One of my favorite moments is when my kids take over the kitchen. Last night, my 18 year old daughter and her boyfriend decided to make chocolate covered strawberries after we’d made a big dinner for everyone. They’d never done it before.

They went out to the store and bought chocolate chips and big, fat strawberries.

Back at the house, they dumped the chips into a pan and melted them. However, it didn’t have right consistency. It was too thick. So they put in some milk and kept stirring. It still wasn’t right. I didn’t do or say anything. It was fun to watch them figure things out. Finally, after a bit of despair, my daughter decided to throw out the melted chocolate and start over.

That’s when I leapt up in defense and took the pan from her as she was putting water into it. Boyfriend and I were determined to eat that chocolate and couldn’t believe she’d dream of throwing it out.

I poured out the water and her boyfriend and I managed to save the chocolate, which now, with the little bit of water in it, finally melted into a nice, smooth consistency.

They dipped in the strawberries. They dipped in bananas. They rolled trail mix around in it. When they were done, they marveled that some stores charge $3.00 for one chocolate covered strawberry and here they had made an entire pile of chocolate covered fruit and nuts for $4.00.

What’s more important, however, is that they created their own experience and learned from it.

MySpace for My Space

I’ve tried Facebook and Twitter because my friends were there and convinced me to try them out. For the past two weeks I’ve been playing around with a MySpace account I made for myself. I wanted to see what it was like.

I had also needed a place where I didn’t have to be “Kim the Usability Consultant” or “Kim from Cre8pc” or any other versions of me. I wanted a place where I could let down my shields and barriers. Where I’m purely, 100%, no holes barred me. I have one friend in MySpace.

He’s been teaching me about it. His group of friends thrive there. The 20’s and 30’s crowd are so inventive, clever, raw and bold. Nearly every female is showing her breasts. The males aren’t nearly so obsessed with their own bodies. They seem to go for mood or shock value. Some of the women are high maintenance and can’t decide who they are or what they want to show on any given day. Their picture changes every day and if you go to their profile, there are 300 more pictures of them, just in case you want to see her from every possible, conceivable angle.

It’s taken me the entire two weeks to figure out how to navigate MySpace. It took me two days to figure out I had a new message. Changing my profile was horrendous because I never remembered where things were. The user interface explodes with ads and videos. And most of the images belong to a generation I don’t belong to. They’re finding themselves.

I’m not lost. I belong in a different place.

The one element I do like is the ability to put up a song. This is something Facebook doesn’t have. While typically, usability folks think adding sound is akin to eating gravel, I think with MySpace it helps to tell the story of the person whose page you’re on. I happen to love “Alice”, one of Moby’s new songs and added it to my page. There are controls to turn it off if you want to. I like listening to the music selections put up by people however. It helps me understand a little something more about them.

As much as I might like the energy and vitality at MySpace, I also feel like I’m on the outside looking in. It’s definitely a great place for single people. I can see how it can be useful to groups of friends who like to be in constant touch with each other. But the user interface is like my daughter’s bedroom.

Complete and total chaos.

Sometimes it’s fun to try on a web site first to see if you like it. It helps you figure out what you like. It opens you up to what other people like you might gravitate towards. I find that when I explore like this, I’m more open minded about usability because I see different user interfaces and who responds to what.

And if I want to be a bare breasted free spirited woman in one of those sites, all the better.

My job could never be called “boring”.

There’s a scene in the movie version of “Oliver” where merchants walk along the street outside his bedroom window peddling their wares. They sing out “Who will buy?” this or that, holding up samples for passersby to see. Oliver has never witnessed such a thing before.

He sings,

Who will buy this wonderful morning?
Such a sky you never did see!
Who will tie it up with a ribbon,
And put it in a box for me?

I visited a web site today that sells dessert products. Its homepage had no content, so there was no one to “sing” to me about the products.

In the movie, the rose seller stresses her “sweet red roses”. Anyone walking by her on the street would be able to hold a rose up close to press a satiny red petal to their cheek. On the web, we have no such luxury.

We depend on page content to paint a picture of what a product looks and feels like. If a web site offers images that express feelings of joy, satisfaction, thrill, fun or hope, we’re given something to emotionally connect with. We can hope our experience will be the same as the people in the pictures.

The site I visited today had no pictures of people. Its products were beautifully gift wrapped so that I couldn’t see closeups. Other pictures showed food items that were lacking in detail. When the product description says 1 dozen cookies, are they big or little cookies? Are the raisins plump? How thick is the shortbread? Are we talking one cookie per person or does it take 3 cookies to equal one serving?

Oliver sings,

They’ll never be a day so sunny,
It could not happen twice.
Where is the man with all the money?
It’s cheap at half the price!

For this site, sale items were a click away from the homepage. To get to that page meant first finding it. The link label simply read “Sale”. Wow. That will drive in the hordes of budget crazed thrill seeking bargain hunters!

What do we get for our time on this site? What if we click, there’s only 3 choices and none of them are interesting? Does the page lead us anywhere else or just leave us dangling from the swinging chandelier?

Oliver has no money. He’s an orphan. He’s had a rough life. For him, anyone with something to sell him is incredible. The point is, someone WANTS him to buy something. If he can hear them hawking ripe strawberries, they must know he’s there somewhere inside a building, wanting to buy them.

Someone wants him to buy. He is special to the seller. They helped him feel that way. He sings,

Who will buy this wonderful feeling?
I’m so high I swear I could fly.
Me, oh my! I don’t want to lose it
So what am I to do
To keep a sky so blue?
There must be someone who will buy…

When was the last time you got this excited about buying online? When did you last feel madly driven to toss items into an online shopping cart? Which site makes you feel special when you’re there? How many web sites acknowledge your presence at all? Do online shops know you want to feel special?

Try adding little details to your online store. Help your customers feel wonderful, wanted and welcome.

There will be someone who will buy.

In the news:

Omaha based Netshops has hired an ex-Googler, Ash ElDifrawi, as the company’s first Chief Marketing Officer. He’ll be responsible for managing the company’s overall marketing strategy, including online marketing, brand marketing, SEO and strategic planning and corporate communications. At Google, ElDifrawi lead Brand Advertising for Google and YouTube, and was also the architect of the Google Brand Accelerator.

Look at Netshops. You’ll understand what Oliver was singing about.

I have “free spirit” roots that began in the middle 1970’s when I would just take off. It didn’t matter where I ended up, as long as I was having an adventure. My fellow flower children left-over friends and I never had enough money and we didn’t fuss over the details.

Nothing was planned. Most things I did were spontaneous. Today, my kids love my stories because I’m so different (and boring). They can’t imagine me with a crew cut during the punk rock days, or dancing at clubs wearing telephone cords, or hosting Grateful Dead concert parties because I lived near a popular place where they had played. My son, not long ago, asked me what “tie dyed shirts” were.

Sigh.

So why is it that when it comes to web site usability, I suddenly see the kinds of things only a fussy person would think of. Surely no programmer for travel site design would ever consider the following user needs and requirements because, frankly, there may be only two of us on the planet who are this nuts.

My dream travel site would have:

1. Lots of pet information, such as can you bring your pet, board it close by, bring a bunch of them and are there a vet or groomer nearby?

2. Say I’ve had my nails done for a luxury trip to a sunny resort, and break a nail on the flight out. Is there a nail salon on or near the resort that can save me from this tragic experience? (No, I would NEVER do this. But my daughter definitely would.)

3. If your bookings application has a check box for “hot tub”, please tell me how many people it holds. I don’t want to fly 3000 miles to a pretty condo, only to find the hot tub fits one person at a time. Related: Where is it? Is it private? Is it maintained? Will I be able to see the stars in the sky or is there, like, a hundred lights or tall buildings in the way?

4. When your site covers nearby events, be sure to add directions to them. I easily get lost.

5. I LOVE to imagine myself in your hotel, townhouse, condo or rental house on the beach, mountains or smack dab in the middle of a noisy city. Please show rotating pictures with speed control. Put some people in pictures to help me get an idea of how big the bed is, how many steps from the bed to the TV and how far I have to reach to pick up a phone for room service. You don’t expect me to move a muscle, do you?

6. For beach rentals, there are always those crazy details such as beach tags, beach umbrellas to rent and beach parking. Make sure your web page has all this extra information because I’m a worry wart and will have nightmares wondering if I can park my rental car at the beach.

7. About the rental car. Make sure your booking application has a number I can call before I select to reserve a car. I have questions about how many people it seats, how much extra I owe if my dog pukes in it, if your driver will come and get me and what time it has to be dropped off. I need everything perfect when I arrive. You advertised a stress free vacation, right?

8. What do I need to bring? Some web sites are very good at understanding that some people like to plan ahead and be prepared. Other sites are not. The ones that tell you what linens to bring, if you need to bring mustard and salad dressing for the fridge and towels for showers, is the site that gets more business. What are check in and check out times? How much cleaning is expected by us? Is there a washer and dryer? This is a MUST for traveling with children. Is there a place for Buster to go potty outside? For white noise addicts, is there a fan or something handy? Are there enough outlets for laptops, Portable Playstation, cell phone chargers, blow dryer, flattening iron, curing iron and the extra TV we brought so the boys don’t fight over what to watch?

9. Accessibility is another area programmers aren’t considering, and I’m not just talking about on page accessibility. Are there check boxes for those who need ramp access, lower cupboards and rails in the shower for wheelchair bound guests? Are there stairs? I once rented a cabin that had a 1/4 mile of steps to the front door, all up hill, from the driveway, which was also uphill. This, and the “Warning Bears” signs were so much fun!

10. When I hit “Submit”, will you send me an itemized list of all the teeny tiny details I want for my trip and promise to make my dream trip come true or have I spent an hour filling out a 7 page application, only to get to the end of it and the instructions say “Call us to book your trip”?

I’m not sure where or when I got so fussy. Some of it comes from being a responsible mom. Most of it comes from bad experiences and lessons learned over time. If the web site travel, vacation rental and hotel industries intend on selling their services online that people are used to doing through friends, newspapers and travel agencies, they may need to take the time to get into their visitors heads on a much deeper level.

It was so much easier to bum a ride from friends and crash on someone’s couch.

My approach to web site usability goes far beyond what you see on a web page. The lines between the Internet experience and off-line experience are blurred more and more as we adapt our lives to the technology we have available to us.

The user experience, both on and off-line, sometimes blend together. This is usually overlooked by web site designers who haven’t had the experiences or training to understand the ramifications of every element they put on a page. Every step, every instruction, every link to somewhere, every link label, every error message, every task that can’t be conducted or understood is a usability concern.

Sometimes the very decision to conduct tasks online becomes an issue.

Forcing Online Contact

I live in a state that attempts to force families to seek college financial aid assistance online. As a newbie parent to the world of college finances, I began the process when my daughter was accepted by one. The next step is to figure out how to pay for it.

I went online and the instructions suggested online filing for financial aid or coming into the college itself to get the paperwork. Because you must enter all of your private information, from social security numbers to tax records on the application, I didn’t want to feed that online to the state. It’s a personal preference.

In addition, as a user, my daughter has divorced parents who live in separate homes and don’t share personal information like finances, bank records, etc. with each other anymore. I thought I could fill out my part and there’d be a separate form for her Dad. Boy, was I ever stupid!

I went to the college to get the state’s paperwork, only to be told they don’t give it out. You HAVE to file for assistance online. I got into a fight with the receptionist over this because the web site said I could get the paperwork there. She didn’t believe me, so she called a superior, who had no idea what I was talking about.

The woman, thankfully (likely to shut me up), asked to see what I was referring to. She showed me her computer screen and together, I showed her the page and their web site’s instructions that I could come in and get the paperwork. She was stunned and apologized and then told me she had none to give me. The state, she said, insists it be done online.

Still miffed, I asked her what divorced families do and she sighed and told me that “Pennsylvania doesn’t care” about that.

Doesn’t care about the user experience? Doesn’t care?

In my case, I get along famously with my “ex” and we have few secrets, but sharing financial information, including credit card debts, our spouses salaries, etc. is a bit unrealistic. We could do that damned form together online and swallow our issues because we love our daughter. But what insane person came up with the cruel idea of forcing families to file online for college financial aid?

How many college students get caught up in their parents’ issues? This is already a stressful time. Usability includes the emotional state of web site visitors and again, this is commonly ignored in the design of sites and forms.

Communication

The first problem in my experience was instructions on a web page that offered incorrect information, and it was compounded by an off-line experience of additional lack of communication. College staff weren’t aware of what their web site even said.

Their content writer wasn’t informed of proper procedures.

Their instructions about filing online should have clearly stated there’s no option and offered a way to contact someone who has issues with that. Is the form accessible? Was it ever tested? Is it a PDF? What if someone has no computer? What about privacy and security concerns? What about parents who don’t get along? Can you get separate passwords and log in so that information is hidden?

My questions were endless and the college web page, the very institution that wants my money, offers no guidance.

Web site usability is not a one way street. It’s not limited to color choices and organized navigation.

Try not to put something on there without first considering who is going to use it, why they may want to and why they can’t. Working web site usability is about a coherent user experience in some cases where the on and off-line tasks are connected by links and written communication.

Forcing a task to be performed in one way, with no alternatives, indicates poor end user research or worse, a complete and total turning of your back on their needs.

This year hasn’t been one of my favorites. It’s been “The Year of Pondering My Navel”. Or, perhaps, the “Year of Unraveling”. If you earn your living connected to the Internet, this year went by in 1.3 minutes flat.

I’m finding that what worked before may be losing out to the current fad. One area of constant change is how we interact with the Internet and each other. A few months back I had asked if traditional online forums were going to fade away due to the popularity of social network sites and nearly everyone felt forums would remain.

I don’t think this is true. I think it’s wishful thinking. I can say this because I own a forums and have been watching things. People want to vote on other people. This is how they communicate their opinion without actually stating it with words. Chances are good you have several homes on the Internet that permit you to “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” thread comments. Whether or not you do, the option is there because this is a known favored user interaction device.

Since a forums such as Cre8asiteforums doesn’t incorporate a voting system, I’m now seeing other web sites link to forum threads and in THEIR sites, they can discuss the forum thread and members can vote.

It’s a sign.

SEO and Usability Games

I’ve been watching this too. Call me crazy, but I feel the two practices can share the same house. I think it’s unnaturally limiting to peg one before the other or one without the other.

Search engine optimization is more than about the act of searching, in my opinion. It’s about finding all the ways the Internet enables people to connect so they’ll produce and create something they want or need in a new way.

The way to discover what people want to create is to get far, far beyond how they were taught to search or interact with web pages. Search itself is one small part of an even greater act that we’re all participating in, if we’re invited or enabled to do so.

I haven’t been content to accept the way things were taught because everyone hasn’t had the opportunity to ride the horse. Accessibility and designing for seniors and “baby boomers” remaining an afterthought are just two quick examples.

Can You Understand What You Don’t Know?

Sometimes we build a web site for who we know best. That would be ourselves. We’re not so good at building for invisible people, which essentially, most everyone is. Sure, we have user studies, click tracks, database criteria to play with. But we base design guidelines, business requirements and site enhancements on the words that someone might type back to us or lines in graphs. Data gleaned from video taping users in a lab is another. When was the last time you sat in a lab answering questions or having your mouse movements recorded?

When I look in the mirror, I don’t see a line going up and down. I’m made up of a trillion billion tiny details that no web site designer or search engine marketer could ever know.

Are We Designing For The Human Experience? is a discussion I started in Cre8asiteforums a few days ago, inspired by DUX 2007: A great conference, but fundamentally off the mark.

I wrote:

My own observations and personal feelings are that sooner or later end users will stop basing their experiences on the short-lived thrill of the next roll-out of the “something new”. There’s a movement towards substance and the “integrity of being” as I call it. The impact of the “green” movement tells me that people are ready for experiences that place a strong value and emphasis on their participation and programs that include and welcome them, rather than being a “cog in the wheel”.

Designing for participation can be seen in social media, but despite all these new sites designed to bring us together, I still feel disconnected. The experience of social networking is only going to be based on how much we’re willing to share. Rather than the whole human, we’re more likely to get bits and pieces and believe we’re getting a human experience online. We’re not. (Emphasis mine.)

Consider that playing out right now is the fight over what comes “first” - SEO or usability. The whole argument leaps right over the idea of creating something meaningful.

I’m not alone in my thoughts, as a visit to the discussion will show.

I think some people wanted the chance to look at this too.