8 ms·

What non-technical users don’t understand about your software

147 points by epi0Bauqu 16y ago

cstuder 16y ago
Number 11 (Only applies to non-english speaking software): English. Related to number 4, english expressions can be as bad as technical jargon. There's no reason to call a file 'file', if the localised Datei or Fichier is better understood.
gaius 16y ago
Consequently, when they install a desktop app on a new machine they are often surprised that it can’t automatically access the documents they created on a previous machine Really!? I've never, ever observed this. In the words of Zoolander, the files are IN the computer.
- patio11 16y ago
  I've never, ever observed this. Back when I had downloadable software prominently available I'd get this about, oh, five times a month and twenty times right around the start of the school year.
- hernan7 16y ago
  Some years ago, a relative of my wife bought a new PC and gave her old one to the doorman in her building. She then asked my brother-in-law to "put the data back" in the new machine. She apparently hadn't realized that "the data" was now at the doorman's, inside her old machine. I think my brother-in-law was able to get a hold of the old machine before it got re-installed.
  - gaius 16y ago
    Wow. That's like buying a new suitcase when you arrive at the hotel, and wondering why your clothes aren't in it. Packing? Don't confuse me with your jargon!
    - DanielStraight 16y ago
      That makes me wonder if we should use that exact metaphor to explain computers/software. Your computer is a suitcase. Everything you do packs your suitcase. If you want to get a new suitcase, you have to unpack the old one and pack the stuff into the new one. Not really sure what software would be though.
      - gaius 16y ago
        My (non-technical) users don't understand version control at all. Which is weird as it was them who insisted on installing Sharepoint. But every folder has file_v1, file_v2, _v3, _v4 and so on.
      - wglb 16y ago
        That is why I am against using analogies (water through pipes to understand electricity). All analogies are false. The only question is when it is going to mislead, not if.
        DanielStraight 16y ago
        Files and folders are an analogy. Files aren't really in a folder, they're just associated through clever indexing. Is there any reason we should stop using that analogy? Analogies are useful when they allow you to not think about something low-level so you can work on something high-level. If I had to think about electrons every time I sat down to write code, I'd never get anything done. If I had to learn it before I started learning to write code, I'd still be in school.
        wglb 16y ago
        I am not so sure that this is an analogy. These are different names for new things. Except for 'folder' as opposed to 'directory'. You sort of lost me there with the electrons thing. Are perhaps you really meaning the abstractions that enable you to not have to think about electrons while writing code.
- techdmn 16y ago
  I once worked at an independent hotel where they backed up their reservations nightly, by dragging and dropping the reservation application shortcut from the desktop to a zip drive. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry when they asked for help retrieving the data after several reservations were lost. They kept pulling the shortcut back off the zip drive, but the data wouldn't come back. :) (I ended up examining the original corrupted data file, found a phone number that the owner recognized, and all was made right.)
patio11 16y ago
I am left in the bittersweet position where a) I 99% agree with an article and b) scratch one post in my Wordpress drafts, because it would add very little to the topic now. I also sell software to customers with substantially the same technical aptitude as Andy's. My comments: 1) Copy/paste: they can't reliably copy/paste. Of those customers who can copy/paste, a number of them know exactly one way to copy/paste, and will fail if it does not work in the context they need it in. (i.e. they either know what an MS Word copy/paste button combo looks like, OR they know how to right click, OR they know the keyboard shortcut -- and it is, far and away, the keyboard shortcut which is the most widely supported and least widely understood option) Andy's suggestion is to make it easier to type things out longhand. I suggest making it unnecessary instead -- you can do some client/server trickery to avoid this (discussed here: http://www.resultsjunkies.com/blog/back-office-exposed-bingo-card-creator/ http://www.resultsjunkies.com/blog/back-office-exposed-bingo... under the heading "When a sale comes in, can you walk us through the process?") 9) My sole point of disagreement with Andy: this type of user really wants to relate to their computer like they relate to a toaster. No one reads a toaster's documentation, and no one should have to. If the UI needs external documentation, that is probably a bug.
- clammer 16y ago
  When people by my app, they're automatically upgraded on the server and they get an email that says "Just restart the app to complete your account upgrade". I frequently get support emails saying "I never got an activation code!".
- lionhearted 16y ago
  > I am left in the bittersweet position where a) I 99% agree with an article and b) scratch one post in my Wordpress drafts, because it would add very little to the topic now. Post it anyways? Your articles and style fill me a mix of joy and inspiration. And I think hundreds or thousands of other people too.
- TorKlingberg 16y ago
  Don't forget Copy and Paste on the Edit menu.
- 16y ago
noahlt 16y ago
It seems like an easy way to avoid many of these issues is simply to make web applications where all the software is stored in the cloud. Most of the arguments I've seen for web apps are from the devs' perspective (you control the hardware, you can pick whatever programming language you want, etc), but I guess web apps are better for users, too.
- njharman 16y ago
  There's a whole nuther article about "what users don't understand about your web app" That network/DNS/router/etc issues aren't your fault and you can't fix them. Everything regarding passwords and account security. URLs, esp typo's and that The Google (esp it's search bar) != Internet. HTTPS Phishing, and a slew of other attacks. Also that punching the monkey is probably a bad idea. Browsers, different browser versions, different browser manufacturers, cross browser incompatibility. Also that you did not create the browser and you can't fix it. Also why they have to download install new version of browser to use your software. Why your webapp quits working when they aren't connected to The Google.
fbnt 16y ago
My benchmark for non-technical users is my father: he's 60-something and he started using computers & internet 3 years ago when I bought him a laptop. I can recognize in him pretty much all the behaviours described in this article, especially the fear of setting everything up on fire with a click, but I've also noticed that he tends to use the machine with a weird sequential approach. Click the fox icon, go to thataddress.com, click there, type this, click yes etc. For some complicated tasks (such as burning a DVD) he's got all the buttons and actions he needs to perform written down on a piece of paper. The amount of struggle and effort he puts in it always fascinates me.
- albemuth 16y ago
  I get a combination of wanting to laugh / heart break when I see my Mom/Grandfather writing down instructions on their note pads.
- amalcon 16y ago
  The "writing down instructions" approach is very effective for complex tasks that you are unable to script and don't want to invest the time to learn properly (such as, for example, every task on a computer for a certain class of user). I use this approach all the time for bureaucratic "machines". It's so much more efficient than trying to actually figure out how the bureaucracy works.
  - Gormo 16y ago
    But if you build an abstract semantic model of the bureaucratic "machine", you'll be able to "program" the organization as if it were a computer. Imagine what you could accomplish! Sure, it's a lot more difficult due to the non-deterministic nature of most social systems, but even a loose, stochastic model allows you to "hack" organizations in a way that is likely to make your endeavors within an organization that much more effective. Interestingly, the fuzzier nature of social systems gives it a kind of "undo" function - you can, in most circumstances, make up for mistakes and misjudgements - so the cost of experimentation is more similar to software than to, say, structural engineering.
- stevenbedrick 16y ago
njharman 16y ago
> [techies explore & fiddle] Non-technical users aren’t so confident and won’t try things in the same way. In fact some of them seem to think that a wrong move could cause the computer to burst into flames. This is the fundamental difference between a "technie" and a "non-techie". In fact the inclination to explore, to fiddle, to hack is largely how someone gains the knowledge, experience, and craft to become a "techie".
- mattmanser 16y ago
  Reminds me of this xkcd comic: http://xkcd.com/627/ http://xkcd.com/627/
- Gormo 16y ago
  I suppose fear literally is the mind-killer. I've noticed that my own depth of comprehension is far better when I explore and experiment first, and not study the formalized knowledge from a textbook/documentation until I'm satisfied that I have at least grasped the fundamental patterns on my own. This works not just in computing, but in almost every context (or at least those that don't have the potential to cause serious damage or injury).
dkarl 16y ago
It doesn't make sense to distinguish "technical" from "non-technical" users. Plenty of users with no interest in programming and no formal training in computing handle these tasks easily. Many users understand that a file exists in a physical location, that it can be copied from a hard drive to a flash drive, and copied from that flash drive to a different computer, and they understand the necessity for that. And they understand that when they use a web app that relieves them of that burden, that the data is now stored "out there" somewhere instead of locally. From the other side, I had a boss with a Master's in Computer Science who had lots of trouble with normal desktop usability. He certainly never learned to guess which actions were reversible or not. My sister, who teaches history and is barely technically self-sufficient, could run rings about him on the Windows desktop, not to mention my friend the accountant who has never written a program but could be a passable professional programmer with six months' full-time training. So instead of saying, "this is what non-technical users don't understand," it's better to say, "these misunderstandings are part of the normal spectrum of user savviness that you will have to deal with." Whether a user is technical or non-technical only allows you to make a rough guess about the mistakes they'll make.
- ddelony 16y ago
  How do you get a master's in computer science without knowing how to operate a computer?
  - Someone 16y ago
    The same way you get a master's in astronomy without knowing how to operate a telescope.
    - commieneko 16y ago
      Years ago I had the opportunity to host a professional astronomer at a star party at a dark site. He was really excited because he had never seen the milky way before; at least not with his own eyes. He was totally blown away. Most of the regulars were complaining about the transparency that evening, but to this guy it was a revelation.
Luyt 16y ago
This article reminds me of two things I've observed in ordinary computer users: 1. Many users don’t understand how or where data is stored or even that it is separate from the application. That is correct. My photographing neighbour keeps his photos 'in' Adobe Bridge, another neighbour keeps them 'in' Adobe Elements. They don't have a notion that those programs only offer a view on the pictures which are stored in some directory on their harddisk (they don't understand the hierarchical file system either). When they have to import photos from their camera or email a photo, they always do it from their photo cataloging program, never from the Windows Explorer. Likewise, a few of my collegues think their texts exist solely 'in' Microsoft Word, and that the 'Internet' is the same as the WWW. 2. reversibility One day I was helping a friend of a friend with transfering some texts over to another computer. We reviewed a text, by accident I deleted a paragraph and restored it promptly with Control-Z (undo). The person was looking flabbergasted at me: 'How did you do that?'. He told me that often when some part of his text 'disappeared' magically without apparent reason, he had to type it all over again. He didn't know that Word has an Undo. I told him he could benefit from a basic Windows and Word training, but he wouldn't hear of that. He did remember the Undo trick, however ;-)
- sesqu 16y ago
  Beginning with Windows 98, it has been more trouble than it's worth to try putting your files where you want them in the filesystem, instead of letting the application find a place for them. After I realized this, I tried putting My Documents on drive D - that didn't go so smoothly either. I recently helped my aunt install a new scanner. She asked me how to send a document to someone. After exploring the driver software for a while, I adviced her to start the scanner wizard/pamphlet printer/photo editor/document manager, click "scan", click "email", and let Outlook take it from there.
gphil 16y ago
This article talks about consumer software, but most of the issues are applicable even to relatively technical enterprise software. The end users of this kind of software generally have a lot of expertise in their daily routines, but stumble when they are asked to use the software to do something outside of their typical use patterns. It's important to stay humble and realize that the software you're offering to a customer is, in all likelihood, going to have a relatively small (but hopefully positive) impact on the user's life, and in these cases the users are not going to want to spend a lot of their time mastering your software.
todayiamme 16y ago
I honestly believe that this is the difference between Apple and the rest of the competition. You see, the secret they have to their products is that they realize that most people don't have any idea whatsoever what the hell a frikkin' mp3 file is. Neither do they know the difference between lossy and lossless conversion. They are intimidated by all those fancy buttons on the screen and are too scared to try anything just in case they break something. Steve Jobs recognizes this and that's his genius in a way. So, instead of creating a widget that does everything they choose to make a widget that does everything the user wants. There's a subtle, but important difference over here. Only a small subset of their users want extensive options so that they can put FLAC and other stuff onto it. Those are the users who fret about the product to the nth degree and they know that they don't exist to serve them. So, they pick a feature and implement it in a way that those other users (80%+ of the market) know how to use it, and that makes all the difference. Just look at enterprise software and how hideously broken it is. You have SaaS that try to do everything at once which directly results in their users doing nothing at once. This instead causes grumbling against the software and in the longer turn your sales go down. The hardest lesson in business, I think, is learning how to bite the bullet. No one wants to admit that their software can't do something. So, they rush and put the feature in to satisfy themselves without checking if it works or not. Big mistake. What's worse is that it is so ingrained in us that we don't even realize what damage we have done. What I am trying to say is that it's perfectly fine to not have the insanely great feature X, but it's inexcusable that the user has to read a 300 page manual to use feature X. This is why I suggest everyone to read the Apple Human Interface guidelines. They aren't perfect, but they've gotten quite a few things right. (see: http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/AppleHIGuidelines/XHIGDesignProcess/XHIGDesignProcess.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40002718-TPXREF101 http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/UserExp... )
- JoeAltmaier 16y ago
  "does everything the user wants" Then some OS X features completely baffle me. Like installing software. I'm not a "Mac guy" and each time I ask someone how to install software downloaded off the web I get a different answer, all preceeded by "You just ..." and then 10 or 11 simple steps. Apparently they have never heard of installers. I'd guess from this, that the average Mac has never had ANY software installed after it left the factory.
chewbranca 16y ago
heh... I have the opposite problem with copy-paste.. users keep pasting in content from microsoft word and wonder why it doesn't work properly.
Seth_Kriticos 16y ago
This article raises good points, but I'd like to argue / disagree with it in several points: It doesn’t mean that your users are stupid, just that they haven’t spent the thousands of hours in front of a computer that you have. Like office workers spending 8 hours a day in front of a computer? They easily make that time only on work time.. not that it helps. ..they don’t know how to (or even that they can) copy and paste text. Some users don't. But what should I do, send a copy of computer 101 with every eMail I send? Many users are used to web applications and don’t understand that they need to download and install new versions of desktop software to get access to the features in a new version. So, what's the maintenance staff there for? In my experience regular office users don't set up or update anything, ever! Data storage File system hierarchy and network mount points are so far off the average user horizon that you shouldn't bother anyway. You just point to it in the file explorer. Everything else is completely pointless. As for filetypes and converting: ok, that's a valid point. It's a good idea to send instructions with it, as it is a somewhat non-common task. The jargon you use I agree. Talk the users language, not computer slang. You should therefore never put something only in a right click menu or anywhere else that it can’t easily be discovered. Please, I beg you. Put stuff where you would normally expect it from your WM / OS. If it would be in the context menu, then put it there. Normally you also put stuff in the menu bar / ribbon / icon bar depending on conventions. Don't try to invent new interface guidelines, you'll probably fail.. horribly. Concurrency Try not to expose them or avoid it entirely (rework the workflow if necessary). Otherwise build the interface in a way that clearly notifies the user of this circumstance. Non-technical users aren’t so confident and won’t try things in the same way. In fact some of them seem to think that a wrong move could cause the computer to burst into flames. Most of them don't try anything at all. They will ask you how to do it. If you have some kind of system that has tweaks: train your users (that's what tech training is for). So try to stick to conventions they will understand Absolutely. The need for backups I preach this all the time. People also always agree to me in this respect. Doesn't help, they never actually do it, much less spend money on it. Could as well talk to the wall.. That they should read the documentation I totally agree. No one will read your precious documentation. If you roll out a new software, train them with the workflow. You do train your workforce to use the tools they use, right? Unskilled users often don’t realize how unskilled they are. Consequently they may blame your software for problems that are of their own making. May? They always do. I figure this must be human nature or something. One just has to be as polite as possible in such cases. In other words, stay professional. ------------- Otherwise I found it the article as entertaining as irksome. Raises some good points.
WingForward 16y ago
#23: Users will not read dialog boxes. Especially on Windows. They will click them away and not even realize they existed. Try it. 1) Put a dialog popup in your MS desktop app that says, "Clicking OK below will destroy the chair beneath you. Clicking Cancel will make a box of chocolates appear on your desk." 2) Observe when a user performs a task that produces the pop up. 3)Ask the user if they were disappointed that no chocolate appeared. The user will look at you with incomprehension. To clarify, I am not criticizing users. Users are users, we're not going to change their behavior with training or help manuals. We need to design around them.
- blasdel 16y ago
  That's a habituation to the reality of the Win32 style — "Find reached the end of the document | OK" Users don't have an a priori instinct to dismiss dialog boxes out of spite — on the contrary, the elderly noob reads every one carefully as if the wrong choice would actually destroy the chair beneath them. A new dialog box like that would ruin their day, and mine when I get their panicked phone call now that they've gone off script. If they ever do build a mental model of the UI, they'll have learned otherwise.
  - WingForward 16y ago
    But because of the way UI is designed, one of the first elements of the UI mental model your elderly noob will learn is that dialog boxes are to be ignored.
jdietrich 16y ago
In the golden age of the British pop industry, record companies used to play their newly pressed singles to the elderly doormen and cleaners in the offices. If these old duffers could whistle the tune after hearing the record once, they knew the song stood a good chance of becoming a hit. They called it "the old grey whistle test". I am increasingly of the opinion that the single most valuable asset to any consumer software company is at least one "old grey". The more time I spend with ordinary end-users, the more I realise that I cannot even begin to comprehend their mental processes. They are a total black box to me, with a completely different set of instincts and intuitive responses. I think that the majority of software developers, even professional UX folks, massively misunderstand their users.
- demallien 16y ago
  Yup. I'm lucky in some respects as a UX designer, because I do UX for set top boxes, not computers - my users are even less technically-aware that computer users, and they have a very strong expectation that their television is not going to be hard/confusing to use. As STBs have got more and more complex though, taking on major media centre capabilities, interfacing to Internet services such as YouTube, Netflix and FaceBook, we are really struggling to keep the interface simple. But at least we are aware that this is a critical aspect of our software - computer app developers sometimes can lose sight of that.
aufreak3 16y ago
Nice one. Regarding point 7 ("what changes can be reversed"), tendencies are different for the younger cohort compared to those who grew up with DOS. Younger people actually try a lot without fear of serious damage, so if you're building for them, you can exploit this .. provided you ensure safety under such trials as well.
known 16y ago
"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." -- Confucius

147 points by epi0Bauqu 16y ago

Number 11 (Only applies to non-english speaking software): English. Related to number 4, english expressions can be as bad as technical jargon. There's no reason to call a file 'file', if the localised Datei or Fichier is better understood.

gaius 16y ago

Consequently, when they install a desktop app on a new machine they are often surprised that it can’t automatically access the documents they created on a previous machine Really!? I've never, ever observed this. In the words of Zoolander, the files are IN the computer.

patio11 16y ago
I've never, ever observed this. Back when I had downloadable software prominently available I'd get this about, oh, five times a month and twenty times right around the start of the school year.
hernan7 16y ago
Some years ago, a relative of my wife bought a new PC and gave her old one to the doorman in her building. She then asked my brother-in-law to "put the data back" in the new machine. She apparently hadn't realized that "the data" was now at the doorman's, inside her old machine. I think my brother-in-law was able to get a hold of the old machine before it got re-installed.
- gaius 16y ago
  Wow. That's like buying a new suitcase when you arrive at the hotel, and wondering why your clothes aren't in it. Packing? Don't confuse me with your jargon!
  - DanielStraight 16y ago
    That makes me wonder if we should use that exact metaphor to explain computers/software. Your computer is a suitcase. Everything you do packs your suitcase. If you want to get a new suitcase, you have to unpack the old one and pack the stuff into the new one. Not really sure what software would be though.
    - gaius 16y ago
      My (non-technical) users don't understand version control at all. Which is weird as it was them who insisted on installing Sharepoint. But every folder has file_v1, file_v2, _v3, _v4 and so on.
    - wglb 16y ago
      That is why I am against using analogies (water through pipes to understand electricity). All analogies are false. The only question is when it is going to mislead, not if.
      - DanielStraight 16y ago
        Files and folders are an analogy. Files aren't really in a folder, they're just associated through clever indexing. Is there any reason we should stop using that analogy? Analogies are useful when they allow you to not think about something low-level so you can work on something high-level. If I had to think about electrons every time I sat down to write code, I'd never get anything done. If I had to learn it before I started learning to write code, I'd still be in school.
        wglb 16y ago
        I am not so sure that this is an analogy. These are different names for new things. Except for 'folder' as opposed to 'directory'. You sort of lost me there with the electrons thing. Are perhaps you really meaning the abstractions that enable you to not have to think about electrons while writing code.
techdmn 16y ago
I once worked at an independent hotel where they backed up their reservations nightly, by dragging and dropping the reservation application shortcut from the desktop to a zip drive. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry when they asked for help retrieving the data after several reservations were lost. They kept pulling the shortcut back off the zip drive, but the data wouldn't come back. :) (I ended up examining the original corrupted data file, found a phone number that the owner recognized, and all was made right.)

patio11 16y ago

I am left in the bittersweet position where a) I 99% agree with an article and b) scratch one post in my Wordpress drafts, because it would add very little to the topic now. I also sell software to customers with substantially the same technical aptitude as Andy's. My comments: 1) Copy/paste: they can't reliably copy/paste. Of those customers who can copy/paste, a number of them know exactly one way to copy/paste, and will fail if it does not work in the context they need it in. (i.e. they either know what an MS Word copy/paste button combo looks like, OR they know how to right click, OR they know the keyboard shortcut -- and it is, far and away, the keyboard shortcut which is the most widely supported and least widely understood option) Andy's suggestion is to make it easier to type things out longhand. I suggest making it unnecessary instead -- you can do some client/server trickery to avoid this (discussed here: http://www.resultsjunkies.com/blog/back-office-exposed-bingo-card-creator/ http://www.resultsjunkies.com/blog/back-office-exposed-bingo... under the heading "When a sale comes in, can you walk us through the process?") 9) My sole point of disagreement with Andy: this type of user really wants to relate to their computer like they relate to a toaster. No one reads a toaster's documentation, and no one should have to. If the UI needs external documentation, that is probably a bug.

clammer 16y ago
When people by my app, they're automatically upgraded on the server and they get an email that says "Just restart the app to complete your account upgrade". I frequently get support emails saying "I never got an activation code!".
lionhearted 16y ago
> I am left in the bittersweet position where a) I 99% agree with an article and b) scratch one post in my Wordpress drafts, because it would add very little to the topic now. Post it anyways? Your articles and style fill me a mix of joy and inspiration. And I think hundreds or thousands of other people too.
TorKlingberg 16y ago
Don't forget Copy and Paste on the Edit menu.
16y ago

noahlt 16y ago

It seems like an easy way to avoid many of these issues is simply to make web applications where all the software is stored in the cloud. Most of the arguments I've seen for web apps are from the devs' perspective (you control the hardware, you can pick whatever programming language you want, etc), but I guess web apps are better for users, too.

njharman 16y ago
There's a whole nuther article about "what users don't understand about your web app" That network/DNS/router/etc issues aren't your fault and you can't fix them. Everything regarding passwords and account security. URLs, esp typo's and that The Google (esp it's search bar) != Internet. HTTPS Phishing, and a slew of other attacks. Also that punching the monkey is probably a bad idea. Browsers, different browser versions, different browser manufacturers, cross browser incompatibility. Also that you did not create the browser and you can't fix it. Also why they have to download install new version of browser to use your software. Why your webapp quits working when they aren't connected to The Google.

fbnt 16y ago

My benchmark for non-technical users is my father: he's 60-something and he started using computers & internet 3 years ago when I bought him a laptop. I can recognize in him pretty much all the behaviours described in this article, especially the fear of setting everything up on fire with a click, but I've also noticed that he tends to use the machine with a weird sequential approach. Click the fox icon, go to thataddress.com, click there, type this, click yes etc. For some complicated tasks (such as burning a DVD) he's got all the buttons and actions he needs to perform written down on a piece of paper. The amount of struggle and effort he puts in it always fascinates me.

albemuth 16y ago
I get a combination of wanting to laugh / heart break when I see my Mom/Grandfather writing down instructions on their note pads.
amalcon 16y ago
The "writing down instructions" approach is very effective for complex tasks that you are unable to script and don't want to invest the time to learn properly (such as, for example, every task on a computer for a certain class of user). I use this approach all the time for bureaucratic "machines". It's so much more efficient than trying to actually figure out how the bureaucracy works.
- Gormo 16y ago
  But if you build an abstract semantic model of the bureaucratic "machine", you'll be able to "program" the organization as if it were a computer. Imagine what you could accomplish! Sure, it's a lot more difficult due to the non-deterministic nature of most social systems, but even a loose, stochastic model allows you to "hack" organizations in a way that is likely to make your endeavors within an organization that much more effective. Interestingly, the fuzzier nature of social systems gives it a kind of "undo" function - you can, in most circumstances, make up for mistakes and misjudgements - so the cost of experimentation is more similar to software than to, say, structural engineering.
stevenbedrick 16y ago

njharman 16y ago

> [techies explore & fiddle] Non-technical users aren’t so confident and won’t try things in the same way. In fact some of them seem to think that a wrong move could cause the computer to burst into flames. This is the fundamental difference between a "technie" and a "non-techie". In fact the inclination to explore, to fiddle, to hack is largely how someone gains the knowledge, experience, and craft to become a "techie".

mattmanser 16y ago
Reminds me of this xkcd comic: http://xkcd.com/627/ http://xkcd.com/627/
Gormo 16y ago
I suppose fear literally is the mind-killer. I've noticed that my own depth of comprehension is far better when I explore and experiment first, and not study the formalized knowledge from a textbook/documentation until I'm satisfied that I have at least grasped the fundamental patterns on my own. This works not just in computing, but in almost every context (or at least those that don't have the potential to cause serious damage or injury).

dkarl 16y ago

It doesn't make sense to distinguish "technical" from "non-technical" users. Plenty of users with no interest in programming and no formal training in computing handle these tasks easily. Many users understand that a file exists in a physical location, that it can be copied from a hard drive to a flash drive, and copied from that flash drive to a different computer, and they understand the necessity for that. And they understand that when they use a web app that relieves them of that burden, that the data is now stored "out there" somewhere instead of locally. From the other side, I had a boss with a Master's in Computer Science who had lots of trouble with normal desktop usability. He certainly never learned to guess which actions were reversible or not. My sister, who teaches history and is barely technically self-sufficient, could run rings about him on the Windows desktop, not to mention my friend the accountant who has never written a program but could be a passable professional programmer with six months' full-time training. So instead of saying, "this is what non-technical users don't understand," it's better to say, "these misunderstandings are part of the normal spectrum of user savviness that you will have to deal with." Whether a user is technical or non-technical only allows you to make a rough guess about the mistakes they'll make.

ddelony 16y ago
How do you get a master's in computer science without knowing how to operate a computer?
- Someone 16y ago
  The same way you get a master's in astronomy without knowing how to operate a telescope.
  - commieneko 16y ago
    Years ago I had the opportunity to host a professional astronomer at a star party at a dark site. He was really excited because he had never seen the milky way before; at least not with his own eyes. He was totally blown away. Most of the regulars were complaining about the transparency that evening, but to this guy it was a revelation.

Luyt 16y ago

This article reminds me of two things I've observed in ordinary computer users: 1. Many users don’t understand how or where data is stored or even that it is separate from the application. That is correct. My photographing neighbour keeps his photos 'in' Adobe Bridge, another neighbour keeps them 'in' Adobe Elements. They don't have a notion that those programs only offer a view on the pictures which are stored in some directory on their harddisk (they don't understand the hierarchical file system either). When they have to import photos from their camera or email a photo, they always do it from their photo cataloging program, never from the Windows Explorer. Likewise, a few of my collegues think their texts exist solely 'in' Microsoft Word, and that the 'Internet' is the same as the WWW. 2. reversibility One day I was helping a friend of a friend with transfering some texts over to another computer. We reviewed a text, by accident I deleted a paragraph and restored it promptly with Control-Z (undo). The person was looking flabbergasted at me: 'How did you do that?'. He told me that often when some part of his text 'disappeared' magically without apparent reason, he had to type it all over again. He didn't know that Word has an Undo. I told him he could benefit from a basic Windows and Word training, but he wouldn't hear of that. He did remember the Undo trick, however ;-)

sesqu 16y ago
Beginning with Windows 98, it has been more trouble than it's worth to try putting your files where you want them in the filesystem, instead of letting the application find a place for them. After I realized this, I tried putting My Documents on drive D - that didn't go so smoothly either. I recently helped my aunt install a new scanner. She asked me how to send a document to someone. After exploring the driver software for a while, I adviced her to start the scanner wizard/pamphlet printer/photo editor/document manager, click "scan", click "email", and let Outlook take it from there.

gphil 16y ago

This article talks about consumer software, but most of the issues are applicable even to relatively technical enterprise software. The end users of this kind of software generally have a lot of expertise in their daily routines, but stumble when they are asked to use the software to do something outside of their typical use patterns. It's important to stay humble and realize that the software you're offering to a customer is, in all likelihood, going to have a relatively small (but hopefully positive) impact on the user's life, and in these cases the users are not going to want to spend a lot of their time mastering your software.

todayiamme 16y ago

I honestly believe that this is the difference between Apple and the rest of the competition. You see, the secret they have to their products is that they realize that most people don't have any idea whatsoever what the hell a frikkin' mp3 file is. Neither do they know the difference between lossy and lossless conversion. They are intimidated by all those fancy buttons on the screen and are too scared to try anything just in case they break something. Steve Jobs recognizes this and that's his genius in a way. So, instead of creating a widget that does everything they choose to make a widget that does everything the user wants. There's a subtle, but important difference over here. Only a small subset of their users want extensive options so that they can put FLAC and other stuff onto it. Those are the users who fret about the product to the nth degree and they know that they don't exist to serve them. So, they pick a feature and implement it in a way that those other users (80%+ of the market) know how to use it, and that makes all the difference. Just look at enterprise software and how hideously broken it is. You have SaaS that try to do everything at once which directly results in their users doing nothing at once. This instead causes grumbling against the software and in the longer turn your sales go down. The hardest lesson in business, I think, is learning how to bite the bullet. No one wants to admit that their software can't do something. So, they rush and put the feature in to satisfy themselves without checking if it works or not. Big mistake. What's worse is that it is so ingrained in us that we don't even realize what damage we have done. What I am trying to say is that it's perfectly fine to not have the insanely great feature X, but it's inexcusable that the user has to read a 300 page manual to use feature X. This is why I suggest everyone to read the Apple Human Interface guidelines. They aren't perfect, but they've gotten quite a few things right. (see: http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/AppleHIGuidelines/XHIGDesignProcess/XHIGDesignProcess.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40002718-TPXREF101 http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/UserExp... )

JoeAltmaier 16y ago
"does everything the user wants" Then some OS X features completely baffle me. Like installing software. I'm not a "Mac guy" and each time I ask someone how to install software downloaded off the web I get a different answer, all preceeded by "You just ..." and then 10 or 11 simple steps. Apparently they have never heard of installers. I'd guess from this, that the average Mac has never had ANY software installed after it left the factory.

chewbranca 16y ago

heh... I have the opposite problem with copy-paste.. users keep pasting in content from microsoft word and wonder why it doesn't work properly.

Seth_Kriticos 16y ago

This article raises good points, but I'd like to argue / disagree with it in several points: It doesn’t mean that your users are stupid, just that they haven’t spent the thousands of hours in front of a computer that you have. Like office workers spending 8 hours a day in front of a computer? They easily make that time only on work time.. not that it helps. ..they don’t know how to (or even that they can) copy and paste text. Some users don't. But what should I do, send a copy of computer 101 with every eMail I send? Many users are used to web applications and don’t understand that they need to download and install new versions of desktop software to get access to the features in a new version. So, what's the maintenance staff there for? In my experience regular office users don't set up or update anything, ever! Data storage File system hierarchy and network mount points are so far off the average user horizon that you shouldn't bother anyway. You just point to it in the file explorer. Everything else is completely pointless. As for filetypes and converting: ok, that's a valid point. It's a good idea to send instructions with it, as it is a somewhat non-common task. The jargon you use I agree. Talk the users language, not computer slang. You should therefore never put something only in a right click menu or anywhere else that it can’t easily be discovered. Please, I beg you. Put stuff where you would normally expect it from your WM / OS. If it would be in the context menu, then put it there. Normally you also put stuff in the menu bar / ribbon / icon bar depending on conventions. Don't try to invent new interface guidelines, you'll probably fail.. horribly. Concurrency Try not to expose them or avoid it entirely (rework the workflow if necessary). Otherwise build the interface in a way that clearly notifies the user of this circumstance. Non-technical users aren’t so confident and won’t try things in the same way. In fact some of them seem to think that a wrong move could cause the computer to burst into flames. Most of them don't try anything at all. They will ask you how to do it. If you have some kind of system that has tweaks: train your users (that's what tech training is for). So try to stick to conventions they will understand Absolutely. The need for backups I preach this all the time. People also always agree to me in this respect. Doesn't help, they never actually do it, much less spend money on it. Could as well talk to the wall.. That they should read the documentation I totally agree. No one will read your precious documentation. If you roll out a new software, train them with the workflow. You do train your workforce to use the tools they use, right? Unskilled users often don’t realize how unskilled they are. Consequently they may blame your software for problems that are of their own making. May? They always do. I figure this must be human nature or something. One just has to be as polite as possible in such cases. In other words, stay professional. ------------- Otherwise I found it the article as entertaining as irksome. Raises some good points.

WingForward 16y ago

#23: Users will not read dialog boxes. Especially on Windows. They will click them away and not even realize they existed. Try it. 1) Put a dialog popup in your MS desktop app that says, "Clicking OK below will destroy the chair beneath you. Clicking Cancel will make a box of chocolates appear on your desk." 2) Observe when a user performs a task that produces the pop up. 3)Ask the user if they were disappointed that no chocolate appeared. The user will look at you with incomprehension. To clarify, I am not criticizing users. Users are users, we're not going to change their behavior with training or help manuals. We need to design around them.

blasdel 16y ago
That's a habituation to the reality of the Win32 style — "Find reached the end of the document | OK" Users don't have an a priori instinct to dismiss dialog boxes out of spite — on the contrary, the elderly noob reads every one carefully as if the wrong choice would actually destroy the chair beneath them. A new dialog box like that would ruin their day, and mine when I get their panicked phone call now that they've gone off script. If they ever do build a mental model of the UI, they'll have learned otherwise.
- WingForward 16y ago
  But because of the way UI is designed, one of the first elements of the UI mental model your elderly noob will learn is that dialog boxes are to be ignored.

jdietrich 16y ago

In the golden age of the British pop industry, record companies used to play their newly pressed singles to the elderly doormen and cleaners in the offices. If these old duffers could whistle the tune after hearing the record once, they knew the song stood a good chance of becoming a hit. They called it "the old grey whistle test". I am increasingly of the opinion that the single most valuable asset to any consumer software company is at least one "old grey". The more time I spend with ordinary end-users, the more I realise that I cannot even begin to comprehend their mental processes. They are a total black box to me, with a completely different set of instincts and intuitive responses. I think that the majority of software developers, even professional UX folks, massively misunderstand their users.

demallien 16y ago
Yup. I'm lucky in some respects as a UX designer, because I do UX for set top boxes, not computers - my users are even less technically-aware that computer users, and they have a very strong expectation that their television is not going to be hard/confusing to use. As STBs have got more and more complex though, taking on major media centre capabilities, interfacing to Internet services such as YouTube, Netflix and FaceBook, we are really struggling to keep the interface simple. But at least we are aware that this is a critical aspect of our software - computer app developers sometimes can lose sight of that.

aufreak3 16y ago

Nice one. Regarding point 7 ("what changes can be reversed"), tendencies are different for the younger cohort compared to those who grew up with DOS. Younger people actually try a lot without fear of serious damage, so if you're building for them, you can exploit this .. provided you ensure safety under such trials as well.

known 16y ago

"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." -- Confucius