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Director of Product Development at Econsultancy
14 January 2005 16:07pm
We’re working on our first Buyer’s Guide of the year, on Usability and Accessibility and have shortlisted around 20 companies for inclusion, as detailed below.
The guide will focus on UK-based specialists, where usability and/or accessibility are the main focus, rather than an add-on to core business services (sorry agencies).
Comments and suggestions welcomed.
Our shortlist:
Amberlight - http://www.amber-light.co.uk/
System Concepts - http://www.system-concepts.com/
Webcredible - http://www.webcredible.co.uk/fhios - http://www.fhios.com/
Flow Interactive - http://www.flow-interactive.com/
Serco Usability Services - http://www.usability.serco.com/
Bunnyfoot - http://www.bunnyfoot.com/
Nomensa - http://www.nomensa.com/
User Vision - http://www.uservision.co.uk/
Usability by Design - http://www.usability.uk.com/
Usability Works - http://www.usabilityworks.co.uk
The Web Usability Partnership - http://www.webusability.co.uk/
The Usability Company - http://www.theusabilitycompany.com/
Accessibility Group - http://www.accessibilitygroup.co.uk/
Userfocus - http://www.userfocus.co.uk
Effortmark - http://www.effortmark.co.uk/
optimum.web - http://www.optimum-web.co.uk
Previous Buyer’s Guides we’ve published:
Thanks,
Chris
Chief Information Architect at Extrasys Ltd
17 January 2005 10:46am
Hi,
Could you add:
Surfability - (http://www.surfability.com)
to your list?
Many thanks,
Mark Williams
Director of eCommerce at Thomas Cook
17 January 2005 14:13pm
I am sure it is already covered however I thought I would mention that 'Information Architecture' should be included as a distinct area alongside usability and accessibility. Both agencies and customer businesses often only touch on this area and in my experience this is a fundamental part of the jigsaw. Suggest you speak with Tobias from The Usability Company on this point - he is pretty much as specialist as they get in this field.
Russell Gould
On 16:07:22 14 January 2005 chrisl wrote:
Virtual Surveys Limited
18 January 2005 15:04pm
Chris - can you add Virtual Surveys - www.virtualsurveys.com. We have been doing usability (and more recently accessibility) work since 1998 and it is a major part of our business and accounts for over a third of our nearly £2million turnover. (The rest being website surveys and other Internet surveys with email databases etc.)
Pete Comley
Chairman
Virtual Surveys
01256 76 75 76
On 16:07:22 14 January 2005 chrisl wrote:
Technical Director at Box UK
18 January 2005 15:28pm
Just to play devil's advocate a little...
A small gripe with only listing 'usability and accessibility specialists' is that it propogates the common idea that usability/accessibility is a separate sphere to development and design, and as such should be handled separately. This is fine for websites and applications that have previously been developed, but what about new projects?
So, this is just to let people know that some agencies (cough cough Box UK cough) can both develop applications and have a good understanding of accessibility principles.
This is now where I expect all the specialist companies to come back and give hundreds of reasons for why specialists are better! Before you do, I do agree that using a specialist company for a particular task is generally favourable - I just wanted to put in a good word for agencies that might also have specialists within them!
On 16:07:22 14 January 2005 chrisl wrote:
Director of Product Development at Econsultancy
18 January 2005 16:02pm
Hi Pete,
Thanks for the note but I'm afraid Virtual Surveys doesn't qualify as a pureplay usability or accessibility specialist.
Note that this is for specialist companies, rather than agencies that have an understanding of usability or accessibility, as there are more than 2,000 listed in our agencies directory ; )
Cheers,
c.
On 15:04:46 18 January 2005 PeteComley wrote:
Director of Product Development at Econsultancy
18 January 2005 16:06pm
Hi Dan,
I know what you mean, but for the purposes of these Buyer's Guides we've chosen pureplay specialists, largely because there are already more than 2,000 agencies in our New Media Agencies directory that have indicated that they are proficient in usability. This provides owners of new build projects with plenty of choice.
So, I guess the guide is largely going to be used by web companies with an existing web presence, which is where the specialists come into play.
PS - it is terribly important for agencies to become very familiar with usability and accessibility since any legal action could theoretically work its way right up the supply chain. Agencies might be held liable for damages, in the event that they get it wrong.
Hope this explains.
c.
On 15:28:07 18 January 2005 Dan Zambonini wrote:
Technical Director at Box UK
18 January 2005 16:14pm
Hi Chris,
Yup, fair point - and a very good point about agencies needing to become aware of their (and their clients') responsibilities!
Thanks,
Dan
On 16:06:43 18 January 2005 chrisl wrote:
Virtual Surveys Limited
18 January 2005 16:22pm
Chris,
Thanks for explanation. However, it seems daft to exclude people like us who actually do more usability work in turnover terms than some of the pure plays you list. Surely a combination of turnover AND/OR specialism in the area makes the most sensible selection criteria?
For example if I was reviewing the UK top wine merchants, I would not exclude Tesco because they sell vegetables too.
Pete
On 16:02:16 18 January 2005 chrisl wrote:
Director of Product Development at Econsultancy
18 January 2005 16:50pm
Perhaps so, but we do have that 2,000+ strong agencies-that-do-usability directory and for these guides we need to draw a line somewhere, if they are to be any use at all.
Many of the large agencies will also pull in more than some of the smaller companies on our shortlist, but we wouldn't include them on the basis of turnover, impressive as it may be.
Criteria for selection includes: clients, specialisms, HCI-qualified personnel, sector-specific knowledge, a usable and accessible website, top 50 visibility in Google for 'usability' or 'accessiblity', anecdotal evidence and third party feedback, being on our radar (in the agencies directory, for example) and so on.
You don't have to have a name as obvious as 'The Usability Company' to be included, but 'Virtual Surveys' suggests you do something else for a living. This is why we featured you as a specialist in last year's buyer's guide on Online Customer Surveys and Research.
Thanks,
c.
On 16:22:00 18 January 2005 PeteComley wrote: