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

[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.