Macromedia announced today that the creator of the “Flash 99% bad” report, Jakob Nielsen will be working with them to develop a “best practices” for rich Internet applications..
The buzz is naturally on in the Flash community. Here are some links to coverage of the announcement:
This really is not a surprise, if Flash is going to be accepted as a web application tool among the corporate world, Macromedia has to do something to offset Nielsen’s “Flash: 99% Bad” column from last year. Buying Nielsen’s consulting services is probably the fastest way to achieve this. So now we’re getting Jakob MX.
This is no joke, folks. In an announcement that is sure to be the biggest shocker in the Flash community, Nielsen will be coaching Macromedia on usability.
This scares me, as much as I admire the guys writings, agree with many of his concepts, I still think he just doesn’t ‘get’ flash. Personally I’d rather see Steve Krug, or Chris McGregor, maybe even Marie Tahir doing this, as these people have more realistic ideas to modern web usability.
I think this can be helpful reading for developers, but will also help with client communications, and the long-term effect should be to help the viewing audience around the world.
[Update, found another site that had some interesting comments around the Nielsen/Macromedia partnership:
Okay, so let me get this straight. Jakob Nielsen, a self-penned usability
Actually, I almost wonder if it’s a case of who barked the loudest and also Jakob’s writing is the one that sticks out like a sore thumb to Macromedia.
I still want my celebrity boxing match between Joshua Davis and Jakob N.
So Jakob is a usability expert huh?
This guy criticizes Flash designers for deviating from the “standards” yet on his own corporate home page he has at least 12 errors most of which are links to incorrect pages. How’s that for usability!
Check out his web site home page right (http://www.nngroup.com/) now before he fixes all these errors,
1) broken graphic at bottom of page
2) click on People, you go to Services
3) click on Services, you go to Publications
4) click on Publications, you go to Events
5) click on Events, you go to About
6) click on Jakob Nielsen, you go to Don Norman’s web site
7) click on Donald A. Norman, you go to Ask Tog
8) click on Nielsen Norman Group Members, you go to Events
9) click on User Experience 2001/2002, you go to Services
10) click on Usability Testing and Reviews, you go to Process and Strategy
11) click on Process and Strategy, you go to Seminars
12) click on Contacting, you go to the MM/JN press release on Yahoo
I cannot decide who is dumber, Jakob for being Jakob or Macromedia for hiring him!
http://www.nngroup.com/