RE: ADMIN: Re: OT How do I unsubscribe?.. reading directions

[Chuck Martin <CMartin -at- serena -dot- com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter [mailto:pnewman1 -at- home -dot- com]
> Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2000 4:24 AM
> Subject: Re: ADMIN: Re: OT How do I unsubscribe?.. reading directions
> 
> Chuck Martin wrote:
> > 
> > >
> > But it's not incompetence, at least not by users. That the 
> door needed a
> > label probably means that it was designed so as to look 
> like it should be
> > pushed.
> > 
> > A bar all the way across a door generally communicates 
> something that is to
> > be pushed. When that's not the case, instead of 
> re-designing the door, most
> > times a label is added: Pull.

> > 
> > When users approach the door, they do so without conscious 
> thought. They see
> > the bar and recognize from its appearance what to do. Or so 
> they think. They
> > are then surprised when pushing does not result in what 
> they expect. That's
> > not incompetence in users, that's incompetence in design.
> > 
> 	What about two door symmetrically designed. One for 
> Entrance and one
> for exit.
> Are you saying that software should be so intuitive as not to need
> documentation? How many zillion lines of code would that need.
<snip>

Yes.

Unequivocally, absolutely, yes!

Not zillion. Just enough by programmers who can follow the instructions of
interaction designers. Computing power is more than enough these days to be
able to design intuitive software.

Touch kiosks are a good example of this. You can't have a manual available.
Everything a user needs to know to successfully use such a device must be in
the interface. Alan Cooper, in his "The Inmates are Running the Asylum,"
gives a good example of how his company re-designed the small, in-flight
movie screen on the back of airplane chairs so they could be easily
understood and used by passengers. Very instructive.

-- 
Chuck Martin
Sr. Technical Writer, SERENA Software

"People who use business software might despise it, but they are getting
paid to tolerate it....Most people who are paid to use a tool feel
constrained not to complain about that tool, but it doesn't stop them from
feeling frustrated and unhappy about it."
          - "The Inmates are Running the Asylum" 
            Alan Cooper


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