usability

The seminar that I am thankful I am attending is titled “The Science and Art of Web and Application Design”. It is arranged by Human Factors International at their Powai office. The entire 3 day workshop is conducted by 2 lively instructors Hitesh Agrawal & Hemal Gathani (who refused to be called as ‘instructors’).

The workshop started on a very light note and the basic rule which was to be followed throughout the course was to have fun. That, according to Hitesh would be the only way we all wil remember the course teachings. After a round of introductions we finally began the course. There are in all 15 participants which makes the course really intuitive and interactive in real sense. Out of the designers there are a few people who are not from the profession but are handling day-to-day creative jobs and have attended the course to get an idea of what usability is all about. People from companies like Microsoft, Cingular, Patni, ICICI, Mastek, FCB-Ulka, etc. have been attending this workshop.

The course material is extensive and we all are given exercises to complete after one set of instructions are taught. I am now familiar with a lot of terminologies which weren’t heard by me and I am going to physically apply these to my work when I return.Certain navigation systems which are actually named and the difference between a page type and a template. We were also shown some good and bad examples of usability in websites and I was quite happy to participate in the reviews. It will be a new era of sorts for me now that I have learnt the science of application and web design. The course-ware as I said is extensive and I will try and share with you some of the good principles of usability that I learnt at the workshop which ends on Saturday.