The Amazon of Usability
10 Feb 2006 - 9:45am
3 replies
299 reads
jbellis
2005
In a recent thread, Oleh referenced the Amazon page for Cooper's book:
http://tinyurl.com/8x5xq. I know that Nielsen has already observed that Amazon doesn't have to play by the rules anymore, but I'm curious what the consensus is on the usability/UI/graphics/interaction of this page... and if there's possibly a bigger message.
Just causing trouble,
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In terms of information overload their pages are pretty intense, and a
first-time user would not make use of all the options available to them
(well, even "advanced" users probably don't). But there are some slick
interactions like 1-click shopping and adding to any of your wish lists
(though I do wish that adding to a wish list wouldn't automatically take you
away from the item's page). I wonder if it's a case of "Just because you
can, doesn't mean you should." There are so many ways to explore the site,
do people really use them all or are some there just because they were easy
to add?
>>I wonder if it's a case of "Just because you
>>can, doesn't mean you should." There are so many ways to explore the site,
>>do people really use them all or are some there just because they were
easy
>>to add?
I agree,
That's one thing I really like about Google, they focus on this aspect
extensively. In case of Gmail also a lot of features have been hidden, Yahoo
mail also adopted a similar approach hiding cc and bcc field behind a click.
I also found GAP also has prioritized real estate very well -
http://webxm.blogspot.com/2005/12/prioritization-gapcom.html
Ofcourse amazon problem is larger, but base concept does not change.
Cheers
Alok
>>*I wonder if it's a case of "Just because you
*>>*can, doesn't mean you should." There are so many ways to explore the
site,
*>>*do people really use them all or are some there just because they were
*easy
>>*to add?
*
Amazon might not have to play by the rules anymore, but the design of their
pages has really limited their ability to roll out new features. They rolled
out tagging, statistically improbable phrases, wikis, author blogs, etc and
as far as I know all have failed to really gain any traction. If the design
of their page was different perhaps some of these new ways to
interact/navigate would be more popular.
Dave