How to fix a bad user interface • Hacker News Board

Re: How to fix a bad user interface

#21

Post by vitd » Fri, Nov 27, 2015, 5:15 PM UTC

Some of this advice is really good, but some of it is terrible. The section on gamifying user interaction is absolute garbage. I'm not "80% done filling in my LinkedIn Profile." I'm 100% done, but LinkedIn just wants me to give it more for its benefit. I will never give it the remaining information. It isn't encouraging me to do the remaining 20%, it's just annoying me that LinkedIn can't take "No" for an answer.

Also, I object to breaking the interface down into "screens". It encourages creating modal apps. Thinking about working in Photoshop, for example, while there are modes that depend on the tool you're using, you aren't in a different screen for every thing you're doing. (In fact, Lightroom does sort of have that problem, and it's why I don't use Lightroom.)

Re: How to fix a bad user interface

#22

Post by sogen » Fri, Nov 27, 2015, 7:02 PM UTC

Looks like a rehash of Luke W's previous articles http://www.lukew.com/ff/ He even took Luke W's pics of Luke W's Polar app...

Re: How to fix a bad user interface

#23

Post by greggarious » Fri, Nov 27, 2015, 8:43 PM UTC

vitd wrote: post #21

Some of this advice is really good, but some of it is terrible. The section on gamifying user interaction is absolute garbage. I'm not "80% done filling in my LinkedIn Profile." I'm 100% done, but LinkedIn just wants me to give it more for its benefit. I will never give it the remaining information. It isn't encouraging me to do the remaining 20%, it's just annoying me that LinkedIn can't take "No" for an answer. Als…

I guess you could call that nudging, but nudging people to give away their personal information doesn't bring up the same warm fuzzy feelings as "gamification"

Re: How to fix a bad user interface

#24

Post by clay_to_n » Fri, Nov 27, 2015, 11:44 PM UTC

vitd wrote: post #21

Some of this advice is really good, but some of it is terrible. The section on gamifying user interaction is absolute garbage. I'm not "80% done filling in my LinkedIn Profile." I'm 100% done, but LinkedIn just wants me to give it more for its benefit. I will never give it the remaining information. It isn't encouraging me to do the remaining 20%, it's just annoying me that LinkedIn can't take "No" for an answer. Als…

On your second point: all of these examples were mobile apps, where it is hard to get around designing in "screens". I don't know what Adobe's mobile Photoshop is like, but I'd hope it's more modal and screen-based than their desktop application, considering it's used on a phone.

Re: How to fix a bad user interface

#25

Post by clay_to_n » Fri, Nov 27, 2015, 11:47 PM UTC

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #11

I disagree with his objection to using tags and other tertiary UI for onboarding, I nearly always find that helpful. Indeed he appears to disagree with it himself: >"Instead, telling your customer the exact button to press and why they should press it is a much more helpful prospect." // I think I also disagree on the false-feedback he suggests is good. If you give immediate UI change on a like showing that it has be…

I'd love to see more advice regarding optimistic state and when it should be used. For Instagram or Facebook, it seems worth it to give them satisfaction even while the request is processing - if they're lied to, it's not a big deal. In a financial app, this isn't the case.

Anyone have any articles or resources about this? Is there ever a place for optimistic interfaces in financial or otherwise-serious apps?