3 ms·

I've spent more than a decade in customer/user-facing roles, and that class of users is actually "almost all of them." But it's worse than that. Most people do

by smeej 6y ago

I've spent more than a decade in customer/user-facing roles, and that class of users is actually "almost all of them." But it's worse than that. Most people do not have the reading fluency to read more than a few words in a sentence without getting frustrated and confused. If your work peers and social groups consist of the 3-5% of people who aren't in that category, it can be easy to forget that. Any time you can make something's function clear with one or two words and design, opt for that over explanation.

BurningFrog 6y ago
And this is why UI/UX experts are so valuable in software projects!
crznp 6y ago
If "almost everyone" fails some expectation, is the problem with the people or the expectation? The average user might not be super invested in the application, they just know that something doesn't work, which is frustrating. If their only outlet for that is a bug report, the developers get overwhelmed with bad bug reports and users get the expectation that the developer is going to fix all their problems for them. If the outlet is a feedback form instead, maybe the user can feel listened to in a small way and move on. The developer doesn't have to sift through a bunch of issues, they can just follow up if there seem to be any hot-spots that are causing a lot of frustration.
- Arnavion 6y ago
  I don't see how replacing "sift through a bunch of issues" with "sift through a bunch of feedback forms" makes the developer's job any easier.
- smeej 6y ago
  That's my point. Things have to be designed with the understanding that "people who won't read the instructions" are the rule, not the exception. That has to be the expectation if anything is ever going to improve. Unless you know you're dealing with a very specific subset of the general population who loves reading, design around things that don't need to be read.
- kelnos 6y ago
  Exactly; the problem here is that there's a repository that allows issues to be filed, when the owners don't want issues reported there. Issues should just be turned off on that repository (and if you can't do that, I'd consider that a big missing feature). You need to guide people to do the right thing based on the interface itself; people overwhelmingly don't read instructions.
dumpsterdiver 6y ago
Then you get people like me who prefer to read words, but are utterly baffled by the user experience on modern social platforms... like, how do I log out? Oh, the smiley button, duh.

by smeej 6y ago

BurningFrog 6y ago

And this is why UI/UX experts are so valuable in software projects!

crznp 6y ago

If "almost everyone" fails some expectation, is the problem with the people or the expectation? The average user might not be super invested in the application, they just know that something doesn't work, which is frustrating. If their only outlet for that is a bug report, the developers get overwhelmed with bad bug reports and users get the expectation that the developer is going to fix all their problems for them. If the outlet is a feedback form instead, maybe the user can feel listened to in a small way and move on. The developer doesn't have to sift through a bunch of issues, they can just follow up if there seem to be any hot-spots that are causing a lot of frustration.

Arnavion 6y ago
I don't see how replacing "sift through a bunch of issues" with "sift through a bunch of feedback forms" makes the developer's job any easier.
smeej 6y ago
That's my point. Things have to be designed with the understanding that "people who won't read the instructions" are the rule, not the exception. That has to be the expectation if anything is ever going to improve. Unless you know you're dealing with a very specific subset of the general population who loves reading, design around things that don't need to be read.
kelnos 6y ago
Exactly; the problem here is that there's a repository that allows issues to be filed, when the owners don't want issues reported there. Issues should just be turned off on that repository (and if you can't do that, I'd consider that a big missing feature). You need to guide people to do the right thing based on the interface itself; people overwhelmingly don't read instructions.

dumpsterdiver 6y ago

Then you get people like me who prefer to read words, but are utterly baffled by the user experience on modern social platforms... like, how do I log out? Oh, the smiley button, duh.