New Delhi: Why must a cell phone be so complicated that a grandfather can’t reach his grandson easily? Why using a new camera must seem like rocket science? Why filing taxes is so difficult? Simplify life by simplifying things—that’s what World Usability Day on November 14 promotes.
Once upon a time the invoice used by Bell Canada, the country’s national telephone company, was so complex that it ran into several pages and confused customers. The company redesigned it bills in 1996, so that customers could easily understand call details and savings. Even visually challenged and elderly people could use the new invoice.
The result: the number of pages reduced by 40 per cent and the time customers spent on searching for information by 30 per cent. This is just one example of making things useful with simple changes so that users find it convenient and easy to use. Just imagine if such changes occur in all processes and products that one comes across, wouldn't life be easy?
The importance of usability is not trivial; it is connected to important everyday things such as education, healthcare and safety. Tools and systems that are usable are more effective in teaching students.
Healthcare professionals can be more confident with safer and understandable tools providing better quality healthcare to their patients.
Government institutions can rely on easy to use and understandable voting machines to insure accurate and democratic elections.
Usable technology makes a difference to everyone, everywhere around the world.
It tries to solve the purpose around which it was built. Without being a piece of complex machinery, things can be simple and yet work better.
World Usability Day promotes the value of usability engineering, user-centered design, and every user's right to ask for things that work better.
The Usability Professionals' Association is doing that by encouraging, organising, and sponsoring 36 hours of activities at the local level around the globe, all occurring on November 14, 2006.
This Earth Day style event, focused on raising awareness and visibility of usability engineering and user centered design, is currently being organised by volunteers and local event coordinators from around the world.
Whether a usability professional or just an enthusiastic (or frustrated) user, each participant is making a contribution towards "making life easy".
Where it’s at:
Delhi World Usability Day
Website: http://www.delwud.com
WUDBE – World Usability Day – Bangalore Edition
Website: http://www.wudbe.com
Usability Matters – Hyderabad
Website: http://www.usabilitymatters.org
UPA – Hyderabad
Website: http://www.upahyderabad.org
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