Main screen / New tweet textbox

Display the whole box on click, not on key-down.
Reasoning: The size of box is seen as limiting for first-time users of Choqok. Also it is small (one line
textbox), compared to the sizes of other Twitter clients.

Main screen / Posting new status

I would recommend adding traditional icon showing some kind of network activity (circle with small dot going around or similar) to be layered over the tweet textbox (some kind of opacity should be added, so it partly hides the textbox) on posting.
Reasoning: No dynamic indication of message posting occurs. If larger image is attached to the tweet and tweet posted, only Statusbar (if enabled) indicates messages is being posted.

Main screen / Flow of tweets

Tweet on mouseover
I would go for having only two larger icons RE: and RT side by side and moving Favourite “star” to the top right of the tweet.
Reasoning: Icons (Reply etc.) look very small and blurred (specially on higher resolutions).

Flow of tweets / Retweet icon

I would recommend changing it possibly to some kind of classic or double arrow directed to the right.
Reasoning: RT icon looks like a recycling, which is usually related to the delete/erase action.

New tweets count in parentheses

Hide new tweets count on restoring Choqok (or maximizing it), not on minimizing.
Reasoning: New tweets count in the parentheses is hidden only when Choqok is minimized. Users should
not be forced to minimize Choquok (or press CTRL+R) to stop it from displaying number of new tweets, replies or direct messages.

related: Settings

Have an option to “Include replies in Home”.
Have an option to “Include direct messages in Home”.
Have an option to “Merge Inbox and Outbox into Dms”.
Reasoning: Hiding unnecessary tabs (if user chooses so) saves space and make Choqok look cleaner and simple.

related: Tabs

These actions are related to the settings as described above.
In case “Include replies in Home” option in Settings is checked, delete this tab as it would be redundant.
In case “Include direct messages in Home” option in Settings is checked, delete these tabs as they would be redundant.
In case “Merge Inbox and Outbox into DMs” option in Settings is checked, display only one tab “DMs” (alternatively Directs” or “Direct messages”.

Merging direct messages’ Inbox and Outbox

I recommend Inbox and Outbox tabs to be merged.
Reasoning: Merging enables user to follow up easier on the mutual communication. Alternatively, threading could be introduced, with last message shown as the larger one with other DMs belonging to the same conversation moved to the right under the latest DM from/to the same person. Left margin should be set to some value to put older DMs under the new one.

Main screen / Statusbar

Status bar should be disabled by default.
Reasoning: Statusbar does not add any informational value to the tweet list (flow of tweets) or when
browsing menu. Last update time could be optionally displayed next to “You and your friends” text in the
parentheses, e.g. (5m ago, no new tweets), (10m ago, 5 new tweets). A tooltip could be displayed on
mouseover with additional information: “Last updated 5m ago. 5 new tweets, 2 replies, 3 DMs”.

Download the full report

You can download the full report in PDF format (143 KBs). The report contains recommendations on usability improvements to Choqok Twitter client as well as more information on Pizza SEO and what we do.

However, it does not mean that searchability, accessibility and usability issues regarding Flash websites have been resolved. Flash is an important tool and has a role in web presentations but should rarely be the format of choice for entire websites.

Indexing Flash better does not mean indexing Flash well. By design there is very little text within a Flash site for the search engines to read. Moreover, you have little control over how the website will appear in the SERPs (and often, it won’t be pretty).

There is no jumping inside a Flash movie. Google reading more into Flash does not mean it can overcome one of its main usability drawbacks – the fact that most flash websites are on a single URL or have a limited URL structure. You cannot link to a specific point within a Flash site. So even if Google knows that somewhere within your site there is something a user wants to see, it has no way of sending her there.

Many usability conscious SEOs are worried that news on better indexing of Flash sites devalues their oft used argument – it is easier to convince someone to avoid Flash if you can threaten very poor search engine visibility. However, most companies with pure Flash websites are simply victims of looks-obsessed graphic designers who don’t understand user experience. All the arguments against Flash abuse still hold: hard to optimize for search engines, poor accessibility (think rich managers on mobile devices if sight-impaired users aren’t good enough), poor user experience (no back button, no way of knowing how to interact with many sites).

This does not mean there is no role for Flash to play. If used correctly (most of the time within a website rather than instead of a website) Flash can make for great user experience (Future NOW’s Jeff Sexton provides great examples) . So next time your advertising agency or web designer tells you to go Flash make sure they understand its limits.

Banks often try to minimize client visits at branches through prices set in favor of using online services. For active clients internet banking is one of the key channels for banking transactions. Its usability and the overall quality of user experience are therefore vital.

According to Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office, 15% of the Slovak population used Internet banking in 2007 – a higher share than in the neighboring countries. These clients are lucrative for the banks, since Internet is accessed disproportionately not only by the young but also by people with higher socio-economic status.

In 2007 Pizza SEO began working on rating Internet banking applications of Slovak banks. Our methodology is based on the so-called user personas technique – we created three fictitious but representative users who attempted to complete specific tasks in the various Internet banking systems.

As a result we defined 60 indicators used to test applications of Slovak banks. The list of indicators along with our resulting rankings of usability of Slovak Internet banking applications will be published at the end of this exercise.

Our check-list focused on two aspects of usability: efficiency and errors since these were the easiest to measure objectively. We evaluated to what extent the functions we identified as necessary can be easily accessed by a regular user and whether the application can withstand user errors (ability to enter data in varying formats, etc.). For selected tasks we tracked the so-called click distance (number of mouse clicks required to complete task). We based our methodology on several international research reports on the importance of individual functions and features of Internet banking applications.

Pizza SEO is financing this test – we rejected the option of being supported by banks themselves, to avoid conflict of interest. This is one of the reasons why the ranking has been so long in the making.
However, while testing each application our consultants have come across a variety of interesting aspects, pleasant and unpleasant surprises. We are therefore publishing a brief videocast (in Slovak) on each of the banks. Some of our findings may be of interest to developers of online banking applications but many are relevant to other types of applications and will therefore be of interest to a broader audience.

We released the first videocast on Komercni Banka on 7th May 2008 on our Slovak blog, several others have followed and we will release several every month. The ranking table of all banks will come at the end and will be provided in Slovak and English. We look forward to your comments and experiences with Internet banking in Slovakia and in general.