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The Windows 95 user interface: A case study in usability engineering (1996)

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Re: The Windows 95 user interface: A case study in usability engineering (1996)

#121

Post by zzo38computer »

cosmic_cheese wrote: post #105
imiric wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After nearly 30 years of tech life myself, I've come to the realization that the best UIs are not graphical. They can have graphical elements mostly for visualization purposes, but all of them should be as minimal and unobtrusive as possible. Any interactivity should be primarily keyboard-driven, and mouse input should be optional. Forcing users to click on graphical elements presents many challenges: what constitute…

The issue with this type of design is that it completely tanks discoverability. Every visual UI element trimmed is another pit of confusion for less-technical computer users. Modern UIs aren't great with discoverability, either however and are not an example that should be followed.

> The issue with this type of design is that it completely tanks discoverability.

There are still ways to help, such as having a menu bar, and having good documentation. (Documentation is more important, in my opinion; but both are helpful.)

Re: The Windows 95 user interface: A case study in usability engineering (1996)

#122

Post by wmf »

jedberg wrote: post #92

If you want a true lesson on design, check out Ask Tog, starting here: https://asktog.com/atc/principles-of-interaction-design/ Tog was the original design engineer for the Mac, and arguably one of the first true HCI engineers. Then read the rest of his website. He goes into where Windows tried to copy Mac and got it horribly wrong. One of my favorite examples is menu placement. The reason the Mac menus are at the to…

AFAIK Windows 3.x flipped a bunch of Mac decisions to avoid being sued and then MS felt that they had to keep those choices forever for backwards compatibility.

Re: The Windows 95 user interface: A case study in usability engineering (1996)

#123

Post by zzo38computer »

AnotherGoodName wrote: post #46
linguae wrote: post #15

Steve Jobs is famous for his 1996 quote about Microsoft not having taste ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiOzGI4MqSU ). I disagree; as much as I love the classic Mac OS and Jobs-era Mac OS X, and despite my feelings about Microsoft's monopolistic behavior, 1995-2000 Microsoft's user interfaces were quite tasteful, in my opinion, and this was Microsoft's most tasteful period. I have fond memories of Windows 95/NT 4/…

I'll also give the opinion that Apple consistently creates some absolutely crap designs and when they do this, release something really really mind mindbogglingly stupid that it should be embarrassing they are instead met with applause on the "amazing design". It's a tiresome pattern repeated for decades now. eg. The 'breathing status light' that lit up the room at night due to extreme brightness which meant every ma…

Status lights can be helpful, although they should be dim, and should be red or green (or possibly yellow) rather than blue or white (unless you have already used the other colours and now you need more colours).

Re: The Windows 95 user interface: A case study in usability engineering (1996)

#124

Post by mpyne »

agumonkey wrote: post #97
derefr wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think most of the complaints from the tech circles are completely unfounded in reality. Many non-tech people and younger ones actually prefer using Ribbon. Well, yes, but that observation doesn't prove the point you think it does. People who were highly experienced with previous non-ribbon versions of Office, disliked the ribbon, because the ribbon is essentially a "tutorial mode" for Office. The ribbon reduces c…

I forgot the early release but ribbon seemed to have fuller keyboard shortcut and could be hidden entirely. Leaving power users with more space and faster command triggers isn't it ?

Yes, the ribbon also showed you the appropriate keyboard shortcut. My last job in the Navy involved a lot of converting mail merge-style Word docs to PDF for digital signature and so I became very adept at using keyboard shortcuts in Word and it was all right there in the ribbon.

It was different from Word 2003, but that was about all the bad you could say for it from the 'power user' perspective.

Re: The Windows 95 user interface: A case study in usability engineering (1996)

#125

Post by linmob »

bediger4000 wrote: post #94
okanat wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Microsoft Office 2007 ribbon Ribbon also has a similar research behind it, just like Windows 95. For what they designed it, allowing beginners to discover all the functionality that's available, it works perfectly. I think most of the complaints from the tech circles are completely unfounded in reality. Many non-tech people and younger ones actually prefer using Ribbon. I also like it since it is very tastefully ma…

allowing beginners to discover all the functionality How many beginners were there in 2007? Hardly any, PC and "Word" penetration was pretty close to 100%. We are still stuck with "beginners have to figure this out" interfaces in 2026.

As long as new humans are still being born, there's always going to be beginners - with a few years delay, once they enter school or a work place. ;-)

Re: The Windows 95 user interface: A case study in usability engineering (1996)

#126

Post by tempodox »

Seeing “Windows” and “usability” in the same sentence is a surprising combination to me.

> Perhaps the best testament to our belief in iterative design is that literally no detail of the initial UI design for Windows 95 survived unchanged in the final product.

I shudder to imagine the look and feel of that initial UI design.

Re: The Windows 95 user interface: A case study in usability engineering (1996)

#127

Post by JustinGoldberg9 »

linguae wrote: post #15

Steve Jobs is famous for his 1996 quote about Microsoft not having taste ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiOzGI4MqSU ). I disagree; as much as I love the classic Mac OS and Jobs-era Mac OS X, and despite my feelings about Microsoft's monopolistic behavior, 1995-2000 Microsoft's user interfaces were quite tasteful, in my opinion, and this was Microsoft's most tasteful period. I have fond memories of Windows 95/NT 4/…

There's an entire is that loves 90s msft user interface. SerenityOS.

Re: The Windows 95 user interface: A case study in usability engineering (1996)

#128

Post by steve1977 »

DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #21
lateforwork wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1995-2000 Microsoft's user interfaces were quite tasteful Only because they copied NeXTSTEP. Those 3D beveled controls originated in NeXTSTSP. In Windows, ctl3d.dll added raised and sunken 3D-looking buttons, beveled text boxes, group boxes with depth, a light-source illusion using highlight and shadow, all copied from NeXTSTEP.

That’s an odd way to spell Motif.

Motif was also 3D, but the actual look of Windows 95/NT 4.0 clearly took some inspiration from NeXTSTEP and OPENSTEP, for example the window decorations.

Re: The Windows 95 user interface: A case study in usability engineering (1996)

#130

Post by f1shy »

zzo38computer wrote: post #123
AnotherGoodName wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll also give the opinion that Apple consistently creates some absolutely crap designs and when they do this, release something really really mind mindbogglingly stupid that it should be embarrassing they are instead met with applause on the "amazing design". It's a tiresome pattern repeated for decades now. eg. The 'breathing status light' that lit up the room at night due to extreme brightness which meant every ma…

Status lights can be helpful, although they should be dim, and should be red or green (or possibly yellow) rather than blue or white (unless you have already used the other colours and now you need more colours).

Red and green, if the color has some meaning, should be avoided. 10% of males have problems with that colors (dyschromatopsia) specially with led colors. For indicators blue and white are very easy to see, even in not optimal lightning. The option to disable them is nice.

> unless you have already used the other colours and now you need more colours

In that case you will end up with Christmas decorations. Better solution is usually placement and form.

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