Based on an extensive literature review, just when usability was emerging as a business critical function, this presentation summarises research on common misconceptions of usability from 2002.

1. The top 10 usability myths
John Knight & Marie Jefsioutine
User-Lab
Birmingham Institute of Art & Design
Knight & Jefsioutine, HCI and EUPA Conference 2002

2. •Usability is top 10 lists
“What’s great about the web is that we
don’t yet know the rules” Dale Dougherty
“I’m really wary of creating standards that
everyone needs to live by” Valerie Casey
Knight & Jefsioutine, HCI and EUPA Conference 2002

3. •Usability is Jakob Nielsen
“Usability gurus are 99% bad” Paul Wigely
“there are extremists and I say that the
extremists’ time is over” Valerie Casey
Knight & Jefsioutine, HCI and EUPA Conference 2002

4. •Usability is common sense
“While some of the book’s guidelines are
common sense others are banal” Martyn
Perks (of Homepage Usability)
“Lack of research time and money in the
design industry has made people hungry
for simple solutions” Ann Light
Knight & Jefsioutine, HCI and EUPA Conference 2002

5. •Usability is about stupid users
“stupid people skew results” Dale Dougherty
“Don’t Make Me Think exemplifies the
diminished view of the user, … an
impatient, harassed imbecile unable to
cope with the slightest cognitive stress ”
Ben Eliot
Knight & Jefsioutine, HCI and EUPA Conference 2002

6. •Usability limits innovation
“the usability movement on the web [almost]
censors original content” Valerie Casey
“innovations can all too often be dismissed
as contrary to agreed standards ” James
Woudhuysen
Knight & Jefsioutine, HCI and EUPA Conference 2002

7. •Usability is about download times
“speed must be the overriding design
criterion” Jakob Nielsen
“the web has been so heavily criticised for
download time…[it has] led to
standardising the way Web pages are
made” Valerie Casey
Knight & Jefsioutine, HCI and EUPA Conference 2002

8. •Usability is dominating design
“Usability rules the web” Jakob Nielsen
“there’s a perception that usability gets in the
way of development. That is a perception
that kills usability” John Rhodes
Knight & Jefsioutine, HCI and EUPA Conference 2002

9. •Usability focuses on problems
“Usability is often about generating or
fighting Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt”
John Rhodes
“..at the expense of breakthroughs in
content, concept or technology” Martyn
Perks
Knight & Jefsioutine, HCI and EUPA Conference 2002

10. •Usability is a luxury
“The first things to get cut in the
development process are documentation,
testing and usability” John Rhodes
“agencies.. with their .. usability department
and fancy espresso machines all housed in
swanky offices dripping in overheads “
Chris Tomlinson
Knight & Jefsioutine, HCI and EUPA Conference 2002

11. •Usability is a fad
“I think that usability was a hot issue, and it’s
fading because people are getting used to
computers “ Valerie Casey
“Usability as we know it is dying. It is
outdated, misunderstood, and it faces very
serious challenges in web and software
development circles.” John Rhodes
Knight & Jefsioutine, HCI and EUPA Conference 2002