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21 Jun 2001, Hong Kong
Dear Dr ecommerce,
I was asked to produce an outline of strong perspectives on website usability, with a stronger focus on the Asian market.
Got any ideas as to how I should approach it?
Many Thanks!
Fiona
Dear Fiona:
Many you're-welcomes!
Usability is a much underrated science. I have sat through several presentations of massive web site implementations where no one on the design team has even thought about usability!
The following web sites are very useful resources on usability and will even give you some ideas on how to set up your own usability tests.
However, they are all American sites. And while I think many of the core issues are relevant, there are clearly differences between how Americans and how Asians approach web sites.
And I probably don't need to tell you that there are huge cultural and Internet usage differences across Asia. Did you know, for instance, that Koreans are the most avid Internet users in the world? (The average Korean user spends more time on-line than any other Internet user). On the other hand, you have the Burmese and North Koreans who, for the most part, are not even allowed to have an Internet connection. In the middle you have Thais, Malaysians, Indians and mainland Chinese who, although they are using the Internet in greater and greater numbers, are not heavy Internet users and often have to put up with slow connections and comparatively high connectivity costs. I won't even go into language and alphabet differences!
In short, there is a huge need for usability studies in Asia. Perhaps you should try to convince your boss to find some budget to perform some usability research.
Good luck,
Dr. Ecommerce