By Mark Ward, Technology correspondent, BBC News website
“Jakob Nielsen, Nielsen/Norman Group
Dr Nielsen has strong opinions about what works…
The web looks very different today than it did 10 years ago.
Back in 1994, Yahoo had only just launched, most websites were text-based and Amazon, Google and eBay had yet to appear.
But, says usability guru Dr Jakob Nielsen, some things have stayed constant in that decade, namely the principles of what makes a site easy to use.
Dr Nielsen has looked back at a decade of work on usability and considered whether the 34 core guidelines drawn up back then are relevant to the web of today.
‘Roughly 80% of the things we found 10 years ago are still an issue today,’ he said.
‘Some have gone away because users have changed and 10% have changed because technology has changed.’
Sites for sore eyes
Some design crimes, such as splash screens that get between a user and the site they are trying to visit, and web designers indulging their artistic urges have almost disappeared, said Dr Nielsen.
Jakob Nielsen, Nielsen/Norman Group
…and what doesn’t work on the web
‘But there’s great stability on usability concerns,’ he told the BBC News website.
Dr Nielsen said the basic principles of usability, centring around ease of use and clear thinking about a site’s total design, were as important as ever.”
