Subject:
Does "Well, DUH!" mean "Well Done!" ?
This final lesson looks at the importance of
remaining focused on your users’ needs as you design a product or
interface.
What Are Your Users Saying to
You?
You will have to listen to users, sooner (before you
design) or later (after you ship). What will YOU hear?
1.
"!#@*&%#!"
-- Your users are
trying to operate your interface to complete a task, but you've buried the
treasure, hidden the map, and given them a broken pickax.
2.
"Well, DUH!"
-- Your interface
does its job well. However, users don't
appreciate all the work you've done. To them, their task is so straight-forward
that your job must have been
easy! They don't realize that your
interface is almost invisible because you've understood their needs so
completely. For you, no news is good
news.
3.
"Well Done!"
-- If you've
polished your interface, made your users' jobs easier, provided them with
capabilities they never had before, and shipped on time, you may get a pat on
the back. You're also likely to get
a repeat customer, and a user who will be glad to be a "special tester" for
your
next release.
Good Designs
Usability takes teamwork. Both customers and fellow developers can
provide valuable feedback by offering a fresh perspective on your
work. The result will be a more
balanced, easier-to-use product.
Bad Designs
Michael J. Darnell has assembled a humorous
(if you’re not the user!)
human factors scrapbook, complete with photographs of
the offending objects. By showing
how NOT to do things, he illustrates the consequences of ignoring basic
usability principles. (Use a browser
that automatically loads graphics when viewing this site.)
Bad Designs
http://www.baddesigns.com/examples.html
----------------------------
Reference Materials
The following sources present additional ideas for
user interface design, and provide a good foundation for the development of
in-house usability methods.
Usability Standards and Guidelines on the
Web
Macintosh Human Interface
Guidelines
http://developer.apple.com/techpubs/mac/HIGuidelines/HIGuidelines-2.html
Apple Web Design Guide
http://www.geo.tu-freiberg.de/docs/apple/web_design/intro.html
Yale University School of Medicine's Center for
Advanced Instructional Media (C/AIM) Web Style Guide
http://www.webstyleguide.com/index.html?/
