Web Style Guide: user-centered design and user control faq
Digital Web Magazine - Forging a partnership between designer and user: "when we redesigned the Web Style Guide site in 2002, we went from a fixed-width, pixel-based layout to a flexible-width, relative-unit layout. Right away we received complaints about long lines (�Text this wide is extremely difficult to read�) and text size (�Please increase the font size of this page� and �The new, larger text is obnoxious�). Initially, we considered reverting to a fixed design, but a fixed design brings its own set of obstacles. A fixed-width column does not adapt to different display devices, and does not accommodate large text. Text set using fixed-size fonts often cannot be resized. And there is a very important difference between the obstacles created by a fixed design and those encountered with our new, flexible layout. When working with a fixed design, user remedies are few to none. It is not easy to extract content from a fixed-layout table, or to change text-sizing attributes to a resizable unit of measure. However, when working with a flexible design, users can easily control line length and text size by resizing the browser window and using the text zoom feature.Instead of reverting to a fixed design, we opted to forge a partnership with the user. We left the design flexible, but added a section to our Help page explaining how to modify text settings in the browser. Clearly this simple clarification could not have resolved all problems, but we did stop receiving complaints. And by asking users to be more active in defining their experience of our content, we encourage them to take charge more broadly of their Web environment.
Unless we establish this type of partnership, user-centered Web design will remain a benign dictatorship, with the designer making somewhat informed assumptions about what is best for the user. For a truly user-centered Web we need to share control and responsibility with the person who actually knows what is best when it comes to personal usability issues: the user.
posted by Jen @ 7:42 am
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