Usability Views Article Details  home | timeline | recent | popular | e-reports | userati | books | about  More on Firefox, IE and slashdot (15 Sep 2005) The mistake we’re all making, myself included, is focusing on designing for ourselves. Designing for ourselves isn’t a sin, but if the game you want to win is market share, you have to work very hard to make sure your needs and wants jive with people who’s needs are less sophisticated than ours (Which is most of the planet’s web browsing poulation). Lots of folks said “my mom can do X” or “my friends can do Y” as justifications of how their experience matches everyone elses, but I think we’d all agree how fragile and anecdotal those claims are. Your mom might be a rocket scientist, and your friend might have watched you do whatever it is before they tried to do it themselves. I’m not saying I’m right, you’re wrong, or that your pants are on fire. Instead I’m saying that design arguments, ui design arguments in particular, can and should stand on firmer ground. There should be an essay somewhere called “how to have a meaningful UI design argument” (finger on nose). Article URL: http://www.scottberkun.com/blog/?p=118 Read 52 more articles from Scott Berkun sorted by date, popularity, or title. Next Article: Technobile     This site is a labour of love built by Chris McEvoy