August 29 2006

Nielsen: "use old words"

Quoting from the guru:

Familiar words spring to mind when users create their search queries. If your writing favors made-up terms over legacy words, users won't find your site.

Nielsen, the guru of usability, has spoken:

Nielsen's fun and punchy article states:

Winston Churchill said that "short words are best and the old words when short are best of all." Churchill was talking about how to write punchy prose, not about SEO. To be found, precise words are often better than short words, which can be too broad to accurately describe the user's problem.

This article is worth reading since it gives voice to the difficulties merchandisers have in deciding how to name categories, manage on-site search, develop SEO strategies as well as writing marketing prose.

That said, I wonder whether we should drop him a quick note asking about the new jargon term of "findability"?? Could it be that the Master is thinking of publishing a book soon with this as the new Wu of Usability?

I blush for even holding that thought for a moment: THIS is his new book!

Ian Jindal