Usability now!

[j4]

So, the boss's son is temping for us.

"Usability? Is that even a word?"
"Yes."
"What, really?"
"Yes, really."
"[pause] What does it mean?"
"How you use things."
"Huh? That's 'usefulness'."
"No, that's whether something's useful to you or not. Usability is about how people use things, how they interact with applications, systems, and so on."
"Huh?"
"Look, Google for 'usability'. I'm not making it up, really."
"Nah, I'll defer to your professional judgement."
"No, really, why don't you Google for it. You'll see that I'm not making it up, and you might find out a bit more about it, if you're interested. And if you're not interested, well, never mind."

[tappity-tappity]

"Gosh, it is actually a real thing, isn't it?"

Comments

[oinomel71.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there's a word for the belief that only that which is googleable exists. There should be, anyway.

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

I was much surprised to see the phrase "Googleberry muffins" in Sainsbury's the other day; turns out that they have long existed within Noddy canon (http://www.worldofbubble.com/noddy/tessie_bear.html) and so a real-world branding is, perhaps, inevitable.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

Google Purge (http://www.theonion.com/content/node/40076) is your friend.

[reddragdiva]

I was horrified to find a word on spellfecker for people who believe everything in Wikpedia. I write it and do PR for it, I know how much salt it needs.

[nja.livejournal.com]

But Google's so hard to use! You have to type words into a box - why can't it just tell you what you want to know, without you having to ask it?

[arnhem.livejournal.com]

I see a great need for a google application that monitors every program you're using and all your keystrokes, and pops up useful and relevant web pages at you in response to what you're currently doing ...

</twitch>

[aardvark179.livejournal.com]

Didn't Gnome have a project where all the applications on your desktop exchanged 'clues' like the address an email was from or to, the URL of the page you were viewing, or the current selection, and it kept a bar at the side of the screen populated with useful stuff. I think it was called Dashboard.

[reddragdiva]

"Hi! It appears you're having trouble wiping your own arse! Would you like help with that? TOO BAD."

[j4.livejournal.com]

what you want to know

That's begging the question...

[martling.livejournal.com]

Now he read it on the internet so it must be true!

[caramel-betty.livejournal.com]

In order to try and explain things like this, I usually try to communicate the concept of how easy something is to use. It'll do something useful, but is everything in sensible places and not hidden or misleading or ignored because you're distracted by something else, principle of least surprise, that sort of thing.

It glosses over the finer (and important) details, but I usually find it helps people distinguish between function and, I guess, ease-of-use as a sort of metonym for all the concepts you describe.

[j4.livejournal.com]

That's a good explanation. To be honest I think I was too annoyed by his "it must be made up if I haven't heard of it, but I don't want to lift a finger to find out about it" attitude to try for a proper explanation. My bad, I know, but I am in a bad mood. :-/

I was also surprised that a moderately tech-savvy English student a) hadn't heard the word at all, and b) wasn't interested in a new word. New word! Shiny! ... Is that just me?

Oh, and you don't really smell. :-)

[brrm.livejournal.com]

This would be the same one who is a second year English undergrad?

[j4.livejournal.com]

Thassa one, yeah.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Gee willikers!

[j4.livejournal.com]

Willikers? You made that word up! Yes you did. What? LA LA LA CAN'T HEAR YOU.

whillikers

[vinaigrettegirl.livejournal.com]

Two origins I know of: the comic strip called "L'il Orphan Annie", a genuine strip from 1930-ca. 1965 in the USA; and a strip-within-a-strip: the immortal political commentary in "Pogo", which included "Li'l Arf an' Nonny":

gee whilliker woozles, Arf!