As a software developer you're continually compelled to improve your UI/UX, right !?...
All I wanted to do was add a blog to a DNS record, so it showed up as a sub-domain and would boost the SEO results a bit. But now I've written this post, refined it, and I'm still waiting. Even after two go rounds with tech support and that was AFTER I had to search for a help link that got me past the static Q&A. That's so Facebook. Companies would be well served to take a peek at what Rackspace is doing for tech support. I believe Rackspace is the new gold standard.
Now, I LOVE the blog engine I use, and I've been using it for years on a number of projects. Where else can you get such an intuitive concept as posting to your blog from an email. Genius. I also appreciate my domain registrar, but don't share the same level of love. They don't need me to love them, they've got a racecar.
But tonight it's tough love ~ here's the issue:
Both companies are designing for the lowest common denominator ~ the moron !!
Why is this an issue ? Because: a) both companies have taken what was originally straight forward and made it so visually complex that it is difficult to figure out what you want and successfully navigate to it, and (b) both companies have over wizardized the experience.
I remember when those other guys had that stupid paperclip wizard ( maybe they still do ;) that anticipated what you were trying to do and then invited you over to tutorial never-never-land ~ my repsonse ~ I purchased a Mac ~ anything, especially software, that requires a lot of teaching on "how" to use it is just bad design ~ but I digress...
The real problem is that designing for the moron is costly, while potentially alienating your core audience. The morons are out there on the skinny branches of the bell curve anyway, right ! ? Why design for the narrowest slice of the pie ? Why not just use good design principles for the display of graphical information in the first place ? Study Edward Tufte for crying out loud ! Get some people from your desired audience and spend some time watching the confused looks on their faces when they are trying to use your software. Everything is getting democratized these days, there's even readily available, low cost software now that will help you easily capture those twisted, puzzled looks.
Yes, there is some difficulty in keeping your functional instructions up to date, particularly when your software relies on interfacing with a big third party. And, yes, other difficulties could presumably be the user's perceived need for immediate gratification and perhaps a bit of a hesitancy to read instructions. Certainly guilty here ! But I don't agree with over tutorializing or extra wizarding over the top of bad, or unintelligible design.
I think this ( bad UI/UX ) is a big problem on the web today. Design has become democratized and the principles of exceptional design are becoming lost. How many people designing things have actually studied fine art ? How many people designing things have actually studied the display of complex information ? Many of the culprits of bad UI/UX design praise Apple, whie patting themselves on the back just thinking that they themselves just magically "get it". They don't in fact get it and this arrogance produces a huge and insurmountable blindness. Then that cascades into frustrated user experiences...
The point i'm trying to make here is that if you're going for a world class experience then you have to do a little more to understand your audience and actually design for them, NOT what you think is cool, or makes sense to you ~ what you think and like really doesn't matter ~ also, get someone involved in the process that can hold the position of your core audience. Then, please, do some testing BEFORE you release your latest refinement on the general user population. The cost will be much lower and your audience will be much happier.
