Setting up goals and the logic of good and bad usability – Monday March 8th Roundup

What a week for news. There was more than I could include on almost every subject–even analytics! Paring it down to just a few, we have: newbie twitter mistakes, coding with lesscss, setting up GA goals, and the logic of good and bad usability.

• We start the week with Social Media Today’s list of newbie twitter mistakes. I’m happy to say that I only made (am making?) one of these. Of course, that one is #1. I’ve all but given up on my twitter account.
• Next up Mailchimp thinks that the whole pr profession really needs to get a grip. The problem, they say, is that PR tends to use non-permission based mass email campaigns, which hurt both their reputation and breaks the law. Being the constructive criticisers that they are they suggest a few ways for PR to do what they do without getting on ESPs, and users bad sides.

• Adam V. pointed this my way a few days ago. This is a ruby based (and soon java based) CSS environment that uses variables, nested rules, and a whole host of other awesomeness to provide a manageable CSS environment that lets you do complex operations with CSS.
• Nettuts has a quicktip on the HTML 5 audio element, covering how to use it. It’s currently not that useful to be honest, given its limitations, but neat none the less.

• A couple from the Google Analytics blog that I had never noticed: First setting up goals in GA, which is pretty self explanatory.
• Second, and more advanced, structuring your account with roll up reporting.

• In Human Factors International’s last newsletter they discuss the logic of good and bad design, covering how business politic can get in the way of usability. Of course the problems they cite that hold back usability professionals seems to me to be the problem facing nearly every job.
• It’s a truism: red buttons increase conversions. Well, really contrast increases conversions and nothing contrasts like a red button. Usability Counts cites a Which Test Won case where the red buttons didn’t win, though in their case the red button DID win, it’s just that when you surround a red button by red buttons it kinda loses its… charm.

• You know those square bar codes you see everywhere? Those are QR codes. While browsing about I found a site that lets you build QR codes. Very cool.
• Lifehacker has a post on using paper rater to criticize your writing style. Not sure how fond I am of the criticism it gives (its grammar suggestions were often inaccurate) but it does give some neat stats on your writing and… well, criticism is always useful.