 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Recent changes
Thread Solved |
•
•
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 12,056
Reputation: 
Solved Threads: 127
So that I won't be accused of failling to mention it, a UI change made today was to surround the list of sticky threads with a thin box to separate them from the regular threads a bit more.
However, in doing so, I came to a realization as to something I want to say in this post: A lot of the small UI changes I make, such as this one, revolve around A/B testing different things and then tracking statistics to see if usability has increased or decreased as a result. In these cases, beta sites just wouldn't work, as I need sample sizes of 1,000,000+ people in order to get an accurate overall representation.
This is very similar to what companies like Google do when they change their logo to be Goooooooooogle instead to see if it gets more/fewer clicks, and change color elements on their site.
However, for all of the bigger things, a summary of what's changed over the course of the month is always mentioned in the monthly newsletters.
However, in doing so, I came to a realization as to something I want to say in this post: A lot of the small UI changes I make, such as this one, revolve around A/B testing different things and then tracking statistics to see if usability has increased or decreased as a result. In these cases, beta sites just wouldn't work, as I need sample sizes of 1,000,000+ people in order to get an accurate overall representation.
This is very similar to what companies like Google do when they change their logo to be Goooooooooogle instead to see if it gets more/fewer clicks, and change color elements on their site.
However, for all of the bigger things, a summary of what's changed over the course of the month is always mentioned in the monthly newsletters.
Dani the Computer Science Gal 
Follow my Twitter feed! twitter.com/DaniWeb
And if you're interested in Internet marketing there is twitter.com/DaniWebAds
Follow my Twitter feed! twitter.com/DaniWeb
And if you're interested in Internet marketing there is twitter.com/DaniWebAds
•
•
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 3,251
Reputation:
Solved Threads: 26
Thank you Dani,your doing a good job!
•
•
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 12,056
Reputation:
Solved Threads: 127
Thank you.
Dani the Computer Science Gal
Follow my Twitter feed! twitter.com/DaniWeb
And if you're interested in Internet marketing there is twitter.com/DaniWebAds
Follow my Twitter feed! twitter.com/DaniWeb
And if you're interested in Internet marketing there is twitter.com/DaniWebAds
•
•
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 5,051
Reputation:
Solved Threads: 332
•
•
•
•
Originally Posted by cscgal 
However, in doing so, I came to a realization as to something I want to say in this post: A lot of the small UI changes I make, such as this one, revolve around A/B testing different things and then tracking statistics to see if usability has increased or decreased as a result. In these cases, beta sites just wouldn't work, as I need sample sizes of 1,000,000+ people in order to get an accurate overall representation.
•
•
•
•
This is very similar to what companies like Google do when they change their logo to be Goooooooooogle instead to see if it gets more/fewer clicks, and change color elements on their site.
"Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal."
All my posts may be freely redistributed under the terms of the MIT license.
All my posts may be freely redistributed under the terms of the MIT license.
•
•
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 12,056
Reputation:
Solved Threads: 127
Google changes things quite regularly. However, because they are very important to my business, and I work with many Google services such as AdWords, AdSense, Analytics, Gmail, Google News, etc, all throughout the day, every day, in combination with my studying of web usability, I am able to pick up on many things ordinary users might not.
While I do understand where you're coming from, it's just a fact of nature that website usability relies on A/B testing, and constantly testing different methods, and tracking the performance of everything, to see what works best for what audience. For example, moving a little Google ad from directly above a button to directly below a button might result in a 50% increase in revenue.
While I do understand where you're coming from, it's just a fact of nature that website usability relies on A/B testing, and constantly testing different methods, and tracking the performance of everything, to see what works best for what audience. For example, moving a little Google ad from directly above a button to directly below a button might result in a 50% increase in revenue.
Dani the Computer Science Gal
Follow my Twitter feed! twitter.com/DaniWeb
And if you're interested in Internet marketing there is twitter.com/DaniWebAds
Follow my Twitter feed! twitter.com/DaniWeb
And if you're interested in Internet marketing there is twitter.com/DaniWebAds
•
•
•
•
Originally Posted by joeprogrammer
I know it's been suggested before, but a beta.daniweb.com would, in my opinion, be a vast improvement. You'd get a good idea of what kind of feedback you'll receive when you release it to the public, you could select users to test out your new changes, and once you've as many bugs as you can ironed out, release it. For users, it would mean learning the updated UI less often.
•
•
•
•
Originally Posted by cscgal
That's definitely by all means standard for software. However, when was the last time you saw google.com or digg.com or cnet.com or any other large website for that matter publically release such a document? The answer: they wouldn't.
•
•
•
•
Originally Posted by cscgal
So that I won't be accused of failling to mention it, a UI change made today was to surround the list of sticky threads with a thin box to separate them from the regular threads a bit more.
•
•
•
•
Originally Posted by cscgal
Google changes things quite regularly. However, because they are very important to my business, and I work with many Google services such as AdWords, AdSense, Analytics, Gmail, Google News, etc, all throughout the day, every day, in combination with my studying of web usability, I am able to pick up on many things ordinary users might not.
The 3 Laws of the Procrastination Society:
1) Never do today that which can be put off until tomorrow
2) Tomorrow never comes
1) Never do today that which can be put off until tomorrow
2) Tomorrow never comes
 |
Similar Threads
- win98-clear recent URLlist of windows media player (Windows tips 'n' tweaks)
- Vbulletin 3.5 Showing Recent Posts (PHP)
- Recent CS grad - indecisive.... (IT Professionals' Lounge)
- recent programming technologies used in mobile phones (C)
- "MY Recent Documents" (Windows NT / 2000 / XP)
- Recent Downtime (DaniWeb Community Feedback)
Other Threads in the DaniWeb Community Feedback Forum
- Previous Thread: Where did my rep go?
- Next Thread: Geeks' Lounge Stickies
| Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Latest DaniWeb Community Feedback Posts
- Today's Posts
- Unanswered Threads
Related Forum Features
Tag cloud for DaniWeb Community Feedback
+ abuse beginners bookmark bored box bug bugs calamity code codebox codesnippets codetags code_snippet comments cpuintensive daniweb design editcodesnippet end-of-the-world favouriteforums feedback ff3 flamewar glitch ie6 itsatag! kids layout login lulz negative newfeature poll post preview privatemessaging problem profanitytest profile quality quick rash-bot rashakil-fol reply reputation reputation-power sandwich score search snippet socialgroups solvedthreads sub-forum suggestion tagcloud tagging tags theactualrulerofthetag-cloud:3 therulerofthetag-cloud:[ thread threadtagging today's-posts unansweredposts upgrade user voting whining
