4 ms·
Very interesting experience. The real issue is deciding on what assumptions you want to make about your audience. Even people who are not completely new to comp
by melvinram 15y ago
Very interesting experience. The real issue is deciding on what assumptions you want to make about your audience. Even people who are not completely new to computers may act like people who have never used one before so making as few assumptions as possible is probably best unless you have a strong degree of confidence.
A few weeks ago, I visited a cousin who had recently bought a new fridge with "high-tech" water dispenser. I'm a big water drinker. When I went to the fridge to get some cold water, I felt really stupid for not knowing how to work a freaken water dispenser. It had a ton of buttons the real button to make it give you water looked like it was part of the door, not a press-able thing. The design could have been done better.
How many times have you been at someone's house and needed to use their microwave and it takes more time figuring out how to make the thing go than to actually heat the food? And even if you've used the exact same microwave 4 weeks ago, it still feels brand new and you feel just as lost.
Whether it's directions to a location or how to use an app/device, it may not stick.
Designing for computer illiterates but decently intelligent people seems like a worthy ideal to strive for. You may never get to a point where someone brand new to computers will feel comfortable with your app but keeping it in mind might help guide us into making small tweaks that can add up a big difference.
One example: With WordPress, you can add a search element to your site/blog. The default language of the label is "To search, type and hit enter." This is probably more clear than "Search this site" or plain "Search" but maybe not as clear as "To search, click here, type and hit enter."
Yes, it's more verbose. No, I'm not suggesting that WP should change the default text.
You have to strike a balance between being clear and not boring your audience by telling them what they already know but when in doubt, err on the side of clarity.
- eru 15y agoWe have two microwaves at the office. One has two knobs you can turn. One for intensity, one for time. The other has a tons of features, multiple buttons, and only one turnable knob. Pressing the buttons can put the single knob into different modes and thus allows you to adjust time and intensity and lots of other things. Guess which interface is universally preferred? (And I work in the company of lots of smart people here in Cambridge.)
- trafficlight 15y agoI think the ideal microwave would have 2 buttons: one for start and the other for switching between microwave and defrost. The start button would give you 30 second increments of time. What more do you need?
- zipdog 15y agoI like this, but sometimes you want to defrost something for 15 minutes. I think a [plus 5 min] button would be nicer than hitting a button 30 times
- eru 15y agoI agree that you seldom want more than two different settings for the power level. But for the timing, knobs are good. They combine data presentation with input. For power perhaps a two-state switch would work nice.
- eru 15y agoBut then you also need a display for how much time you selected, and how much is left. And perhaps some system to decrease the selected time. A simple knob gives you all that, and no button required at all.