What Is Usability?

“The term “usable” means more then just easy to learn. Ease of learning is an important component of usability, but it is the least important of three components. To be usable, the product also has to be quick to use and relatively error-free. Most importantly, you must do what the user wants… Usability refers to three different components: the product does what you need it to do, it does that quickly and safely, and, last, it is easy to learn…”
- From the book by Jeff Johnson “GUI Bloopers”

What Annoys Users Most?

“One sure way for software to annoy its users is to ask them for data the software obviously doesn’t need. The form of this blooper that annoys users the most is asking them to reenter data they already entered…

Make it high priority not to require users to enter data repeatedly. Here are several ways:

• Ask only for data you really need. If you aren’t sure what you will do with a piece of data, you don’t need it.

• Stick to the current transaction. Data you would like for other purposes, such as marketing or establishing relationship with the user, should be requested in separate and optional areas of software.

• Don’t make any data “required” unless you really cannot proceed without it.

• Don’t require data some customers won’t have: you will just force them to make it up… or take their business elsewhere.

• When someone gives you information, deduce as much as you can from it. Use what you know to fill in other data fields.

Asking for data you don’t need scares away customers who value their privacy, prevents customers from achieving their goals, frustrates those who don’t have the information you require, and slows throughout.”

From a book by Jeff Johnson “GUI Bloopers”

How Much Time Do We Waste on Badly Designed Apps?

Computer load-time, pop-ups, new apps installation, new user interrelations, lack of intuitiveness, search for drivers, frozen system, reboots, etc. – these are just a few of the things that most of us face on daily basis. Dealing with all these issues takes users up to 30 minutes a day according to Telegraph UK. (more…)

Usability over Aesthetics

I really admire good design, a tasteful colour palette and the fine finish of all UI elements. But Google pays no attention to any of it. Their design is completely data driven and they are known for things like testing 64 shades of blue for few months before deciding on the colour of the box boarder. And still I find myself dumping the beautiful Apple Mail for Gmail. I bought Things – a most eye-catching app that scored Apple Design Award and yet find myself using Gmail Tasks. Beautifully designed iCal is also an app I rarely open, opting for Google Calendar instead.

What’s the reason? Usability I guess. Google is an adept in making usable apps. All their apps are highly intuitive and usable, albeit ugly. I save great deal of time when I have all apps in one window talking to each other. The ugliness of design elements does bother me but the usability pays me back in time saved.

I guess to justify Google’s approach to UI, they need to think about every bite going through their server with the amount of data they process. To a certain degree they comply with a basic rule of design: Take out everything that is not necessary until you can’t anymore and then you have a well designed product. (Michelangelo used to joke that his trade is very easy. Take a rock and cut off everything unnecessary).

TweetBoard Alfa

TweetBoard makes Twitter available right on your website. The window is dynamic and doesn’t get in the way. It seems to be very cool and usable way to facilitate your marketing efforts and may be even communicate with your customers. We are awaiting alfa testing approval and will let you know about integration process and usability of the product.

Tweetboard

Apple’s MagicMouse – Most usable mouse ever

MagicMouse is a great a very well designed device. I got it on the first date they were available and spent about 10 days using it. The mouse is great. Very responsive and  precise. Still runs on the original batteries with about 40% charge left which means it will go for about about 3 weeks.

The gestures work great. Very usable . Especially swiping back though web pages. Scroll with momentum works and feels exactly as one in iPhone, which is very intuitive and beats Logitec’s Hyper-fast scrolling feature.

Apple's MagicMouse

The only 2 things bother me so far and they are really minor. First is that the thumb is positioned over 2 movable parts which creates a strange feeling that took me few days to get used to. The other thing is that if your hand are wet for any the fingers won’t “swipe” over mouse plastic making gestures almost impossible.

So if you live in a hot place with high humidity without an air conditioning MagicMouse not may be a mouse of choice for you. In any other case – highly recommended.

Design in use – Rozetkus 3D

Here is a good example of what design should do for us making our everyday life a bit easier. Art Lebedev – a russian design studio that come up few years back Optimus Keyboard (1257.14€) is back with a useful concept that does solve a real problem in hand. Rozetkus 3D looks like any other socket but with a push of the button above, it pops our giving you access to additional sockets. Smartly done concept and seems to be simple in production.

Art Lebedev's Rozetkus 3D socket concept

Aggressive Online Advertisement

Floating windows are most annoying kind of internet advertisement according to Russian internet statistic agency.

• Floating windows bother 78% of internet users
• Banners bother 7.6%
• Video ads bother 3.6%

Only 3.4% of users are actually order something using advertisement links.

Website Link colour

Surveys shows that average users still prefer blue text links over other colours even if they are consistent across the site. This probably doesn’t apply to web apps such as intranet site, gmail, etc that users use on daily basis.

Touch screen tactile feedback and user satisfaction survey

A survey recently conducted (France, Germany and the UK) showed 38% were planning to get a touchscreen on their next mobile phone while only 47% of people who already owned a touchscreen said they would get another one. In other words, less than half of touchscreen owners thought they’d stick with the technology on their next purchase. Apple has a high customer satisfaction rate and since iPhone is the only available device iphone users don’t really have a choice.

As a designer I can’t help but love the idea of one surface that becomes what one needs it to be at the moment. I’m not moving back to physical keyboard. At least on my phone.
I don’t play many games on my iPhone and when I do tactile feedback is not something I miss.

The possibility of tactile feedback was mentioned in the original iPhone patent application and last year Apple filled “Keystroke tacility arrangement on a smooth touch surface” patent. It desscribes various tactile feedbacks on a smooth sureface keyboard such as:

• Braille-like dot pairs or bars at key centers
• Articulating frame that protrudes at key edges during typing
• Articulating frame that deforms surface cover at key edges during typing
• Rigid frame under key edges with compressible key centers

We may see it implemented in rumoured Apple Tablet Mac that supposedly should surface in next few months. So it looks like touchscreen are going to become smarter and more “user-freiendly”.