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The company I work for produces software for users with zero computer literacy. We're a very small outfit serving a very specific niche. We produce new and high

The company I work for produces software for users with zero computer literacy. We're a very small outfit serving a very specific niche. We produce new and highly specialized/distinct programs at a rate of about one or two per week. Our users are often subjected to very tight time requirements, so we can't expect them to develop familiarity over a gradual learning curve. They must immediately know what to do, and our software must support them, computer skills be damned. Almost ironically, I struggle to hold our team to our own UI best practices; to ensure our interfaces and content are approachable. We're always crushed by deadlines — the time it takes to be sure we haven't made any literacy assumptions is time we don't have. It's my job to make developing this sort of UI/UX absolutely painless. Unfortunately, I get almost no opportunities to actually test with our zero-experience users. This article was a wonderful read, and gave me a very specific type of knowing satisfaction. It's a rare opportunity indeed. As for those best practices, here are a few examples: • Emphasize actionable items with animations, and textual and pictorial descriptions of the actions that must be taken. Instead of saying "right click", we might show a picture of the mouse with the right button highlighted, with a "clicking" animation indicating the action to be performed. • Use iconography and terminology derived from the subject matter or real-world objects, instead of common "abstract" UI elements. For instance, a light switch (indicated as actionable, of course) instead of a check box. • Simplify user interactions and interfaces to the absolute minimum. Reduce the actions the user must perform in order to be satisfied. Reduce the number of options presented to the user at any one time. In many ways, designing an interface for a zero-experience user is like choosing a programming language: You want the language that lets you describe exactly the program you need to make in as few instructions as possible. Likewise, you want an interface that lets your users describe exactly the action they need the program to perform in as few interactions as possible.

charliepark 15y ago
Some fascinating insights. I know you and your team are busy, but it'd be great to read more of your learnings. Do you have a company blog or anything where you document stuff like this?
- spiralganglion 15y ago
  We have a blog, but it's for our customers. We use it to give away some of our generic training material as a loss-leader and attract clients to our premium, customized software. It doesn't cover our development stories. I'd find it fun to do such a blog, but I'm not sure the rest of the team would be willing to put in the time necessary to make it rewarding to read.
vacri 15y ago
That reminds me of one naive I was helping who had serious trouble relating the 2D movements of the mouse to the 2D movements of the on-screen cursor. That relationship seems like it'd be very challenging to explain if someone's not getting it and there's no teacher available.
- GHFigs 15y ago
  It is surprisingly challenging. The mouse doesn't input position, it inputs movement, and not all movement, but movement of a specific point on a plane aligned to itself (not the screen, not the hand) and only if you slide it against a surface, and not your exact movement, due to acceleration and stopping at screen edges. And then it has buttons! And a wheel! And an ominous red light! A good start is to just put their hand on the mouse, put your hand over theirs, and tell them to watch the cursor.
  - r00fus 15y ago
    Hand-over-hand is a well-known learning technique for children and learning-disabled folks as well as it emphasizes muscle memory.
- adavies42 15y ago
  it took my mother quite a while to fully understand why i said i was "scrolling down" when the text on the screen was moving upward.
  - spiralganglion 15y ago
    Yeah, we encounter this situation an awful lot. But this isn't just a problem for zero-experience users. In 3d video games, there is often a setting to invert Y-axis input. In some 3rd-person perspective games you can set your Y-axis mapping for character input (aiming) and camera/viewport rotation separately. Very helpful, and one of those silently critical features that is never lusted after (it's not a "bullet point on the box"), but can make a tremendous difference in user experience.
lovskogen 15y ago
Unfortunately, I get almost no opportunities to actually test with our zero-experience users. Seems like you just have to hit the mall. What kind of software are you guys making?
- spiralganglion 15y ago
  We make interactive training materials for people working in the heavy industries (Mining, Oil, Forestry, Pulp & Paper, etc). A typical user is male, in his 30s or 40s, with no interest in technology, a short attention span and temper, low self-esteem with respect to their work, and a preference for the "physical" over anything "abstract". We train them to effectively operate and (especially) maintain/repair the equipment they use in their work. This equipment is the heavy machinery they tell you not to operate when you take medication, or the sort you see on the Discovery Channel when they talk about the world's biggest construction projects. Machines described by schematics with thousands of components, that come in manuals thousands of pages long. These machines have hydraulic, electrical, and process (computational) systems that all interact in a complex ballet of physical forces and remarkable engineering. And they all break down — constantly. When the equipment fails, these lumberjack-types have to look up the schematics and deduce exactly what broke on their machine. An hour of downtime can cost tens of thousands of dollars, so they're under tremendous pressure to get repairs done quickly. However, they aren't analytical thinkers (in the typical case), so they aren't great at deducing the root cause of failure. They resort to "part-swapping", where they replace components until the problem goes away. Some of these components cost upwards of a hundred thousand dollars and can take 8 hours to install. This is where we come in. By commission, we take the manuals for a machine, and compile the anecdotal experiences of its operators and mechanics. We then produce a highly-interactive, true-to-life simulation of the machine, with animated schematics that show off exactly what's happening while it's running, in both normal and faulted states. With these tools, they can actually see how the "damn thing" works, top-to-bottom, inside-and-out. This helps them operate in a way that will avoid driving the machines to fail, and grok the machine well-enough to isolate root causes when it does fail. I could go on and on about this.. another time, perhaps. Alas, we don't have a blog about what we make. Perhaps I should start one.
  - 15y ago
pnathan 15y ago
You and your company almost certainly have some incredible insights into "The Other Half". I would love reading any sort of blog you have.
- spiralganglion 15y ago
  We have this blog, but it's all domain-specific knowledge offered as a loss-leader for the benefit of our prospective customers: http://www.carldyke.com/newsletters-that-teach http://www.carldyke.com/newsletters-that-teach We don't have any sort of outlet for our experiences as developers in this market / with this audience. If we ever start one, I'll be sure to post about it here on HN.
  - unconed 15y ago
    I wish you'd start one now. There is a huge population of developers out there who are not only oblivious to usability issues, but even get offended at the notion that unique insights are required to make something usable rather than just useful. On a related note, I'd to point out that your blog is, for lack of a better term, scary. The huge-ass fixed-position header gets in the way, the line spacing is way too tight and the colors are too garish and uncoordinated. My first reaction when I saw the page was "augh!" which then faded as my brain slowly peeled away all the visual clutter and started noticing the content.
    - spiralganglion 15y ago
      Yes, the blog is scary. We're doing a site-wide restyle in the next month or so. But thanks for the additional motivation, in both paragraphs. I'm seriously thinking about starting such a blog, thanks to all the requests here. There are a number of factors limiting my inclination, but it would be a great way to keep my team focussed on these practices.

charliepark 15y ago

Some fascinating insights. I know you and your team are busy, but it'd be great to read more of your learnings. Do you have a company blog or anything where you document stuff like this?

spiralganglion 15y ago
We have a blog, but it's for our customers. We use it to give away some of our generic training material as a loss-leader and attract clients to our premium, customized software. It doesn't cover our development stories. I'd find it fun to do such a blog, but I'm not sure the rest of the team would be willing to put in the time necessary to make it rewarding to read.

vacri 15y ago

That reminds me of one naive I was helping who had serious trouble relating the 2D movements of the mouse to the 2D movements of the on-screen cursor. That relationship seems like it'd be very challenging to explain if someone's not getting it and there's no teacher available.

GHFigs 15y ago
It is surprisingly challenging. The mouse doesn't input position, it inputs movement, and not all movement, but movement of a specific point on a plane aligned to itself (not the screen, not the hand) and only if you slide it against a surface, and not your exact movement, due to acceleration and stopping at screen edges. And then it has buttons! And a wheel! And an ominous red light! A good start is to just put their hand on the mouse, put your hand over theirs, and tell them to watch the cursor.
- r00fus 15y ago
  Hand-over-hand is a well-known learning technique for children and learning-disabled folks as well as it emphasizes muscle memory.
adavies42 15y ago
it took my mother quite a while to fully understand why i said i was "scrolling down" when the text on the screen was moving upward.
- spiralganglion 15y ago
  Yeah, we encounter this situation an awful lot. But this isn't just a problem for zero-experience users. In 3d video games, there is often a setting to invert Y-axis input. In some 3rd-person perspective games you can set your Y-axis mapping for character input (aiming) and camera/viewport rotation separately. Very helpful, and one of those silently critical features that is never lusted after (it's not a "bullet point on the box"), but can make a tremendous difference in user experience.

lovskogen 15y ago

Unfortunately, I get almost no opportunities to actually test with our zero-experience users. Seems like you just have to hit the mall. What kind of software are you guys making?

spiralganglion 15y ago
We make interactive training materials for people working in the heavy industries (Mining, Oil, Forestry, Pulp & Paper, etc). A typical user is male, in his 30s or 40s, with no interest in technology, a short attention span and temper, low self-esteem with respect to their work, and a preference for the "physical" over anything "abstract". We train them to effectively operate and (especially) maintain/repair the equipment they use in their work. This equipment is the heavy machinery they tell you not to operate when you take medication, or the sort you see on the Discovery Channel when they talk about the world's biggest construction projects. Machines described by schematics with thousands of components, that come in manuals thousands of pages long. These machines have hydraulic, electrical, and process (computational) systems that all interact in a complex ballet of physical forces and remarkable engineering. And they all break down — constantly. When the equipment fails, these lumberjack-types have to look up the schematics and deduce exactly what broke on their machine. An hour of downtime can cost tens of thousands of dollars, so they're under tremendous pressure to get repairs done quickly. However, they aren't analytical thinkers (in the typical case), so they aren't great at deducing the root cause of failure. They resort to "part-swapping", where they replace components until the problem goes away. Some of these components cost upwards of a hundred thousand dollars and can take 8 hours to install. This is where we come in. By commission, we take the manuals for a machine, and compile the anecdotal experiences of its operators and mechanics. We then produce a highly-interactive, true-to-life simulation of the machine, with animated schematics that show off exactly what's happening while it's running, in both normal and faulted states. With these tools, they can actually see how the "damn thing" works, top-to-bottom, inside-and-out. This helps them operate in a way that will avoid driving the machines to fail, and grok the machine well-enough to isolate root causes when it does fail. I could go on and on about this.. another time, perhaps. Alas, we don't have a blog about what we make. Perhaps I should start one.
- 15y ago

pnathan 15y ago

You and your company almost certainly have some incredible insights into "The Other Half". I would love reading any sort of blog you have.

spiralganglion 15y ago
We have this blog, but it's all domain-specific knowledge offered as a loss-leader for the benefit of our prospective customers: http://www.carldyke.com/newsletters-that-teach http://www.carldyke.com/newsletters-that-teach We don't have any sort of outlet for our experiences as developers in this market / with this audience. If we ever start one, I'll be sure to post about it here on HN.
- unconed 15y ago
  I wish you'd start one now. There is a huge population of developers out there who are not only oblivious to usability issues, but even get offended at the notion that unique insights are required to make something usable rather than just useful. On a related note, I'd to point out that your blog is, for lack of a better term, scary. The huge-ass fixed-position header gets in the way, the line spacing is way too tight and the colors are too garish and uncoordinated. My first reaction when I saw the page was "augh!" which then faded as my brain slowly peeled away all the visual clutter and started noticing the content.
  - spiralganglion 15y ago
    Yes, the blog is scary. We're doing a site-wide restyle in the next month or so. But thanks for the additional motivation, in both paragraphs. I'm seriously thinking about starting such a blog, thanks to all the requests here. There are a number of factors limiting my inclination, but it would be a great way to keep my team focussed on these practices.