I was honoured to meet and talk to Dr. Jakob Nielsen (amongst other interesting guests) at a BIMA dinner on 16 May 2009. Nielsen is considered the global authority on web and mobile interface usability. Before the dinner I introduced my company Cyber-Duck and my background, namely my experience at the Centre of Electronic Arts, Middlesex University where I studied MA ‘Design for Interactive Media’ and read all of his articles and books. This blog reviews what was discussed at the BIMA dinner.
Jakob Nielsen at the BIMA dinner London May 2009
Mobile Usability
Whilst at the dinner, Nielson revealed that amongst other things, he is currently concerned by the usability of UK websites on mobile devices. We also discussed the best mobile user interfaces and he mentioned that in his view, the iPhone is the most user friendly device, followed closely by Google’s Android platform.
Nielson interestingly commented that the UK is lagging behind the US in terms of ‘mobile user friendly websites’. Whilst many UK websites have been poor in this respect in Nielson’s opinion, he did cite BBC’s mobile website as an example of a mobile website interface done right.
So why are so many UK websites getting it wrong when it comes to mobile? The main reason, according to Nielson is that UK firms are struggling to strike a balance between having an interface that isn’t too complicated to be usable and an interface that hasn’t been too ‘dumbed-down’ and simplified for mobile delivery.
From Desktop To Mobile
Whilst still on the subject of mobile web, Nielson was asked if he could see the role of the traditional desktop and mouse diminishing as a result of mobile devices. He stated that the world has seen 20 years of WIMP interfaces and that wasn’t going to change overnight. For the most part people will continue to use mobile for times when they are on the move, meaning more people will use the web at times and places where traditionally they would not have (such as doing product/price comparisons when walking around a shopping mall).
Also, as the trend of desktop screen sizes and Internet speeds increasing continues, so will the trend for web interfaces to utilise more space, and have more rich content that would have been thought impossible 10 years ago.
However, as gesture-based user interfaces such as Nintendo Wii and iPhones continue to grow in popularity, traditional WIMP interfaces could be under threat, although realistically this won’t happen anytime soon.
Googability…
We jumped from the topic of mobile to that of Google and their near-omnipresent role online in accessing and finding information. The term ‘Googlability’ was mentioned, roughly meaning how likely a search is to bring up relevant or credible results. Generally, most users will click one of the first 3 links in the SERPs, regardless of credibility. This means that many users could be duped into believing a source or website is trustworthy or credible, when it isn’t.
The only solution to this, said Nielson, is for such user’s to become more educated in Googlability and how to use search engines more effectively and how to determine whether a content provider is to be trusted. That, or for Google to improve their algorithm to judge a website’s credibility.
Has Usability Improved In The Last 10 Years?
Nielson was asked “How are today’s websites comparing to those of 10 years ago?” According to the usability guru, the easiest way is to compare conversion rates. 10 years ago, the average conversion rate of an eCommerce website was just 1%, whereas now the average is over 2%. This he said, is a result of a shift in focus towards satisfying customer needs as companies have learnt more and more about online consumer behaviour.
Jakob Nielsen at the BIMA dinner