The One-Click Approval
"The Internet is about usability," Nielsen said at a Web usability workshop recently. "The computer industry has been able to ship difficult-to-use products because you buy first, and then you try to use it. With the Web, usability comes first, then you click to buy or become a return visitor."
To improve usability, Nielsen suggests Web sites consider what people actually do.
Part of the problem is response time. Nielsen cites a 1968 study on interactivity showing that response time must be less than one second for interactive content. But today, how often have you hit a site that took 15 seconds to download?
Far too many sites use fancy JavaScript animations on the opening splash page. Visitors must download a player application or cache a large file before they can get anywhere on the site. "Before you know the site is any good, you're hit with a half-minute download," Nielsen says.
Beyond opening pages, Nielsen contends that Flash animations and fancy graphics are misused across the Web.
"Animation is used as a blunt weapon," Nielsen says. You're hit with brand but no useful content. And animations increase page load time.
