March 28, 2015 editorial: comments

User Unfriendly?

I was inspired to write about this topic based on a thread on one of our forums this week that discussed the question of “user friendliness” in software. One of comments questioned whether the term itself is a misnomer, because any product will eventually become “user friendly” after you spend some time with it.

I do see the logic there, but to me there are some factors beyond just experience with a product that contribute to user-friendliness — factors that make that learning period shorter.

Intuitive design, especially in regard to the user interface — both in terms of the controls included and the graphics — is really important. Some GUIs are more thoughtfully laid out than others, and make accomplishing a given task a lot easier.

For instance, we expect certain controls to be on certain products, and if a company decides to break from the norm and create a control set that’s different from the standard for that type of product — for example I’ve run across some compressors without threshold or ratio controls — it can make that product harder to use, at least at the beginning.

A variation on that is Apple’s annoying habit of changing tried-and-true user interface features in subsequent versions of its own software, causing confusion for its users.

It’s a fine line that a manufacturer walks, of course, because on the one hand, they want their products to be innovative, but at the same time they can’t stray too far from convention or they risk confusing potential users and causing them to stick with an application or plug-in that offers a more tried-and-true design.

If a developer wants to successfully integrate unfamiliar features and nomenclature into a product, they need to provide easily accessible and well-written online help. Having a manual, either PDF or online, accessible right from the GUI is a good place to start. Have a question? Click open the manual, search the item, find your answer, done.

That said, not all help features are created equal. I hate to pick on Apple again, but some of its Mac software uses that glacially slow inline help system instead of a manual (yes, that’s you Logic Pro X) — which can take minutes to look up a simple search term, and by time you get to the correct page, you’ve likely forgotten what you were looking up in the first place. That’s not what I’d call “user friendly.” A PDF or web-based manual is much easier and more efficient.

Sure, we can learn how to use anything, given enough time and resources, but I certainly more inclined towards products whose design is conducive to quickly grasping its functionality, rather than one that makes me work hard. Do you agree?

Have a great week.