Forum OpenACS Q&A: A New OpenACS Site & the False Consensus Effect

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1: A New OpenACS Site & the False Consensus Effect
Posted by James Thornton on 03/17/02 04:35 AM
Over spring break I developed an OpenACS website for a motorcycle dealership that showcases their inventory of new and used vehicles, and it allows users to apply for credit online.

It was a complete redesign, and I was excited about presenting it to them; however, they adamantly rejected to new home page (http://spower.electricspeed.com/home) in favor of the old one (http://spower.electricspeed.com) saying, "Our current home page is beautiful."

I tried explaining the concept of usability, its effect on sales, and that the Java applet on the old home page crashes some Netscape browsers, but it had no effect. They are convinced that they will sell more with the original design.

They told me to put the old home page and a few intermediary pages on the new site, even though they wouldn't match rest of the site. So now that I have made the modifications, if you click through to see the vehicles (sample data), you'll see that the entire look and feel suddenly changes. They don't care about that, and they're happy now.

I understand the false consensus effect and that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but I am having a difficult time with this one.

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2: Response to A New OpenACS Site & the False Consensus Effect (response to 1)
Posted by Frankie Chu on 03/17/02 11:28 AM

I understand how you feel. It is sometimes amazing that clients would reject our best recommendations and instead choose the ugliest colour combinations for their new websites, not to mention mistaking Flash animations as dynamic interactivity.

You could call SPS Page 1 a lot of things, but calling it "beautiful" is just too far-fetched. The cyan colour background is not even funny. The "out-of-place" pages were actually a relief for my eyes as I escaped from the old site, and then I realized how awful the cyan background truly was.

One thing about the usability of the new pages, take the following link as example: http://spower.electricspeed.com/vehicle/browse-one-type?category_id=1112795

I would have thought that it takes too many clicks before the user could see any pictures of the vehicles. The brand names and model numbers are fine for dedicated bikers, but the beginners really would want to relate with images.

During a recent discussion with one of my clients (himself an American), he told me that his target audiences were traditional middle-age middle-Americans, who would feel intimidated by a more modern-looking usability-orientated website. Who am I to argue?

The customer is always right. So I suggest you to change the background colour of the new pages to cyan, which should improve the "out-of-place" problem somewhat. Just don't let anybody know that you did that website. *GRIN*.

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3: Response to A New OpenACS Site & the False Consensus Effect (response to 1)
Posted by Don Baccus on 03/17/02 06:51 PM
Well ... did you tell them that their Java applet won't work with new copies of Internet Explorer bundled with Windows XP unless visitors explicitly download Java?

Probably the only way to educate cretins at this level is to give them a brand-new Dell Laptop with a fresh XP install and have them visit their own site with it, and force them to install the Java plug-in themselves.

Then they might understand the issue ...

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4: Response to A New OpenACS Site & the False Consensus Effect (response to 1)
Posted by David Cohen on 03/18/02 12:44 AM
Despite the valid useability points, the ACS-based site sells the steak but not the sizzle and with this kind of product I imagine that it is important to get some sizzle in there too.

By the way, given that this is the web we're talking about, how hard would it be to run *both* sites and send 50% of the users to one and 50% to the other and actually see which design gets more sales?
Ask your client to let you try it for a month or two and that way you'll have real data.

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5: Website Design Review Forum -- any interest? (response to 1)
Posted by James Thornton on 03/18/02 11:03 AM
I would have thought that it takes too many clicks before the user could see any pictures of the vehicles. The brand names and model numbers are fine for dedicated bikers, but the beginners really would want to relate with images.

With my design, before I had to insert the intermediary pages, it only took two clicks to see the picture of a vehicle (or one click if you clicked on one of the three most recently added vehicles, listed under each category on the home page).

However, I see your point about "beginner" users so I added a thumbnail toggle to the browse page.

I appreciate feedback like this -- what about starting a new forum specifically dedicated to announcing and soliciting feedback on new/redesigned OpenACS sites. This could be a valuable thing, especially for the small or independent developers.

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6: Response to A New OpenACS Site & the False Consensus Effect (response to 1)
Posted by Marc Spitzer on 03/18/02 01:21 PM
To add a little to don's good idea, have them use a 14.4 modem to do all this on.  Or give them java and time how long it takes for a new customer to download the applets for the first time.  And ask them how does this help bussiness?  Then show them some fast loading sites, their compeditors.  Then ask them "I am an aol user with an attention span of 10 seconds, where would I go?"
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7: Response to A New OpenACS Site & the False Consensus Effect (response to 1)
Posted by Jade Rubick on 03/18/02 06:58 PM
Depending on the type of person, they might respond better to numbers as well. Tell them: it takes XXX seconds for the website to load up on the old webpage, and YYY seconds for the new page. Then you can site research which shows that users have an attention span of XXX seconds, and will likely stop if it takes more than that. I think the number was about 10 seconds.

I can sympathize with your plight, though... I've been there...

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8: Response to A New OpenACS Site & the False Consensus Effect (response to 1)
Posted by James Thornton on 03/18/02 09:41 PM
Tell them: it takes XXX seconds for the website to load up on the old webpage, and YYY seconds for the new page. Then you can site research which shows that users have an attention span of XXX seconds, and will likely stop if it takes more than that. I think the number was about 10 seconds.

The time limit is 10 seconds for "keeping the user's attention," 1.0 second for "the user's flow of thought to stay uninterrupted," and 0.1 second for the "user [to] feel that the system is reacting instantaneously." -- http://www.useit.com/papers/responsetime.html

Then show them some fast loading sites, their compeditors. Then ask them "I am an aol user with an attention span of 10 seconds, where would I go?"

The irony is that they are AOL users who said that they don't like accessing their site from their dial-up modem at home -- they only want access it from the DSL at work.

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9: Response to A New OpenACS Site & the False Consensus Effect (response to 1)
Posted by Don Baccus on 03/18/02 11:40 PM
That last line in your post is too precious for words, James!  It's really stunningly funny!

I think they're beyond hope if they can't make the connection between the site being so slow they don't like using it from a home dial-up connection and the customer experience.