A nice resource for when you want to which font is available on which system. Very usefull if you want to provide a cross platform user experience.

Ever needed to to build a website for someone or wanted to sell an item like a car and the buyer says: “I’ll let you know what I decide”? Now when he/she actually wants your item or service, you’ll hear from him/her, obviously. But when the deal doesn’t go through, you can keep waiting for an answer.

This also can be reversed…Imagine you want to buy a new cellphone, however it’s not available at this time but that it will be in a week. So you ask the seller to let you know when the new shipment arrives. After waiting two weeks, no word yet. You go back to the store only to hear that they have been delivered 5 days ago.

Both of these situations are examples of bad user experience, where the first will leave you dissatisfied with that client (you’ve probably invested time to come up with a proposal for that website or taken time to show him/her that car), the latter gives you a bad impression of the cellphone store and maybe chosing an other one next time.

Both situations can leave you with a better experience, if there just was a little communication even if it were negative: “I’m sorry but I’m no longer interested in that website/car” (if you’re lucky you’ll get a reason) or “I’m sorry to inform you but the cellphone you requested is out of production”. You prefer a more positive reply, but now at least you’ll know and the experience won’t be as bad.

In the situations above you are the one who is experiencing them as bad. But imagine a client who sends you a comment or e-mail to request some information or letting you know their complaint. (Be happy you get that comment or complaint, less than 1% of your users actually takes the time to send you something, it’s the best measurement of how you’re doing) Instead of not answering those mails or letting them sit for weeks, answer them sooner, like the next day. If you don’t have an answer yet, say something like: “Thank you for your question. I don’t have an answer right now, but I’ll have one within a week”. (Now don’t forget to deliver that answer withing the week, even if it’s to report you can’t help that person.) This will leave the client happier than you think and he/she might even return later, because their experience as a user/client wasn’t that bad.

This will be the new home for my rantings on accessibility, usability and user experience.

As you can see, the layout is still pretty default, but that will change soon (hopefully).

There is already some content available, which came from my blog. However this is a more suitable location, hence the relocation.