29 Sep 2003 | Jon Gales said...

I haven't listened to him since the first time I saw his website. If that's perfect usability, get me on the first train to "glamor".

Groups/people like 37Signals (and others like Zeldman, Cederholm and Holovaty) speak much louder for me--usability that actually looks nice.

29 Sep 2003 | Gilbert said...

I think Jakob has had his life as a usability guru. Sure, he is still the most prolific usability advocate but I'm not quite sure if he is still as influential as he was in the 1990's. I believe web design agency's have taken usability to the next level, people like 37signals, and others who have combined beautiful design with practical usability.

I'm sorry but I don't think Alertbox has taught me much the last year or so. Others have.

29 Sep 2003 | f5 said...

The man refers to himself as a Guru, does he not? That was clue #1 for me.

30 Sep 2003 | pb said...

Yeah, he's not doing himself favors trying to take so much credit but I definitely back him over his detractors.

30 Sep 2003 | David said...

Presidents will always take credit for good economies, whether they are the driving force or not.

Same thing here. He's all about selling himself and, to an extent, he has to.

Doesn't mean I like or agree with him.

30 Sep 2003 | Steve Hoffman said...

Here's my take, titled "Thank You, Jakob N.": http://hoffman.blogs.com/tales/2003/09/thank_you_jakob.html

30 Sep 2003 | ~bc said...

But the average Web design agency pays attention to usability these days.

Eh. Not so much. Usable? Where is finding these six agencies that switched from glamor to usable?

30 Sep 2003 | David Walker said...

This is an unpopular view, but there was a point in the evolution of the Web when Nielsen almost single-handedly focused people on the idea that innovative, experimental design - the "Killer Web Site" approach - wasn't delivering results., and that a simpler approach would do better. In the late 1990s, Nielsen was saying more, and saying it more loudly, than any other half-dozen people out there.

For quantitative proof, take a look at Keith Instone's old and unmaintained www.usableweb.com site, where Nielsen has 117 publications listed and the next most prolific author has 13. (That's me at number 5, BTW.)

Why did Nielsen succeed?

* He was in usability long before it was sexy, doing some of the key work in the field.
* He researched techniques such as "discount usability" that could be used in a site-building environment.
* He had access to a substantial research lab at Sun which let him base many of his opinions on facts and figures.
* He had a broad enough intelligence to make smart points outside the narrow field of his research, and to understand the Web as a communications medium rather than just as software. One instance out of hundreds - he pointed out that the Web was more like the telephone than it was like TV.
* He had a keen nose for bullshit - 3D interfaces, personalisation, WAP, e-books, frames and more.
* He spoke colorfully enough to make people take notice. Many people dislike this about Nielsen, but it was key to selling the usability message.

He's less influential than he used to be, but only because no-one could expect to be that influential for long.

30 Sep 2003 | Graeme Donald said...

Since when can you "usher in" the decline of anything?

30 Sep 2003 | Ellen said...

e had a keen nose for bullshit - 3D interfaces, personalisation, WAP, e-books, frames and more.

So did 37signals back in 1999:
37signals Manifesto, #25

30 Sep 2003 | Matthew Oliphant (formerly fajalar) said...

I have to agree with David. As much as I don't agree with some of the assertions that Jakob has put forth, he has served one purpose for which many of us should be thankful. He bitch-slapped a lot of companies into realizing they could make money while treating their customers well.

And a lot of those companies turned around and hired us. I believe we would have gotten to where we are now anyway, but Jakob's influence got us here quicker.

The things is, I think it focused some very smart and talented people away from areas like development, cog psych, and all the other wonderful related fields, and dumped them into usability. As such, Jakob is less relevant (compared to his own past relevance).

Given some feedback from a colleague that went to NN/g's User Experience 2003, the relevance is sounding like a broken record. I think if we need another revolution we should give Jakob a call, but it's not revolution time right now.

30 Sep 2003 | Brad Hurley said...

There's no doubt he has had an enormous and lasting impact on the Web world. I still refer regularly to his Designing Web Usability book, and I've read it several times from cover to cover. Much of what he had to say is still very relevant. But I just find his crowing and self-promotion to be offensive and, frankly, juvenile. I get the feeling that he's had some bitter arguments with people who claimed he was wrong or irrelevant, and now he's thumbing his nose at them and saying, "See, I was right! I told you so!" I would have thought most of us would have grown out of that kind of behavior by the time we were 9 years old...

30 Sep 2003 | jarv75 said...

Sure, I reckon Nielsen has been a leading force in improving web usability - but, like Jon Gales, there are others who are of far greater influence/inspiration to me.

The main thing I believe Jakob Nielsen taught us was how powerful self-promotion can be in building a business.

30 Sep 2003 | Shane said...

Did Nielsen usher in the dot com bust and recession as well? Why stop at usability, Jakob?

01 Oct 2003 | Paul said...

It's all about how he says things. He should work on his tone. I came across a post today that sums it up well - read The importantce of tone and style for more...

01 Oct 2003 | Nick said...

Jakob Nielsen may have made the web usable, but it's the designers that make the usable web glamorous.

01 Oct 2003 | Don Schenck said...

Jakob is trying to have an ego as big as mine.

Sorry, ain't gonna happen; you're not as good as I am.

:-)

He's okay. I mean ... most successful people have big egos. You have to think "nothing can stop me" if you want to succeed.

If nothing else, he's a lightning rod for the subject, which is good, right?

01 Oct 2003 | max cohen said...

He can certainly seem conceited when reading him. (I've gotten a different view when I've heard him speak in person.) What seems to upset designers that I know is that he was right. Some designers complain about him and his articles but when I look at a designer's work they've implemented his methods whether knowingly or not. Of course Web sites need great design and from listening to Nielsen he's admitted that several times (although he should write on it in his Alertbox).

What I like most about Nielsen is that he was the first person I came across that wrote articles about what he "knows" from facts and studies compared to designers who said "I think" and guessed at what the user needed. ("Designers think, usability experts know.") For me, Nielsen's biggest contribution was to point out that Web sites are what the user wants rather than what the designers thinks the user should have.

I cheered when he wrote 'Flash 99% Bad' because I didn't hear anyone else saying it. I'm also grateful that something positive came of it and Macromedia helps Flash designers with Flash usability.

As far as Nielsen not doing anything new or creating new revolutions I think he already is....in the area of intranet design. Problem is we just can see those improvements publicly.

01 Oct 2003 | b. jacobs said...

Is he being conceited or defensive? I've noticed that Zeldman pats himself on the back (self promotes?) and bashes Nielsen. Nielsen just pats himself on the back (self promotes?) . I have more respect for someone like Nielsen.

"Jakob Nielsen may have made the web usable, but it's the designers that make the usable web glamorous." -Exactly. I've heard Nielsen state this concept.

"The man refers to himself as a Guru, does he not? That was clue #1 for me." -Do you have a link where he states this?

"I haven't listened to him since the first time I saw his website. If that's perfect usability, get me on the first train to "glamor"." -I certainly understand.

01 Oct 2003 | Martin said...

Funny how Neilsen's website doesn't even obey half of his usability rules.

Granted, he's done alot for design, but he's a bit of a blow-hard.

01 Oct 2003 | Derek Powazek said...

Everyone will always look at the guy who farts the loudest, but that doesn't mean he's doing anything other than stinking up the place.

02 Oct 2003 | Jack said...

"Everyone will always look at the guy who farts the loudest, but that doesn't mean he's doing anything other than stinking up the place."

One of the more 'intelligent' comments. I guess some have to shit on others to make themselves look good.

02 Oct 2003 | Jane Sacks said...

Grow up Powazek!

02 Oct 2003 | Paperhead said...

When it all boils down though Zeldman has not only focused on usable sites that look good (just go look at any of his sites, they are all fine pieces of work), but he has also fought hard for the standards compatibility in browsers that has allowed us to begin making good-looking sites that work pretty much across the browser spectrum. A List Apart has done wonders for convincing people that they can make compliant sites in a stylish manner. There's other names to throw in here too (Eric, Mark, and Adrian amongst them) but I hope most of us know who they are.

As for Jakob, a lot of his points may well have been right, but you need to back that up and show people the possibilities too. And let's all be honest here for a moment, having a site that looks like a series of badly-formatted interlinked text files was never ever going to do that.

03 Oct 2003 | paperhead said...

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha hahhahahahahahahahahahahah

03 Oct 2003 | paperhead said...

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha hahhahahahahahahahahahahah

04 Oct 2003 | Paperhead said...

/ last two comments not by me