Comments on: About Usability

By: sven

sven — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 07:58:10 +0000

Come on, that was just an EXAMPLE. Something simple to illustrate what I was talking about:
Do not disable a feature because you think it is too complicate for the average user, but instead hide it by default, giving an access path for those that want to use that feature.
By all means, if you think “advanced options” is the wrong term, use “more options” instead, or use even both: a “more options” for anything you deem to complicated for the beginner, but not too complicated for average users, while showing an “advanced options” button with the additional options revealed by “more options” allows to select debugging and really advanced options.

By: IanM

IanM — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:31:04 +0000

At last, someone else in the Linux community who finds the GIMP too much. And I have been using Linux since 1997 and work as an analyst programmer.

I like my UIs simple too, with the option to switch on more features if I need them AND understand them. I loathe interfaces that throw everything at me at once, leaving me overwhelmed by choice and giving me no clue where to start or how to do the simple things.

Keep the simple things simple, and let the complicated things be possible – that is good design.

By the way, maybe “More options” is a better prompt than “Advanced options”.

By: Peng’s links for Thursday, 8 January « I’m Just an Avatar

Peng’s links for Thursday, 8 January « I’m Just an Avatar — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:50:38 +0000

[...] Muller: About Usability. Another resident of Planet Debian has a great post that I think you guys should read. Sven had [...]

By: Joe Buck

Joe Buck — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:39:57 +0000

So, why is full-duplex printing an “advanced option”? Using a label like “advanced” for such a thing will just tend to intimidate the new user away from the very choice she or he must make to do what needs to be done.