With the increase in bandwidth, we are going to see better-looking sites, but what it comes down to is content. If you?ve got what people want, they?ll put up with about anything to get it. Do you have something that is so good people will crawl through the sewer and beg to buy or get in to your site? Very few sites do. That is one of the reasons why band sites go to the extremes they do, because they have a loyal fan base that will put up with almost anything.

NIELSEN: Sorry to hop on that last point, but I don?t think you should abuse your fans just because they will suffer through it.

But, to the question on aesthetics, yes, that?s one of the parameters of usability?subjective satisfaction?which can be achieved through different elements, including that it looks good.

Actually, the more important one is that it feels good. If you feel empowered, you feel like you are getting something done.

The Web is not an art museum. It is not something you use to admire pictures. Of course, there are exceptions to that as well, because you could have an art museum website. But for most websites, you are there not for the art but for the action.


CIO: How then should websites differentiate themselves from one another?
FLANDERS: Creating a site that solves problems will differentiate a website from other sites that are just there to show off how cool they are or what kind of brand they are trying to sell.

NIELSEN: Websites can get a differentiating advantage by being human centered, studying the users and figuring out how they do things. They need to find out where the opportunities are for doing things differently?not just automating the way things are done today.

But, I really want to emphasize not to be different for the sake of being different and not to do everything differently. Follow the basic things like putting your logo on the upper right-hand corner and making your links blue. Changing those things is not the way to differentiate; to differentiate is to do something that is valuable to the users.