3 ms·

Looks really nice, but I always feel that if you need some kind of guided tour for your app, you've already shot yourself in the foot.

by ryderm 14y ago

heelhook 14y ago
Not necessarily. I do agree that requiring a tour can be an indication that your app is too complex, but sometimes its just a good opportunity to display some light marketing (as in, show stuff behind your app that might be abstracted from the interface in order to avoid cluttering it). In the use case I built Chardin.js for, I'm using it to display stuff that happens behind the scenes that the user is abstracted for, but I still want the user to know its happening (perception of value is almost as important as value delivered!).
- baddox 14y ago
  Also, some web apps are power tools for a specific group of employees, rather than a consumer-facing app. In college I worked on a dormitory reservation system that was fairly complex, and was only used by administrators and front desk workers (and they went through brief training for the system). I built a quick little "help mode" overlay system that worked well enough, but something like this would have been a great alternative.
  - ryderm 14y ago
    True, there are certainly exceptions. I wouldn't want this on a social network, but something like a browser based 3D modeling tool is another story.
lnanek2 14y ago
Sometimes you don't have any choice. On Android, for example, you have to follow the design guidelines if you want to get featured. However the design guidelines say your actions should be tiny unobtrusive icons in the action bar. Users miss these all the time in user testing in my experience. If you made them big, glossy, 3D looking buttons people would find them, but then you'd violate guidelines. So often we have to put these tutorial overlays up instead with big white arrows over a darkened screen pointing out the actions.
ibrahima 14y ago
I'm working on an app that has one page that's quite complicated (but in my opinion really easy to use once you've learned how it works). Basically you're outlining the structure of a document, so you have to create a table of contents for the document in a left hand pane (33% width) and then mark corresponding regions on the right hand pane using your mouse, and there are buttons on the left pane to store/load a region corresponding to an entry in your table of contents. As two separate pages the workflow is a little awkward because logically the two steps are related, but when we put the two pages together we found that there was no place to put instructions. I ended up putting in one of those guided tour scripts where you click around to go through it. The thing is once you've used it once it's really obvious what to do and the UI is pretty efficient but you need some way of explaining the interface the first time, and I think something like this is better than wasting a lot of space on instructions. (I'd link to the app to make it clearer, but it's still a work in progress and at the moment I need to control the number of people using it so we can figure out how it scales before launching it to the world - plus it's really an educational application for instructors so most people wouldn't be interested).
fudged71 14y ago
Snapseed (iOS, Android) has a great and simple user interface that you need to be taught to use first.
crazygringo 14y ago
Not at all. Anything sufficiently novel is going to need explanation. Just look at the tutorials in video games, which get you started. Or for a great example, try out the new Mailbox app -- they do a fantastic job of explaining how the swipes work. In certain cases, a little investment in "training" pays far greater dividends later on. Of course, there are plenty of apps/sites that aren't novel enough to need this, where everything is straightforward.
dannowatts 14y ago
unless your app is an app on creating and showcasing guided tours ;)
epo 14y ago
I always feel that such glib attempts at one-upmanship are a good indication of immaturity. Or perhaps you don't get involved in producing anything with non-trivial functionality? Because anything simple enough not to need instruction is probably too trivial to be worth using. There is nothing intuitive in life except fear of heights and (possibly) the location of your mother's milk, all else is learnt.

Looks really nice, but I always feel that if you need some kind of guided tour for your app, you've already shot yourself in the foot.

by ryderm 14y ago

Looks really nice, but I always feel that if you need some kind of guided tour for your app, you've already shot yourself in the foot.

heelhook 14y ago

Not necessarily. I do agree that requiring a tour can be an indication that your app is too complex, but sometimes its just a good opportunity to display some light marketing (as in, show stuff behind your app that might be abstracted from the interface in order to avoid cluttering it). In the use case I built Chardin.js for, I'm using it to display stuff that happens behind the scenes that the user is abstracted for, but I still want the user to know its happening (perception of value is almost as important as value delivered!).

baddox 14y ago
Also, some web apps are power tools for a specific group of employees, rather than a consumer-facing app. In college I worked on a dormitory reservation system that was fairly complex, and was only used by administrators and front desk workers (and they went through brief training for the system). I built a quick little "help mode" overlay system that worked well enough, but something like this would have been a great alternative.
- ryderm 14y ago
  True, there are certainly exceptions. I wouldn't want this on a social network, but something like a browser based 3D modeling tool is another story.

lnanek2 14y ago

Sometimes you don't have any choice. On Android, for example, you have to follow the design guidelines if you want to get featured. However the design guidelines say your actions should be tiny unobtrusive icons in the action bar. Users miss these all the time in user testing in my experience. If you made them big, glossy, 3D looking buttons people would find them, but then you'd violate guidelines. So often we have to put these tutorial overlays up instead with big white arrows over a darkened screen pointing out the actions.

ibrahima 14y ago

I'm working on an app that has one page that's quite complicated (but in my opinion really easy to use once you've learned how it works). Basically you're outlining the structure of a document, so you have to create a table of contents for the document in a left hand pane (33% width) and then mark corresponding regions on the right hand pane using your mouse, and there are buttons on the left pane to store/load a region corresponding to an entry in your table of contents. As two separate pages the workflow is a little awkward because logically the two steps are related, but when we put the two pages together we found that there was no place to put instructions. I ended up putting in one of those guided tour scripts where you click around to go through it. The thing is once you've used it once it's really obvious what to do and the UI is pretty efficient but you need some way of explaining the interface the first time, and I think something like this is better than wasting a lot of space on instructions. (I'd link to the app to make it clearer, but it's still a work in progress and at the moment I need to control the number of people using it so we can figure out how it scales before launching it to the world - plus it's really an educational application for instructors so most people wouldn't be interested).

fudged71 14y ago

Snapseed (iOS, Android) has a great and simple user interface that you need to be taught to use first.

crazygringo 14y ago

Not at all. Anything sufficiently novel is going to need explanation. Just look at the tutorials in video games, which get you started. Or for a great example, try out the new Mailbox app -- they do a fantastic job of explaining how the swipes work. In certain cases, a little investment in "training" pays far greater dividends later on. Of course, there are plenty of apps/sites that aren't novel enough to need this, where everything is straightforward.

dannowatts 14y ago

unless your app is an app on creating and showcasing guided tours ;)

epo 14y ago

I always feel that such glib attempts at one-upmanship are a good indication of immaturity. Or perhaps you don't get involved in producing anything with non-trivial functionality? Because anything simple enough not to need instruction is probably too trivial to be worth using. There is nothing intuitive in life except fear of heights and (possibly) the location of your mother's milk, all else is learnt.