Hi, I'm Sam.

Watching different people use software is fascinating to me. My mind works a lot differently than Average-Joe's does when it comes to using software so seeing how people interact with software is really intriguing to me.

The Post Office Lady

I was just at the post office and this old lady in front of me was trying to buy a shipping label for her package. This is a very easy thing to do. There are lots of instructions, big buttons, and even instructional videos to help you if you want.

After two tries she gave up and went to go stand in the super long line to get someone to help her. (Why are the lines always stupid long in post offices? It was 2:30 in the afternoon. Why is there a line?)

She put her card into the machine when she started and then pulled it out when it told her to swipe it. It gave her a message saying please swipe it again, but I guess she thought that she had to start over and left. The other time, the machine wanted her to input the dimensions of her package and she couldn't figure out that there was a third dimension (height) to her package even thought the instructions were quite clear on the screen (there was even a picture of the box with arrows).

Why?

My guess as to why she had such problems with the system are that she has a preconceived idea of how the machine worked and when it didn't work the way she expected she figured it was broken or she wasn't smart enough to use it. That, or she just didn't understand the instructions for whatever reason, although they were very straight forward.

It is interesting to me that no matter how well you design software to be useable, some people will not be able to use it. As a developer, I don't know what to do to solve this problem. I want everyone to be able to use my software. Granted, no old people are going to use Countdown Maker, but regardless, I want them to be super easy to use.

The Other Side

The other side of all of this is OmniFocus. OmniFocus is unlike any other app I've used. The table view in it is completely custom and doesn't behave like I'd expect, they don't use any real world metaphors for their UI, and if you didn't understand GTD principals, you would be 100% confused (as I was).

The only way I was able to use this app was to watch their screen casts. After watching their screen casts, I know exactly how to use the app and I felt like a pro. This was very interesting to me as a developer. They threw out almost everything and started over. They wanted you to forget how to use software and do it their way.

I don't this this is the solution by any means, but it was very interesting to me. (I use The Hit List anyway. It's pretty.)

Now what?

Well I intend to keep making software so the old lady can use it, or at least try. If she really wanted to get her package shipped, I think she could have done it. Everything she need was spelled out for her. If I am making a pro app (think Photoshop or Final Cut) then I would go more the other side approach. I want to optimize the software for people that know how to use it instead of teaching people to use it.

I think the sweet spot is finding a balance of these two. Make the stuff people wouldn't understand more out of the way and make everything on the surface feel easy so the user can choose which path to take.

So maybe you've seen #newtwitter, this post on TechCrunch about Facebook with columns, or Twitter for iPad. They all have crazy column layouts. Twitter for iPad is super impressive. I have mad respect for them. The way the columns stack and scroll is really, really impressive.

Anyway, crazy multi-columns layouts are bad. Think of the average user.

The Average User

If you think about it, the average person that uses Facebook is significantly less technical than anyone who reads my blog. They are the kind of people that freak out when Facebook changes their design and have to re-learn how to do their crap. This is who I'm talking about. It helps to picture the average user as my mom.

So say the average user (aka, my mom), wants to view their news feed. They just want to see their news. They don't want all of this meta data that people like us (the technical people) want. The can't handle designs like this:

Why This Is Bad

The average user is lazy. There is too much to look at. They won't take the time to sort through the information and see which part is the part they care about, they will write the page off as "too technical for them" and walk away or they will be really overwhelmed and take a long time to fight through and find what they need. Power users like us are used to this. That's why we are able to pick up new software and start using it right away. Most people don't have that skill.

We've had to train our brains at reading through lots of data and picking out the important parts and then focusing on that. Most users aren't good at this. They want something like this:

They want a single column with big images and icons depicting what everything is. This approach is easy and linear. The side navigation is easily interpreted and written off as stuff they don't care about at the moment. If you think about it, the news feed is already really complex for most people.

Conclusion

All of that said, I really like #newtwitter and Twitter for iPad. I know a lot of "average users" like it too. I'm glad. I'm not knocking Twitter. They have done a really great job with their new interfaces.

I just think that if you are designing an interface, it would be better to error on the side of simple than complex, especially if your target market is the average person and not all power users. I really hope Facebook keeps a simpler design and doesn't move to a crazy column one. That said, it might be the push that average people need to get them to start using more complex UI.