Usability Myths and Maxims
Dr. Mandel has collected a large number of classic myths and maxims
regarding interface design and usability. Enjoy the journey!
Please submit your favorite usability myths and maxims and I'll
add them to the list, with your name. E-mail
me!
|
| |
|
 Usability
Myths - Don't perpetuate
these untruths!
|
- The design is finished
- We must design it exactly like/ consistent with
the previous version/older products of its class,
because users are used to it and won't accept a new
user interface (even if it is easier)
- This way of doing it must be right because Microsoft
does it that way.
- Our program is highly usable because it uses so
many of the latest user-interface widgets
- We (the developers) use the product all the time,
so how is usability testing going to tell us anything
we don't know?
- Usability can be achieved by following standards,
style guides and design rules
- Users should just follow the product specification
- Usability practitioners can always guarantee the
product’s usability
- Cool = Usable
- We'll handle that in the help documentation
- We'll handle that problem in the training
- Usability testing is the same as functional testing
- We can't involve users in the design because they
will want to change the functionality and scope of
the product
- Our developers have been working with users a long
time so we know what they want
- Usability testing would be nice but we don't have
time
- Usability testing will add too much time to the
project
- Usability engineering costs too much
- Product Manager - "We don't want the product
documentation or the UI to be too clear - the training
department makes a lot of money."
- Just make it (the user interface) look good
- Why do you have to teach our developers about usability
when it is just common sense?
- Just throw together a prototype - don't spend more
than a day on it
- If you can't do it right, do it big. If you can't
do it big, do it in color.
- Users can get used to anything
- Having someone on the development team who was once
a user is the same as doing usability engineering
- Users can always just tell you what they need
- Users can never just tell you what they need
- What's good for novices and good for experts can't
be the same thing
- What's good for novices and good for experts is
always the same thing
- If we usability test it, they will come
- A metaphor and a conceptual model are the same thing.
- The user interface is just a facade added to a finished
application
- Graphic design for a PC product user interface is
the same as for other media
- Graphic design for a Web site or application user
interface is the same as for other media
- Users are smart - they'll figure it out, or else
they'll read the help or the documentation
- We can always make improvements in the next release
when we have more time
|
|
|
|
Usability
Maxims - These are
the truths! |
- Usable = Cool
- Know thy user, for they are not you
- If the user can't find a function, it isn't there
- Perception = Reality
- Just because it was hard to build, it doesn't need
to be hard to use
- No computer program is so foolproof that it can't
be brought to its knees by a well-intentioned novice
- No project has ever been completed on time, within
budget, with the original statement of work. Yours
will not be the first
- Ease of use promotes use
- You can justify almost anything by reference to
some Microsoft product. After all these years, Cut
& Paste in Excel still works differently from
any other product on the planet (lack of consistency)
- Sometimes Microsoft introduces features that are
evidently not ready for prime time, and then tunes
them in future releases (exploration)
- Question: Is the Microsoft Office user population
anything like your user population? (applicability)
- Usability does not win every battle (design by politics)
|
|
|
| |
