3 ms·

They likely don't know of the prior art. In fairness "one thing per page" isn't a very literature searchable topic and many people have trouble finding good sea

They likely don't know of the prior art. In fairness "one thing per page" isn't a very literature searchable topic and many people have trouble finding good search terms to uncover all the relevant prior art. "Wizard" doesn't intuitively scream out "one thing per page". I have no idea how prominent IBM wizards are in the design literature, but I'm a scientist and I can speak to the challenges of finding relevant literature when all you have is what search terms makes sense to you.

cryodesign 9y ago
Wizards are quite well known if you're working in software and design. Here is another book that mentions it (2011) http://designinginterfaces.com/patterns/wizard/ http://designinginterfaces.com/patterns/wizard/ And some other examples of the term being used: http://patternry.com/p=multiple-page-wizard/ http://patternry.com/p=multiple-page-wizard/ http://ui-patterns.com/patterns/Wizard http://ui-patterns.com/patterns/Wizard https://storify.com/kaniasty/how-to-design-a-wizard https://storify.com/kaniasty/how-to-design-a-wizard The author worked in the industry for at least 10 years and not coming across this well established pattern seems unlikely, hence why it felt a bit self-promotional.
- Nition 9y ago
  The "Wizard" idea is pretty old too. Microsoft Works had document "wizards" (complete with little picture of a wizard) in the 90s. "Install Wizards" were also common already then.
- matt4077 9y ago
  Funny to see Jennifer Tidwell's Designing Interfaces mentioned here. It's an excellent resource–not just for its specific content, but also in the problem/pattern system is uses. (and it's an excellent antidote against the common believe that designers just care about making things 'pretty' and have no understanding of data or technology)
naasking 9y ago
> They likely don't know of the prior art. Anyone who's ever installed software on Windows has seen a wizard in action. I think "wizard" is actually in the titlebar in many of them, since these are often autogenerated.

cryodesign 9y ago

Wizards are quite well known if you're working in software and design. Here is another book that mentions it (2011) http://designinginterfaces.com/patterns/wizard/ http://designinginterfaces.com/patterns/wizard/ And some other examples of the term being used: http://patternry.com/p=multiple-page-wizard/ http://patternry.com/p=multiple-page-wizard/ http://ui-patterns.com/patterns/Wizard http://ui-patterns.com/patterns/Wizard https://storify.com/kaniasty/how-to-design-a-wizard https://storify.com/kaniasty/how-to-design-a-wizard The author worked in the industry for at least 10 years and not coming across this well established pattern seems unlikely, hence why it felt a bit self-promotional.

Nition 9y ago
The "Wizard" idea is pretty old too. Microsoft Works had document "wizards" (complete with little picture of a wizard) in the 90s. "Install Wizards" were also common already then.
matt4077 9y ago
Funny to see Jennifer Tidwell's Designing Interfaces mentioned here. It's an excellent resource–not just for its specific content, but also in the problem/pattern system is uses. (and it's an excellent antidote against the common believe that designers just care about making things 'pretty' and have no understanding of data or technology)

naasking 9y ago

> They likely don't know of the prior art. Anyone who's ever installed software on Windows has seen a wizard in action. I think "wizard" is actually in the titlebar in many of them, since these are often autogenerated.