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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

#41

Post by zevyoura »

enraged_camel wrote: post #39
ebf wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To continue using the iPhone as an example, I realized that after two years, my Dad never realized that double clicking brings up the app switcher. I agree that it is better if you don't need a walkthrough, but I wouldn't say that you "blew it" if your app needs one. If a 30 second tutorial let's the user do very powerful and intuitive things, things that may save the user time over the long run, than maybe it is oka…

Not really. The app switcher is not the only way to switch apps. In fact, it is the more difficult of the two. It makes you click the home button twice, then tap the app you want once - versus click the home button once, and then the app you want once. Three clicks/taps versus two. As such, it is not a huge deal at all that it is not intuitive. Same thing with double-tap to zoom. Not terribly intuitive, but that's no…

On the other hand, the double tap brings up the four most recently used applications, which, for my usage patterns at least, are more likely to be what I'm looking for than the apps on my home screen.

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

#42

Post by executive »

enraged_camel wrote: post #39
ebf wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To continue using the iPhone as an example, I realized that after two years, my Dad never realized that double clicking brings up the app switcher. I agree that it is better if you don't need a walkthrough, but I wouldn't say that you "blew it" if your app needs one. If a 30 second tutorial let's the user do very powerful and intuitive things, things that may save the user time over the long run, than maybe it is oka…

Not really. The app switcher is not the only way to switch apps. In fact, it is the more difficult of the two. It makes you click the home button twice, then tap the app you want once - versus click the home button once, and then the app you want once. Three clicks/taps versus two. As such, it is not a huge deal at all that it is not intuitive. Same thing with double-tap to zoom. Not terribly intuitive, but that's no…

you can also four finger swipe up to see the switcher

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

#43

Post by ricardobeat »

zevyoura wrote: post #41
enraged_camel wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. The app switcher is not the only way to switch apps. In fact, it is the more difficult of the two. It makes you click the home button twice, then tap the app you want once - versus click the home button once, and then the app you want once. Three clicks/taps versus two. As such, it is not a huge deal at all that it is not intuitive. Same thing with double-tap to zoom. Not terribly intuitive, but that's no…

On the other hand, the double tap brings up the four most recently used applications, which, for my usage patterns at least, are more likely to be what I'm looking for than the apps on my home screen.

Most people put their most used apps in the home screen, so that's a tie.

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

#44

Post by bonch »

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…

It's not "utter nonsense". If your interface is so confusing that you need to bombard users with a startup tutorial, your interface sucks.

Standing next to someone and showing them how something works is exactly what the visual cues described in the article do, but in a non-intrusive way that doesn't require users to memorize esoteric gestures for common functionality.

Have you not learned the lessons of Windows 8?

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

#45

Post by bonch »

zbowling wrote: post #13

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 ne…

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

Pinch-to-zoom is intuitive functionality common to almost all scroll views on the platform. It's quite different from application-specific functionality like "swipe left to toggle an alarm", which requires a tutorial (which means the interface blows).

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

#46

Post by Toady »

__Anon__ wrote: post #28

Games that were clearly 'blown' by this standard: Bike Race Tiny Wings Angry Birds (1, 2, 3, 2000, space, Christmas, festivus, Halloween, whatever else they make...) Jetpack Joyride Tank Hero Temple Run Cube Runner NinJump I never realized how many apps on my iPhone was such shit :(. FML.

What? Angry Birds doesn't have esoteric, non-intuitive gestures. You drag the bird in a slingshot and let go. Tiny Wings only tells you to touch the screen, which is the kind of non-intrusive hint described in the article, as opposed to a separate interface walkthrough.

It's quite surprising how many people here are voicing their opposition to this article and defending interfaces that are so baffling that they require a walkthrough screen. I can only guess that the author is right in that these kinds of apps appeal to a certain type of user that values novelty interfaces.

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

#47

Post by dave5104 »

ebf wrote: post #38
enraged_camel wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>This is wrong. How the hell did we learn "pinch to zoom" on the iPhone/iPad was a thing? We were shown! I'm not so sure about that. My grandmother, who certainly had not seen an iPad or iPhone in action before (she's 85, doesn't speak English and doesn't watch TV), figured it out within one minute of using my iPad for the first time yesterday. If you think about the pinching movement, the distance between your thum…

To continue using the iPhone as an example, I realized that after two years, my Dad never realized that double clicking brings up the app switcher. I agree that it is better if you don't need a walkthrough, but I wouldn't say that you "blew it" if your app needs one. If a 30 second tutorial let's the user do very powerful and intuitive things, things that may save the user time over the long run, than maybe it is oka…

And I just learned something new. Thanks! (But I've only had an iPhone for about a week now.)

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

#48

Post by twelvechairs »

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…

Its not so cut and dry.

Most applications don't need a complex UI and shouldn't make their UI more complex or difficult to understand than it needs to be (this, I feel is the OP's real gripe). Its rare that your UI need be so complex that a UI walkthrough should actually be necessary. Most users of most applications don't want to (and won't) go through a learning process, they just want to 'do'. That said, I agree with you that sometimes it is necessary/helpful.

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

#49

Post by furyofantares »

ricardobeat wrote: post #43
zevyoura wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, the double tap brings up the four most recently used applications, which, for my usage patterns at least, are more likely to be what I'm looking for than the apps on my home screen.

Most people put their most used apps in the home screen, so that's a tie.

I am not convinced most people organize their apps at all, or even know how to.

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

#50

Post by olleicua »

I haven't read this article but I find the title highly objectionable. There is a recent distressing trend in UI design that providing the user with options always makes the UI harder to use. This means taking control away from users and giving it to best case devs who may not have thought of everything worst case suits with corporate agendas etc. Computers are supposed to make peoples lives easier not pidgeon-hole them into cookie-cutter lives. Sure the ideal UI doesn't require instructions but UI design is hard and I'm tired of seeing shortcuts. If you need instructions once in a while that's fine. People take college courses in how to use excel. They can read a five paragraph description of your UI. And if it tells them about features that they were hoping to see that you didn't omit to dumb down your UI for them then they might even like it better.
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