Food for thought...

More US election heehaw. I just caught Will Ferrell's mock commercial clip. Funny stuff.

Also, a must read for designers: designbyfire.

It's a blog by Andrei Michael Herasimchuk. He's one of the original interface designers on industry standards Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe InDesign. In recent months there has been an ongoing "dialogue" between he and another guru, usability expert Jakob Nielsen. Guys, can't we all just get along.

I'm of the belief that a web site must be searchable for human beings and search vehicles. I think that usability as an ergonomic consideration of functionality is crucial -- re: flash is for movies, not whole web sites. But, as a designer, usability also means that the experience is appealing to the user, not just intuitive.

A web site can (should) evoke feelings consistent with the subject matter. Usability need not strip a web page to a sterile academic exercise. Experience must be contextualized by function. The function of every web site is to communicate information, but the information itself is the qualifier of how the information is to be disseminated. hmmm. I'm entering a rant now. Time to relax -- it IS Saturday.

Food for thought though....

Rick