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If you see a UI walkthrough, they blew it

blog.maxrudberg.com

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Re: If you see a UI walkthrough, they blew it

#11

Post by justjimmy »

Hmm…not really sure how I feel about this article.

It's using existing gestures and having them carry out different functions that is unique to the app.

It's like keyboard shortcuts - every program's usage will be different minus a few key ones. Or video games, some buttons do what you expect but some will depend on what the game's design is. Of course there will be some tour or tutorial - how else are we supposed to learn about them?

Double tapping the Home Button on iPhone I kinda get what the author is trying to say but he also kind of miss the point of walkthroughs and tour completely.

Re: If you see a UI walkthrough, they blew it

#12

Post by kstenerud »

"Just tapping on the camera icon makes the screen jump, briefly revealing the camera UI behind the lock screen. This combined with the ridges above and below the camera tells the user to slide the lock screen up."

So THAT's how you use the camera when the screen is locked! I couldn't figure out why the screen would just bounce so I always ended up unlocking the phone to get to the camera.

Re: If you see a UI walkthrough, they blew it

#13

Post by zbowling »

This is wrong. How the hell did we learn "pinch to zoom" on the iPhone/iPad was a thing? We were shown!

Lots and lots of demos to re-enforce the action and get users accustom to a thing is fine if that experience doesn't frustrate the user and they can get up to speed using the app quickly.

If you are choosing neat new ways of communicating and changing the way the user interacts with the app for the sake of being neat, that is fail. If you violate the users expectations without a damn good reason, that is fail.

A fail is Windows 8 and having users try and figure out how to launch a new application. It takes a keyboard shortcut to open the metro desktop to launch another app. This is not obvious and nor is it reinforced very well. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/new-keyboard-sh...

Re: If you see a UI walkthrough, they blew it

#14

Post by zbowling »

btn wrote: post #10
ary wrote: post #6

This is utter nonsense. Spend even a small amount of time with someone who works outside of the computer hardware/software industry and observe how and why they use a smart phone or computer. UI walkthroughs are not only necessary, but desired. They act as the equivalent of standing next to someone and "showing" them how something works. As the OP correctly notes there is a very heavy reliance on mimicry for most lea…

One of irks I have with "slight visual cues and subtle animations" is that they assume all users will give the same amount of attention and have the same reasoning process as the designer does. They then call the design "obvious", as if that is an objective quality---but even a short conversation (or usability study) with a sample of their users will tell them it's anything but.

Nothing wrong with being bold and trying new ideas but obvious is only really qualifiable via user testing. It's simple thing to do to see if your product is actually usable.

My method is to get 3 random craigslist people and pay them $50 bucks to play with the app for an hour. Record them struggling and have them talk through their thoughts and how they use your app. You will learn more from that experience than anything else.

Re: If you see a UI walkthrough, they blew it

#15

Post by justjimmy »

kstenerud wrote: post #12

"Just tapping on the camera icon makes the screen jump, briefly revealing the camera UI behind the lock screen. This combined with the ridges above and below the camera tells the user to slide the lock screen up." So THAT's how you use the camera when the screen is locked! I couldn't figure out why the screen would just bounce so I always ended up unlocking the phone to get to the camera.

Don't worry, it's not a really good 'hint'. I've seen people take the hint as shake the phone to reveal camera, instead of touch + hold + slide up.

Re: If you see a UI walkthrough, they blew it

#16

Post by galenward »

"Mystery Meat Navigation" is a very good description of what makes Windows 8 a frustrating first time experience, is the synopsis of all the complaints about it, and is why Windows 8 is going to be a slow sell for the first 6-12 months.

After 3-5 hours, Windows 8 is surprisingly decent, but the first hour is a super frustrating adventure of swiping and gesturing with the hope you can get back to the home screen.

Re: If you see a UI walkthrough, they blew it

#17

Post by philipalexander »

Good article, though I think you should differentiate between types of 'walkthroughs.' I think the point is that you want the users to start using the application as quickly as possible without being hindered by a walkthrough. On the other hand it is important to teach users to use your application... and constraining yourself to commonly used functionality is dangerous. I find that it works very well to 'show' users by helping them do tasks right away (a walkthrough) instead of 'telling' them how to use the application and then leaving them to remember it (also a walkthrough).

Re: If you see a UI walkthrough, they blew it

#18

Post by viseztrance »

The authors website has a rather unusual button [ Gui work | blog ]. I thought Gui was selected, but it's actually blog. If I would've used an iphone I would've seen things differently. The point is that some things are intuitive only if you're familiar with the system in the first place.

Re: If you see a UI walkthrough, they blew it

#19

Post by kaliblack »

mikek wrote: post #4
ghurlman wrote: post #2

The very first iPhone commercials featured usage walkthroughs[1]... seems they've done OK to me. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lZMr-ZfoE4

None of tbe apps featured in that commercial have walkthroughs.

The argument is that the commercials themselves are walkthroughs. How many people would have learnt about double tap zoom without them?
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