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I think Mayer's direct focus was more on UI than on performance, although a simple UI could certainly lead to better performance: > One time, an APM brought a

I think Mayer's direct focus was more on UI than on performance, although a simple UI could certainly lead to better performance: > One time, an APM brought a product to [Mayer] for review and she told him, “This page is too busy. What you need to do is look at every font on the page, every font size. And every time you see a new color or a new font size, you add up a point. I want this page below five points.” > The comment about “five points” ended up in the meeting notes, and then it became a rule. No pages with more than five points. > Another rule was: Design a product for the “98 percent use” case. For Mayer, the best example of a product that followed this rule was the Xerox copy machine. It could do all kinds of fancy things: staple, collate, copy, and fax. But if you walked up to one and pressed the giant green button, the right thing just happened. Mayer believed on every good product there should be a big button like that for the 98 percent use case, where if the user clicks it or taps it, they get a delightful, fluid, simple experience. > During a product review, Mayer would count the number of keystrokes it took to get every job done. Too many, and it was back to work.

jmknoll 11y ago
These are great product guidelines. Especially the 98% use case. Are these from the book linked in the parent comment? Or do you have a source with more ideas along these lines?
- w1ntermute 11y ago
  Yes, it's from the same book.
- eitland 11y ago
  Just remember, as much as you want one big green button, -DON'T remove options if you have existing users, just make them smaller, hide them (but easily accessible) and make sure they reset automatically (at least for noobs).
Outdoorsman 11y ago
Ditto...that's what the UI on a Google built page personifies...appeal to the 98 percent, because that 98 percent expects to use a simple tool, either because they value expedience, or because they are unaware of other options available to them... IMHO, it is so important to factor in the simple fact that ,by definition, 1/2 of the population is below average in intelligence...it's statistically so... Thus, it rarely (comparatively) enters the mind of those in the left tail of a normal distribution that what they see before them should be easily "tweaked" to meet their precise needs...simplicity suffices... Those seeking expediency feel the same...simplicity suffices...
- jdmichal 11y ago
  > IMHO, it is so important to factor in the simple fact that ,by definition, 1/2 of the population is below average in intelligence...it's statistically so... Technically, half are at or below median, not mean. As an example, if I have a sequence with 11 values, 1 to 10 and 100. Mean is 15.5, which 9 of the 10 samples fall under. Median, however, is 6.
  - Outdoorsman 11y ago
    Thanks for your response... >Technically, half are at or below median, not mean.< My use was colloquial, not technical, thus I think the use of "average" appropriately serves to illustrate my point... If you are into statistics, and want to provide a similar example with sample size n=320 million(approximately), I'd be interested in taking a look at it... Giving you an up-vote for tenacity...!
    - jdmichal 11y ago
      > If you are into statistics, and want to provide a similar example with sample size n=320 million(approximately), I'd be interested in taking a look at it... 1 to 319,000,000 and 1 googol... But actually, you could make the argument that intelligence is likely normally distributed, so the median and the mean should be close enough to make your statement accurate.
Natsu 11y ago
I was about to joke that maybe they should do that with Yahoo.com, but then I fact-checked myself first by going to it and yahoo.com is actually far cleaner than the horrible, cluttered mess I remember. Granted, my recollection was that it was 'painful to look at' so it's a low bar, but still. When did that change? I hadn't been there for so many years that I don't even know any more.
- bryanrasmussen 11y ago
  you're right it is better, although still pretty awful.
eitland 11y ago
Another rule was: Design a product for the “98 percent use” case. [...] Mayer believed on every good product there should be a big button like that for the 98 percent use case, where if the user clicks it or taps it, they get a delightful, fluid, simple experience. This is all good, but hereis the thing that many designers with great responsibilty doesn't seem to get: As much as there is one big button/search field etc, DON'T REMOVE advanced options for advanced users. Example: For a long time Google Maps on Android it would be impossible to look up a route from anywhere but where you were now. It was not only streamlined to start with current location but rather neutered so you couldn't. To add insult to injury it used to work fine before someone started their UX work :-/
- _pmf_ 11y ago
  > For a long time Google Maps on Android it would be impossible to look up a route from anywhere but where you were now. It was not only streamlined to start with current location but rather neutered so you couldn't. I almost lost my mind trying to do this exact thing.
  - Super_Jambo 11y ago
    Google maps refusal to make offline reasonable has pretty much killed my use of it. You can use OSM data pre-download the whole set of countries you're driving through and not worry about poor signal / roaming charges / data use. Or you can use Google maps and get screwed. Guess it works better if you're in the US.
    - dgacmu 11y ago
      Does offline not work where you are? https://support.google.com/gmm/answer/6291838?hl=en https://support.google.com/gmm/answer/6291838?hl=en
- Jordrok 11y ago
  I can't upvote you enough. This is my #1 pet peeve with modern UI/UX design. I'm perfectly fine with the "big green button" scenario where the most most common use case is the one that gets most of the visibility, but those advanced features NEED to still exist somewhere. Minimalism taken too far can and will hurt the quality of the product.
cmarschner 11y ago
I think these are very essential qualities of a head of product that had direct influence on making Google the most valued company that it is; They are very complementary to designing a search algorithm - but you need both to be successful. I admired Marissa Mayer's work when she was still in charge and was sorry when she left. I presume it would have been the better choice to make her lead Google+ - if anything this product had a problem with its "personality". I would have trusted her to get this right.
- eric-hu 11y ago
  Do you feel like Google+ is more than a problem in search of a solution? That's how I view it, and I doubt Mayer could have changed that. That says nothing of her and everything of Google+.
protomyth 11y ago
> During a product review, Mayer would count the number of keystrokes it took to get every job done. Too many, and it was back to work. Palm once had a tap counter that had the rule: 'If any task on the Palm Pilot takes more than three taps of the stylus, it's too long, and it has to be redesigned.' https://www.ted.com/talks/david_pogue_says_simplicity_sells/transcript?language=en https://www.ted.com/talks/david_pogue_says_simplicity_sells/...

jmknoll 11y ago

These are great product guidelines. Especially the 98% use case. Are these from the book linked in the parent comment? Or do you have a source with more ideas along these lines?

w1ntermute 11y ago
Yes, it's from the same book.
eitland 11y ago
Just remember, as much as you want one big green button, -DON'T remove options if you have existing users, just make them smaller, hide them (but easily accessible) and make sure they reset automatically (at least for noobs).

Outdoorsman 11y ago

Ditto...that's what the UI on a Google built page personifies...appeal to the 98 percent, because that 98 percent expects to use a simple tool, either because they value expedience, or because they are unaware of other options available to them... IMHO, it is so important to factor in the simple fact that ,by definition, 1/2 of the population is below average in intelligence...it's statistically so... Thus, it rarely (comparatively) enters the mind of those in the left tail of a normal distribution that what they see before them should be easily "tweaked" to meet their precise needs...simplicity suffices... Those seeking expediency feel the same...simplicity suffices...

jdmichal 11y ago
> IMHO, it is so important to factor in the simple fact that ,by definition, 1/2 of the population is below average in intelligence...it's statistically so... Technically, half are at or below median, not mean. As an example, if I have a sequence with 11 values, 1 to 10 and 100. Mean is 15.5, which 9 of the 10 samples fall under. Median, however, is 6.
- Outdoorsman 11y ago
  Thanks for your response... >Technically, half are at or below median, not mean.< My use was colloquial, not technical, thus I think the use of "average" appropriately serves to illustrate my point... If you are into statistics, and want to provide a similar example with sample size n=320 million(approximately), I'd be interested in taking a look at it... Giving you an up-vote for tenacity...!
  - jdmichal 11y ago
    > If you are into statistics, and want to provide a similar example with sample size n=320 million(approximately), I'd be interested in taking a look at it... 1 to 319,000,000 and 1 googol... But actually, you could make the argument that intelligence is likely normally distributed, so the median and the mean should be close enough to make your statement accurate.

Natsu 11y ago

I was about to joke that maybe they should do that with Yahoo.com, but then I fact-checked myself first by going to it and yahoo.com is actually far cleaner than the horrible, cluttered mess I remember. Granted, my recollection was that it was 'painful to look at' so it's a low bar, but still. When did that change? I hadn't been there for so many years that I don't even know any more.

bryanrasmussen 11y ago
you're right it is better, although still pretty awful.

eitland 11y ago

Another rule was: Design a product for the “98 percent use” case. [...] Mayer believed on every good product there should be a big button like that for the 98 percent use case, where if the user clicks it or taps it, they get a delightful, fluid, simple experience. This is all good, but hereis the thing that many designers with great responsibilty doesn't seem to get: As much as there is one big button/search field etc, DON'T REMOVE advanced options for advanced users. Example: For a long time Google Maps on Android it would be impossible to look up a route from anywhere but where you were now. It was not only streamlined to start with current location but rather neutered so you couldn't. To add insult to injury it used to work fine before someone started their UX work :-/

_pmf_ 11y ago
> For a long time Google Maps on Android it would be impossible to look up a route from anywhere but where you were now. It was not only streamlined to start with current location but rather neutered so you couldn't. I almost lost my mind trying to do this exact thing.
- Super_Jambo 11y ago
  Google maps refusal to make offline reasonable has pretty much killed my use of it. You can use OSM data pre-download the whole set of countries you're driving through and not worry about poor signal / roaming charges / data use. Or you can use Google maps and get screwed. Guess it works better if you're in the US.
  - dgacmu 11y ago
    Does offline not work where you are? https://support.google.com/gmm/answer/6291838?hl=en https://support.google.com/gmm/answer/6291838?hl=en
Jordrok 11y ago
I can't upvote you enough. This is my #1 pet peeve with modern UI/UX design. I'm perfectly fine with the "big green button" scenario where the most most common use case is the one that gets most of the visibility, but those advanced features NEED to still exist somewhere. Minimalism taken too far can and will hurt the quality of the product.

cmarschner 11y ago

I think these are very essential qualities of a head of product that had direct influence on making Google the most valued company that it is; They are very complementary to designing a search algorithm - but you need both to be successful. I admired Marissa Mayer's work when she was still in charge and was sorry when she left. I presume it would have been the better choice to make her lead Google+ - if anything this product had a problem with its "personality". I would have trusted her to get this right.

eric-hu 11y ago
Do you feel like Google+ is more than a problem in search of a solution? That's how I view it, and I doubt Mayer could have changed that. That says nothing of her and everything of Google+.

protomyth 11y ago

> During a product review, Mayer would count the number of keystrokes it took to get every job done. Too many, and it was back to work. Palm once had a tap counter that had the rule: 'If any task on the Palm Pilot takes more than three taps of the stylus, it's too long, and it has to be redesigned.' https://www.ted.com/talks/david_pogue_says_simplicity_sells/transcript?language=en https://www.ted.com/talks/david_pogue_says_simplicity_sells/...