Entry bubble Plain Language is a Win-Win-Win

By: Editor | November 09, 2009 | Category: General

confused man

In honor of World Usability Day, which will be celebrated Thursday, our guest blogger today is Whitney Quesenbery, a user researcher, user experience practitioner, and usability expert with a passion for clear communication.

Between websites, blogs, twitter, and all the other new online communities, there are more ways for the government and citizens to communicate than ever. Just communicating more won’t mean much unless everyone understands what is actually being said. 

That’s where plain language comes in.  This is not a new concept. The idea of speaking directly to people, in terms they understand, seems obvious. It can be hard to break a long tradition of arcane terminology and long-winded sentences, but the results can be a win for everyone.

Which would you rather read:

“The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends a half hour or more of moderate physical activity on most days, preferably every day. The activity can include brisk walking, calisthenics, home care, gardening, moderate sports exercise, and dancing.”

Or

“Do at least 30 minutes of exercise, like brisk walking, most days of the week.”

That example is from a Department of Health and Human Services project that replaced a 6-page article with 1-page fold-out brochure. The shorter version is not only fewer words to read, but gets right to the point. It speaks directly to the reader, uses an active voice and keeps the message as simple as possible.

Who wins when you write information in plain language?

  • Citizens win - they can understand something on their own.
    After one government agency rephrased the language in a letter that it sends to citizens many times each year, phone calls to ask for explanations dropped by more than 80%. 
  • Agencies win - they don’t have to spend as much time and money answering questions.
    When a cable company rewrote and redesigned its bill, call volume dropped by 15%. The calls were shorter, too.
  • You win - when you don’t have to spend as much time explaining what you meant. In the first example, the new letter meant almost 1,000 phone calls that a small staff didn’t have to answer.

Want to learn more?

World Usability Day is on November 12. This international day is about “making life easy” and user friendly.  It is celebrated in over 36 countries.

In Washington, DC, Webcontent.gov and the Center for Plain Language have teamed up celebrate the sustaining power of Usability + Plain Language on World Usability Day. World Usability Day events and resources to help you build your skills and improve your documents and web sites include:

  • Free “mini-consultations” with a usability or plain language expert to improve your government web page or document by phone on Nov. 12 from 1:00 – 4:00 pm ET
  • A free in-person plain language course on Nov. 12 from 9:00 – 11:30 am in Washington DC near Union Station
  • The Plain Language + Usability Resource List to help you conduct a World Usability Day activity at your agency or company and improve your website year-round

| Post a Comment | View Comments [0] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: blog   editor   guest   language   plain   usability   webcontent.gov  

 

Entry bubble Good Usability – Not an Accident, a Decision!

By: Joanne | November 12, 2008 | Category: General

Today, in celebration of World Usability Day on Thursday, Nov. 13, we welcome Nicole Burton as our guest blogger. Nicole is a usability specialist at the General Services Administration on the USA.gov Web Best Practices Team, where she helps web teams makes their websites easy to use. Nicole is a playwright, publisher author, and certified usability specialist.

potato peeler

Why are some websites are easy to use and others drive you crazy? Why do some kitchen gadgets feel so good in your hand while others lead straight to the first aid kit?









confusing street signs Why do some city street signs guide you while others cause crashes?

The answer: Good user experiences are planned. Twelve years ago, I discovered usability while working as a tech writer at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. At a conference, the presenter showed us how to test a computer system design with real users using nothing but paper! I realized that doing several rounds of testing and design early on was the key to making a system or website easy to use. I’ve never looked back.

On Thursday, November 13, 2:00-3:00 pm ET, the National Institute of Standards and Technology is offering a free webinar on how to write great usability requirements. It’s part of World Usability Day, an international event to draw the public’s attention to the benefits of good usability.

Usability engineers (yep, it’s a real job title) help build ease of use into websites and other products. We usually earn at least a masters degree or certification, but experience is the best qualification, and lots of people master usability basics. For tips to get started and usability guidelines, check out Usability.gov and Webcontent.gov.

Be warned: Once you start looking for good and bad usability, your world will never be the same. TV remote controls, doorways, websites will all announce whether they’re easy or hard to use.

Actually, usability awareness is good. As consumers, we send a powerful message to government and industry when we choose to use websites that are easy to use and avoid or critique those that waste our time.

Remember, good usability isn’t an accident, it’s a decision!

| View Comments [1] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: day   experience   nicole   usability   user   world  

 

Entry bubble Usability

By: Marybeth | November 06, 2007 | Category: General

photo of a man with a computerWorld Usability Day is Thursday, November 8. Are you wondering why you should care about usability? It’s not that you should care—you already do care. Usability is the measure of how easy or difficult it is to accomplish a task. Each day, you probably have several interactions with websites, appliances, forms, and other products and services that make your life easier or more difficult.

Now, I’ll admit that World Usability Day may appeal to a somewhat niche audience of usability professionals and those who are considering a career in that field. For them, this is a significant occasion with 225 events planned in 35 countries.

The majority of us are not likely to attend these events, but on a daily basis, we are affected by the work that these professionals do. I’ve found that I’m most aware of usability when I’m experiencing poor usability—when I can’t find what I need on a website; when paper forms require minuscule print; when so-called help manuals offer no help; when I get the wipers and lights mixed up on rental cars; and so on. People might be inclined to ascribe such experiences to user-error. Apparently, taking the blame for poor usability is a rookie mistake. The problem is not you! (probably)

Usability testing is one way to figure out how well something works. The Social Security Administration (SSA) performed usability testing to simplify the online application for the Medicare Prescription Drug Program. Using feedback to fine-tune the document, SSA released a product that earned the unusually high approval rating of 91 (out of 100).

The cruel twist of good usability is that most of us aren’t aware of it when we encounter it. That’s right… usability experts have possibly done their finest work when we’re completely oblivious to their efforts. But if, by chance, you are conscious of good usability examples, please do share.

| View Comments [1] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: usability