Welcome to the December issue of USEworthy. This month Mark Ward from the BBC online chats to Catriona Campbell about 'Why Websites are getting easier to use.'

Paul Blunden discusses the poor usability of portals as one of the three reasons for 'B2C portal catastrophic failure scenarios.'

 
We take a look at one of the webs' leading retail sites www.allders.com to evaluate its' purchase process.

Finally Arlene Kline continues the accessibility four-part series by discussing the business issues surrounding the development of accessible products.

Victor Chandler win

The Usability Company has signed a contract with Victor Chandler the leading bookmaker to provide information architecture services and usability testing for its website development.
Joe Coughlin, Project Manager for Victor Chandler said, "The Usability Company offers a comprehensive set of services that will meet the requirements of our project throughout the development cycle. We are very happy with our choice and anticipate a successful ongoing relationship".
Catriona Campbell, CEO of The Usability Company said, "We are delighted to be working with Victor Chandler on this project. Building in usability from the outset adds significant value to the development cycle and will provide excellent ROI. Victor Chandler customers will benefit significantly from this approach."

Conferences

Paul Blunden spoke on the 14th November at 'The UK Gaming Revolution:
The Emergence Of The UK As A Leading Online Jurisdiction' Conference in Russell Square, London. Delegates learned the importance of usability testing and its' lifecycle.

Catriona Campbell can be heard speaking together with a representative from William Hill at the IBC Wireless Gambling and Lotteries conference: Implementing Successful Mobile Gaming Services And Maximising Revenue Potential
They will be discussing how William Hill's site was made as usable as possible for its audience by researching their typical users needs, desires and knowledge around online gambling.
28-29 January 2003, 76 Portland Place, London
For more information visit the ibc Telecoms and Media website.

This month our accessibility series continues with the business issues surrounding the development of accessible products.

Read more about Accessibility

Many websites ignore the basic rules of interaction. Yet usability is at least as important as how a site looks. 

A recent report by Gartner (Six Degrees of Failure or Success in Portal Projects, 24th Sept 2002) identified poor usability as one of the three reasons for 'B2C portal catastrophic failure scenarios'. The other two reasons were that the system wouldn't accept transactions due to requirements failure or technological anomaly and incorrect information being displayed. 

This month we take a look at one of the webs' leading retail sites to evaluate its' purchase process.