Do we practise what we preach in formulating our design and development methods?

Abstract

It is important, for our credibility as user interface designers and educators, that we practice what we preach. Many system designers and programmers remain sceptical about the need for user-centred design. To win them over, there is need to be absolutely clear about what they need to do. It is up to community, to propose many different methods to support naive designers so that they will design and implement user-centred systems. One of the most popular methods in HCI design patterns - captured and formulated by experts for the sole purpose of transferring knowledge to novices. The paper investigates the usability of these patterns, using both theoretical and experimental analysis, and conclude that they are not usable. Hence, unfortunately, the conclusion is that we don't practice what we preach. The paper is concluded by making some suggestions on how to address this situation