Several important posts on application design and useability were written this week by Telligenti. Here from Rob Howard, Scott Watermasysk, Ken Robertson and James Shaw. Kathy Sierra of Creating Passionate Users puts a different twist on how users should respond to good useability in "Two simple words of passion..."
The post has a wonderful opening graphic with a man and woman talking about a piece of software. The graphic sets the tone for the two simple words: f**ing great! Kathy makes excellent points here, but I guess I'm a bit of a prude and have to agree with the commenters who say its a bad idea to use coarse and vulgar language, even when masked with asterisks. I suppose "super duper!" doesn't have the same effect though.
I agree with everything Kathy is saying here regarding the reaction users should have to our applications. I also think the differences she presents in the bottom graphic between in the Start-up and the Corporate professional demeanor are very useful. That said, the article seems to lose its way by covering both enthusiastic user response to great products and what defines professionalism. It should have focused on one or the other.
My favorite bit from the article was the woman in the toon saying, "If that software was a man, I'd let it do me right here on the ironing board." I thought that was hilarious, and no one in the comments seemed to have a problem with that. It reminds me of a scene from The West Wing when CJ Cregg was in a great mood when Sam Seaborn (Alex Lowe) walks into her office and she tells him, "Get on that couch, Sam, because I'm going to do you right now!" Sam replies, "umm, me?" "No, I was talking about Carol!" CJ says. (CJ's assistant.) At the end of the conversation, Sam says, "If you were serious about that thing with Carol, I can stand over there in the corner. I won't make a sound, I promise..."