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Sometimes users prefer the less straightforward UX

blog.pwego.com

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Re: Sometimes users prefer the less straightforward UX

#51

Post by lolinder »

The big problem with the first design was that people don't have a set of "favorite" trails that are all weighted equally. People have a favorite trail, and a backup trail, and a backup trail for that one, and so on. It's a list, not a set.

The first design assumes that if I open the app I must be interested in a random trail from my unsorted favorites set that happens to have good conditions. The second design does better not just because it helps find close trails—that's just one factor in my preference—it does better because it helps me to find reports on a specific trail. If those aren't favorable I can go to my backup trail and then on down my list.

As others have said, this isn't a failure to match the user's mental models or to provide enough of a "puzzle". It's a failure to understand the user's goal, the job they need your app to do. I would bet that a design that allowed users to pin trails to a dashboard (similar to a home screen) would perform similarly well or better than the map.

Re: Sometimes users prefer the less straightforward UX

#53

Post by bombcar »

mromanuk wrote: post #38
Eddy_Viscosity2 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was about to make a similar comment. The author even states this at the end "user's prioritize trails close to them, so the best way to show that is with a map". --- The first UX was NOT the most efficient way to show the information but the second one was. Therefore, users do in fact want the most efficient UX. He was just wrong about what that was.

I’m wondering what will happen if the first UX is ordered by proximity with distance to it and also a way to open it on the map. I think it’s worth trying it. Is a common use case for my searching for gas stations on Google maps

It annoys me that Apple Maps enroute will let me "see gas stations" nearby but can't do a simple "find the closest McDonalds to my current route" - I have no desire to turn around and back track even if that's currently the closest one, I'd rather have it say "in fifteen minutes there is one a mile from the freeway".

Re: Sometimes users prefer the less straightforward UX

#54

Post by lolinder »

mcphage wrote: post #39
II2II wrote: post #35

The author missed the point: it is a less straightforward UX if it doesn't meet the user's needs. When I choose a trail while riding, the first thing I look at is a map. It answers a tonne of questions, ranging from how am I going to get there. to how much time am I going to enjoy on the trails, to what I can expect to see on the trails. Lists mean that I am wading through walls of text to find the same information,…

> The author missed the point: it is a less straightforward UX if it doesn't meet the user's needs. That was the entirety of the author’s point. That was what the whole article was about. That’s why they wrote it, so that you the reader would understand the very concept you believe they missed.

If that was the author's point, then they totally failed to convey it. The title is "users prefer less straightforward ux", and the transition point in the article is the author coming to the startling conclusion that users like a "puzzle".

This is their current understanding of what happened:

> So, despite it taking objectively longer for users to get their answers, they loved it.

What they completely fail to understand is that it doesn't take longer for users to get their answers. The map is faster, objectively faster, at solving the problem that the user actually has. The designer here missed that point.

Re: Sometimes users prefer the less straightforward UX

#55

Post by lolinder »

bigcat12345678 wrote: post #27

I guess the author try to blame a low value app's lack of user engagement onto the UI design. Then the excuse to apply dark pattern of UI design would be to increase user engagement. Sounds about right? No?

I wouldn't describe a map as a dark pattern. They're definitely approaching it as though it's a dark pattern (it's a "puzzle"!), but the second design actually respects my time much better than the first. The author is completely wrong that it takes longer to use the second design than the first.

Re: Sometimes users prefer the less straightforward UX

#56

Post by plorkyeran »

finfinfin wrote: post #18
waterhouse wrote: post #13

The title is really a stretch. The "less straightforward UX" presented new information that the original UX did not—viz., where the locations were on a map—and made it easy for people to find the most recent report from a given location. I guess if you have memorized the names of all the trails you're interested in, and know their locations, then technically the original UX can be used in the same way by typing in th…

"This was a huge breakthrough" caught me off-guard. People prefer trails within 30 minutes of their home as opposed to what? Within 72 hours of their home? I am not sure if a user survey was needed to determine this obvious fact.

People who live in SF but are trying to decide if they want to drive up to Tahoe on the weekend aren't going to care about trails within 30 minutes of their home since the closest ones are 3 hours away. The author appears not to live in SF, but I assume they live in a city that similarly doesn't have ski resorts locally but does have them within day trip distance and were simply too focused on their personal usecase.

Re: Sometimes users prefer the less straightforward UX

#59

Post by Markoff »

from what I see original home screen offered 3 options and new screen offers 12 options to user

original home screen offer trails by names you don't know so they are pretty meaningless, while on new screen you can easily find trails on map

not exactly sure how is this less straightforward UX, for me it's more straightforward than meaningless names I have no idea about vs clear display on map, 12 options instead 3 is also for me more straightforward

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