Nielsen says that in the business world there is an old saying that you can have affordable and poor quality or great quality at a very high price, but not both of the wins. Methodology in web usability breaks this mold very well.

In usability, the fastest and cheapest methods are often the best.

Of course you cannot describe the quality criteria unless:

  • the usability device can, in esscence, "change the world"and
  • the quality and depth of the insights you derive into user behavior are researched out

So then how do you do it?

When to Go Fast and Cheap

"Common sense it a worthwhile asset" I thought as Nielsen discussed that discount usability is the best method to go fast and cheap. That is one of the exact reasons Nielsen stresses so much paper protypes to pretest web sites. The faster and cheaper method will create results so much sooner, which can be implemented way earlier. That is a great time and money saver.

Annual Usability Checkup

This one gives you a bigger picture, so you dont need to do it as often. The bigger picture is not that way, however. It will be expensive and you may not be able to do all three in the same year. This really isn't the focus of the article becuase he is trying to presuade the reader that fast and cheap is possible but these need to be considered at some time.
Here are some of the big-picture components:

  • An independent review by an outside expert.
    "Having someone analyze your design from a fresh perspective shakes things up and offers a more neutral evaluation of your usability level compared to the rest of the world."
  • A competitive study that compares your design with that of three competitors.
    "Your competitors spent a lot of time and money designing solutions to approximately the same problems as your own"
  • A benchmark study to track your usability metrics and see how much better you're doing than last year.

This article has been a good reminder of short-term goals that can be accomplished for less than a dollar a day -figuratively speaking- and that sometimes an investment is needed in order to have the stability of success. A way that I can implement this article in my own websites is to keep up on fast and cheap changes, everyday, to improve the little things that makes my website user friendly.