often it ends up rendering a page unusable to people who don't run it. There are a number of good reasons why it might not be running in a given browser, and pages should never depend on it.
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20 Mar 2001 |
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The cranky user: Ergonomics, Part 1: The science of not hurting the user
With aching hands and wrists, the cranky user writes about ergonomics, from in-home doctor visits to the proper time for font smoothing.
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04 May 2005 |
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The cranky user: Baby duck syndrome
What if something neither looks nor quacks like a duck, but users think it is a duck? The cranky user comments on baby duck syndrome and how it can trap users with systems and interfaces that don't really meet their needs.
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02 Mar 2005 |
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The cranky user: Usability off the beaten path
Keyboards, mice, windows -- essentially, they have the same design. This month, the cranky user explores options that have looked beyond the box for innovative designs that users can really use.
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13 Mar 2006 |
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The cranky user: Performance anxiety
Processors are supposedly getting faster all the time, so why is your computer still so slow?
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02 Feb 2005 |
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The cranky user: Everything's automated!
Today's user interfaces are so eager to please that sometimes they're downright pushy. In this month's The cranky user, Peter calls for more tough love in UI design and less overcompensation for user ignorance, confusion, and error.
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13 Jan 2005 |
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The cranky user: Hardware and usability, Part 2
Peter continues with his special focus on hardware usability this month, including a maintenance checklist that could save you time and money, as well as your sanity.
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02 Dec 2004 |
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The cranky user: Hardware and usability, Part 1
In this first installment of a two-part miniseries, Peter takes a look at the interactions between hardware and usability.
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01 Nov 2004 |
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The cranky user: User interfaces
We look at a couple of the concepts discussed in Don Norman's book, The Design of Everyday Things, and how they might apply to computer interfaces.
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01 Sep 2002 |
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The cranky user: What ever happened to Web engineering?
Does it ever occur to you that today's Web
developers could learn a thing or two from traditional computer
programming? The cranky user talks about the foundations of software
engineering and asks where in the Web those best practices have
disappeared to.
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24 Jul 2007 |
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The cranky user: Simple is the new sophisticated
Consumer devices like the Nintendo Wii and the Apple
iPod have shown that the simplest interfaces can win over users in record
numbers. This month the cranky user takes a look at why simplification works and how the
drive for innovation ties in with the "Principle of least
astonishment".
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12 Jun 2007 |
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The cranky user: Passion
Web usability suffers from a proliferation of browsers,
competing standards, rushed deadlines, and more. But the greatest obstacle to
usability is that too many Web developers aren't interested in it -- or even convinced that it matters. This month the cranky user offers concrete reasons why you should start prioritizing the usability and accessibility of your Web pages.
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24 Apr 2007 |
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The cranky user: Sherlock users, Ur 0wn3d!
Update: A number of people have written to point out that a lot of searchsites complained that they were getting no ad revenue when Sherlock searched their sites, and that this is why Apple added ads to Sherlock. This is a reasonable thing; what's not reasonable is that Apple insists on showing you ads for Apple products when you're viewing a site that doesn't provide ads to Apple, because it doesn't depend on ad revenue. For instance, an online store may want Sherlock users to search its product listings -- and may well not want the users to be bombarded with ads for Apple's (competing) online store.
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01 Aug 2001 |
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The cranky user: How not to make your site accessible
This article contains a set of principles for making your site as inaccessible as possible.
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13 Mar 2001 |
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The cranky user: Name that thing!
A chrysanthemum by any other name would be easier to spell, but probably harder to find in a seed catalog. This month "The cranky user" asks the question "What's in a name," and explores the virtues of leaving well enough alone.
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27 Mar 2007 |
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The cranky user: Who needs a virtual keyboard?
Usability experts have long held that it's important to give users a familiar interface when you introduce a new product. This month Peter argues in favor of exploring the unique potential of the Web medium, rather than reproducing the limitations of physical objects in hyperspace.
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01 Feb 2007 |
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The cranky user: Ten ways to do better in 2007
So you say you're serious about improving your software and building better relationships with users in 2007? The cranky user offers 10 New Years resolutions to help you do it.
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03 Jan 2007 |
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The cranky user: Please don't interrupt me
Notification software often comes off like a bar-room bouncer when it should be acting like Jeeves the butler. This month, the cranky user offers tips for telling users what they really ought to know, but doing it graciously.
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01 Dec 2006 |
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The cranky user: To err(or) is human
Writing informative, useful software error reports is the topic tackled by cranky user Peter Seebach.
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06 Oct 2004 |
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The cranky user: The artful patcher
No matter how pretty the box is, most software will someday require a patch, probably even quite a few. This month Peter offers tips for writing and releasing patches that your users will appreciate...or at least not absolutely despise.
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01 Nov 2006 |
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The cranky user: Spare me the help
Everyone knows that computer applications (and the people who write them) just want to help. Learn how poor design decisions can turn the most well-intentioned wizard into a hated enemy, and the most reasonable seeming default into an unreasonable one.
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06 Oct 2006 |
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The cranky user: What to do when the screen goes blank
Find some fool-proof solutions to the computer-borne panic attack. (Hint: You won't find these in the manual.)
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01 Sep 2006 |
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The cranky user: Constraining users with modal dialogs
Most GUI's incorporate a "modal" interface -- one that prevents you from doing anything else until you've completed the current task. This is almost always a mistake because it restricts user choices, often for no good reason. In this article, Peter explores the specifics of how modal dialog boxes can be inappropriate and annoying.
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01 Oct 2001 |
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The cranky user: What's with the attitude?
When users complain about sites, webmasters frequently respond with hostility, derision, condescension, or just plain silence. No wonder users rarely bother to complain. Bad attitudes stand between the site you created and the site your users want to use.
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01 Sep 2001 |
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The cranky user: Storing configuration data
Both computer users and application developers benefit from understanding the Big Three of storing configuration data: human readability, separation of data, and a centralized storage location.
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05 Jul 2006 |
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The cranky user: Upgrades, downgrades, and the update treadmill
Peter points out what's wrong with the endless-upgrade cycle, and shows you where the solution lies.
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02 Sep 2004 |
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