Usability Quotes

“The test of the machine is the satisfaction it gives you. There isn't any other test. If the machine produces tranquility it's right. If it disturbs you it's wrong until either the machine or your mind is changed.”
― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

“It doesn’t matter how many times I have to click, as long as each click is a mindless, unambiguous choice.”
― Steve Krug, Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

“Don't make me think”
― Steve Krug, Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

“Your objective should always be to eliminate instructions entirely by making everything self-explanatory, or as close to it as possible. When instructions are absolutely necessary, cut them back to a bare minimum.”
― Steve Krug, Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

“Get rid of half the words on each page, then get rid of half of what’s left.”
― Steve Krug, Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

“Designers love subtle cues, because subtlety is one of the traits of sophisticated design. But Web users are
generally in such a hurry that they routinely miss subtle cues.”
― Steve Krug, Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

“If you want a great site, you’ve got to test. After you’ve worked on a site for even a few weeks, you can’t see it freshly anymore. You know too much. The only way to find out if it really works is to test it.”
― Steve Krug, Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

“Happy talk must die”
― Steve Krug, Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

“Remember, the web isn't about control. If a visitor to your site is familiar with using a browser's native form doodad, you won't be doing them any favors if you override the browser functionality with your own widget, even if you think your widget looks better.”
― Jeremy Keith

“In reality, though, most of the time we don’t choose the best option—we choose the first reasonable option, a strategy known as satisficing.”
― Steve Krug, Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

“As a rule, conventions only become conventions if they work.”
― Steve Krug, Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

“The more you watch users carefully and listen to them articulate their intentions, motivations, and thought processes, the more you realize that their individual reactions to Web pages are based on so many variables that attempts to describe users in terms of one-dimensional likes and dislikes are futile and counter-productive. Good design, on the other hand, takes this complexity into account.”
― Steve Krug, Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

“The Joel Test

1. Do you use source control?
2. Can you make a build in one step?
3. Do you make daily builds?
4. Do you have a bug database?
5. Do you fix bugs before writing new code?
6. Do you have an up-to-date schedule?
7. Do you have a spec?
8. Do programmers have quiet working conditions?
9. Do you use the best tools money can buy?
10. Do you have testers?
11. Do new candidates write code during their interview?
12. Do you do hallway usability testing?”
― Joel Spolsky, Joel on Software

“Wat de bezoeker gewend is op internet, is meestal het beste.”
― Hedwyg van Groenendaal, Webdesign van concept tot realisatie

“Usability is de mate waarin een product door bepaalde gebruikers in een bepaalde gebruikersomgeving kan worden gebruikt om bepaalde doelen effectief, efficiënt en naar tevredenheid te bereiken.”
― Peter Kassenaar, Handboek Website Usability

“Elke webpagina van de site heeft een uithangbord waaraan de bezoeker herkent waar hij terecht is gekomen. Een goed uithangbord bestaat uit de combinatie van een logo, een slagzin en een paginatitel.”
― Peter Kassenaar, Handboek Website Usability

“Meestal zijn er grote delen van de pagina die niet eens bekeken worden door de bezoeker! Hij keurt ze letterlijk geen blik waardig.”
― Peter Kassenaar, Handboek Website Usability

“Het grote voordeel van het web is tegelijkertijd ook het nadeel. Zeer veel informatie is snel beschikbaar voor velen, maar de voorwaarde voor het gebruik is dat de geboden informatie toegankelijk en overzichtelijk geschreven wordt.”
― Peter Kassenaar, Handboek Website Usability

“Multimediacomponenten moeten de krenten in de pap zijn. Gebruik multimedia daarom als ondersteuning op de website. Niet om de primaire boodschap van de site over te brengen.”
― Peter Kassenaar, Handboek Website Usability

“Een handicap is dichterbij dan u denkt. Probeer maar eens een website te bedienen met een gebroken pols of RSI-klachten.”
― Peter Kassenaar, Handboek Website Usability

“Minder is meer. Er zijn héél veel interactieve toepassingen beschikbaar op internet. De kunst is om hieruit een bewuste keuze te maken.”
― Peter Kassenaar, Handboek Website Usability

“Als een site is voorzien van een elegant design maar verder niet bruikbaar is, zal de site falen. Het omgekeerde is echter ook van toepassing! Als een site perfect bruikbaar is maar is voorzien van een volkomen ongeïnspireerd en oersaai non-design, zal hij eveneens falen.”
― Peter Kassenaar, Handboek Website Usability

“Wanneer u beschikt over een beperkt budget of u hebt een deadline die angstig snel nadert, concentreer u dan op de belangrijkste richtlijnen.”
― Peter Kassenaar, Handboek Website Usability

“Like a moth, Rene was attracted to the flame of fame”
― James D. Bradley, Flags of Our Fathers

“A good designer should constantly be looking for opportunities to learn from others’ mistakes. Instead of blaming the protagonists, we should try to put ourselves in their shoes and honestly answer these questions: What would lead me to design the same interface they did? What decisions led to this product being approved and shipped? How can I avoid finding myself in a similar position in the future?”
― Jonathan Shariat, Tragic Design: The True Impact of Bad Design and How to Fix It

“When designing for digital mediums, it’s easy to become detached from how design decisions affect the end user. The word “user” itself can be a vehicle for that detachment. When the “user” doesn’t have a face and a name, it becomes a formless concept, blending in with other quantitative metrics and taking on any assumed needs to justify business decisions. It quickly becomes a number on a crowded dashboard, and its reaction to the product is just another metric to consider in an effort to increase revenue.”
― Jonathan Shariat, Tragic Design: The True Impact of Bad Design and How to Fix It

“When speaking of disabilities, the blind and their needs are most often used as an example. It is deceivingly simplistic since accessibility is something most of the population can benefit from. We all benefit when we are tired, in bright sunshine with a mobile, are forced to use a gaming mouse with too-high sensitivity or receive the text version of video clips when we have forgotten our earphones and are in a quiet environment.”
― Marcus Österberg, Web Strategy for Everyone

“Usability is not only about ease of use but also about bringing something meaningful, having an objective in common with the user.”
― Marcus Österberg, Web Strategy for Everyone

“Usability plays a much wider role in our lives than most people realize. It’s not
just about using a website, a piece of software, or the latest technology. Usability is
about setting up a tent, relighting a furnace to heat a home, trying to figure out a
tax form, or driving an unfamiliar rental car. Usability impacts everyone, every day.
It cuts across cultures, age, gender, and economic class.”
― Thomas Tullis, Measuring the User Experience: Collecting, Analyzing, and Presenting Usability Metrics

“No usability testing is the agile way of wasting your development budget.”
― Mario Maruffi