So the ReUSEIT contest has closed for new submissions, and the judging has commenced. I can’t comment on the entries, other than to say that there has been some excellent work done. Everyone who took the time and entered deserves recognition for their achievement.

For me as a judge, this raises issues. Whilst I know attractive design and good quality code like the back of my hand, one of the primary objectives for this contest is usability design. I can tell you what bad usability looks like. Bad usability is usually accented by grunts of desperation and another trip to the coffee machine. Good usability, on the other hand is transparent.

As it happens, judging usability with an A/B comparison is easy. Suddenly the plus and minus points leap off the page at you much more readily then they do when looking at a single page in isolation. So here’s a tip for today: when attempting to assess the usability of a site you’re working on, compare it to something similar (like a competitor’s site on the same subject matter). Is it more or less usable? Which points are good and bad about each? Comparison is soo much easier than original thought.