kapow - 5:44 pm on Jul 13, 2007 (gmt 0)

This is a little off topic, but I think it helps:
I think many web designers forget the advantage they gain from their huge familiarity of browser and site usage. I was fortunate enough to arrange (and witness) a user trial for some typical (in my opinion at the time) website functions. The user group was 15 Managers in a famous global corporation (I can't and darn't say which). In their non-internet lives, these people have major roles and are very successful. But they do not use the internet a fraction as much as many teenagers! Part of the process was for them to use PayPal to pay for a certain product. HALF of them had major difficulty, one was almost in tears. I walked away with my eyes much opened about what non-web-savvy people can do, (and vowing never to use PayPal on an important site).

Thats just one example, but the moral of the experience was to be VERY careful to not over-estimate how easily I think site visitors understand what they are doing.