Facing Up: Interacting

The iPhone 3G - you know the swings, here are some roundabouts

2008-08-13T11:39:00.002+01:00

I've had the new iPhone 3G for a couple of weeks now, and rather than boring everyone with how great it is (it is) and how easy it is to set up (it was), I thought that as a user who had just made the leap from a fully featured Sony Ericsson, I would list some of the disappointing things I've found.

So here goes (in no particular order):

It doesn't seem to show whether recent calls were inbond or outbound, which seems ridiculous
Once you've dialled a number, there doesn't seem to be a way of getting that number back and editing it before redialling. This is pretty annoying if you've misdialled and you want to change a digit in your number before trying again.
I can't find a way to 'scrub' through podcasts to find a particular spot, or even to see how far through I am. This isn't the case for normal tracks, so I don't understand the reasoning for this.
It runs SLOWLY - especially when accessing the contacts (I've got them all in there and there are a couple of hundred, but still...)
I can't send MMS messages, which is sometimes useful
I can't make a video call, which is occasonally useful (I mainly use it while shopping for things I want my girlfriend to see before I buy. Not the end of the world, but next time I end up with ill-fitting trousers I'll be angry!)
Bluetooth doesn't do half the cool things it did on my old phone, including some amazing integration with my Macbook
I couldn't find a way to set a text to send when I next got reception (like an outbox) - I wrote it on the tube but then had to keep the phone on that screen to keep the message, and send it once I got above ground. This seems simple so why can't I have it?
I couldn't find a way to text someone a number from one of my contacts. I do this a fair bit so it's a bit of a pain that I have to go into the contact, write the number on a piece of paper, then go into texts and send it.

Maybe I've been missing things, and if I have please comment and tell me how to do these! I might add to this list as time goes on and I find more annoying features that are missing...

What happens when you force an interface improvement...

2008-02-27T22:30:00.002Z

... people rebel!

Microsoft Office 2007's 'ribbon' interface was carefully thought out to be more task oriented and allow users access to the features they need most based on the task they are performing within a document - the motivation being research showing that vast swathes of the 20,000-something featureset were being totally ignored by most of their user base.

While I like it overall (especially the live previews which aren't strictly a part of the ribbon), I can't be the only person who's struggled to find that hitherto easy-to-find command, eventually unearthing it in the miscellaneous task list (the one furthest to the right). I know I'm not, as a new plugin has been launched for the tool: it reverts the menus to Office 2003 style, while keeping the other features.

While I find this latest evidence that people will always find a way to undo your best-intentioned efforts pretty funny, there's a serious side to this: give users the option. Always.

And work on the things that don't work first: Office - sort out your page and list styling tools, and then give us an integrated interface for all the dialogs and options - not a fancy new ribbon hiding all the hell of nested numbered titles setup just as before....

:)

skinterface

2008-02-21T22:04:00.002Z

If it's not already called this, it should be. A competition entry (probably a way off due to power and processor problems) involves a flexible, touchscreen interface (composed of a blood-powered cell, processor and silicone touchscreen interface which stimulates a matrix of charges spheres).

The interface, as well as being powered by your own blood (which it could perhaps monitor for health issues), would have a bluetooth interface allowing you to control all manner of devices through it.

Price? Availability? I really want one - but i think it might be some time off.... :(

Social Networking goes video?

2008-02-21T21:49:00.002Z

So there's a new thing on the social networking scene called LiveVideo.com, which you'll no doubt be hearing about, unless like me social networking seems so 2007.

Launched today, Brad Greenspan (MySpace founder) has created a site which seems to offer a social networking platform (with all the usual bells and whistles, like live chat etc) based around video. Get a webcam, create a channel on your own or jointly, see if anyone bothers to turn on I guess.

Maybe I'm cynical, but despite the boasted features (below), I can't really imagine myself ever doing this. But then I guess I'm not one of those people who tries to get on a reality TV show...

The press release boasts that users will be able to:

    -- create their own LiveTV show and broadcast it to the world;
   -- watch LIVE shows streaming from across the globe;
   -- Social Stream: Socialize with your friends through an integrated Video
      Chat Room even as you watch Shows together in a unique one of a kind
      shared experience
   -- participate in virtual classes, listen to live speeches and/or engage
      in live interactive game shows;
   -- upload videos up to 200MB with stereo sound;
   -- upload photos and arrange them into professional quality slideshows for
      family and friends;
   -- video chat with up to 10 other people at one time;

Sorry I've been off the radar

2008-02-19T21:58:00.003Z

I have recently (around the time of the last post before my hiatus) signed up to go permanent with Glasses Direct - not glamorous perhaps but an interesting role in a company with a lot to prove.

Anyway, I've been going hell-for-leather and have let this stuff drop off the map a bit; expect a quieter but more regular stream of posts for the foreseeable....

wizkid

2008-02-19T21:52:00.003Z

Here's a cool new bot I've just seen - WizKid. It's basically a PC with a camera and motor array as an input device. By default it displays a live video of you, with your face and hands highlighted. It superimposes interactive areas onto the video, so that you can hit them virtually to do things.

It also follows you around by twisting its screen to keep you (one or several of you) in picture, also mapping your friends and guessing at your interrelationships. It learns behaviour and can be used for lots of things we currently have to pick up a device to do, like play music, which needn't be the case.

It's on the Christmas list...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080219093019.htm

WOW - I gotta get one

2007-11-21T14:38:00.000Z

I can't wait for this to get out the research and into our hands.

The Brain-Computer Interface that these guys are working on sounds awesome - just let me hook it into my software so i can use it to control my PC. The end of RSI or sitting at my desk: bring on the hammock!!

Interesting interview with Tog - Apple's first usability professional

2007-11-20T09:56:00.000Z

Another one now working for the Nielsen Norman Group, Bruce Tognazzini was Apple's 66th... oh why don't you just read the post.

Interesting post though, and I agree that 'The worst single fault is throwing away the user’s work.' and 'even a really bad designer, with sufficient user-testing, will eventually be able to cobble together a decent design - the infinite number of monkeys theory - the worst crime is to not test at all.'

His comments on new and old technology, especially the way old tech doesn't die, it just finds a niche and keeps going (think fax machines) are on the money too.

Shame he's plugging his course at the end though - and it was going so well....

You Should Always Do User Testing Before Release (yeah yeah...)

2007-10-13T15:24:00.000+01:00

How many times have you heard people on the inside of forward-thinking companies telling you how important it is to do user testing before release - and then saying that they didn't do it the last time, but nevertheless, it's REALLY important...?

I was at the Future of Web Apps conference last week and listening to Daniel Burka (of Digg and Pownce fame) who, among many other good tips, made this recommendation closely followed by this admission.

It really winds me up, I have to say, as everyone knows how good it would be to do some cheap, easy, user testing but nobody seems to do it. In my meagre experience, once you manage to build in the time (2 days) and the budget (£100) to do it, the testing itself is very easy and valuable.

The tough part is getting stressed, overworked stakeholders on an overbudget, late project to build in this tiny bit of time.

Why? We haven't got the arguments to be convincing enough at the time they need to be. Everyone pays lipservice, but very few have changed the way they work.

transparent touch interface

2007-10-13T15:18:00.001+01:00

oooh - a video at last!

Check out the (admittedly early stage) working prototype. It looks pretty clunky at the moment, but it opens a whole new field of interaction questions - how do you actually USE an interface with the same digits you're holding it with?

I can't wait for text entry not to be an issue, but until that's the case, there are going to be a lot of problems with a thing like this as an integrated device - just the learning curve involved in typing into it is a big barrier, and it's weighted towards touch typists (which I'm not).

Despite my badmouthing however, I'm really excited about this as there are enough brains ot there to make some great interfaces with this tech...

Hooray!! jQuery UI

2007-09-18T10:02:00.001+01:00

My favourite JavaScript framework, jQuery, has just released a new set of UI tools. They may not be as polished as Scriptaculous, but for the tiny footprint they are beautiful and useful! - check it out: http://ui.jquery.com/

Quick wins for web usability

2007-09-04T15:18:00.000+01:00

Here is a great article on the points to remember when designing a website to be usable. It's more of a checklist than anything else and is a good entry-level guide of what to do; if your site misses more than 2 or 3 of the 10 points here you should look carefully at your decisions for doing so....

multimap's new interface

2007-08-30T09:12:00.000+01:00

At last Multimap has joined the fray against Google Maps' wonderful interface.

Unsurprisingly it has most of the same features (map / satellite / hybrid views, draggable map area, arrows and slider to move around), just positioned differently and styled in a very web 2.0-ish gradient-and-shadow- way.

They don't have the scroll-too-zoom feature which I love on Google Maps, and their images seem lower quality (when you zoom in they seem more pixellated than Google Maps, before the redraw), but the payoff is that the map images load lightning fast and seem more responsive.

I have yet to try to integrate it with a website, but it would be interesting to compare, especially since Google have apparently recently made mashing up their maps easier.

What about poor old streetmap? get with the program....

SMS and email (well done Yahoo)

2007-08-30T09:01:00.000+01:00

At last a major email provider has integrated SMS and email messages into the same interface. RSS came before, but really there is no reason that these two technologies shouldn't be seamlessly mixed; we already do both from mobiles and one is just a handier way of reaching people on the move, while the other allows larger messages.

I want to see the app try sending an email and then, if there is no reply within say 20 minutes, sending the same message as an SMS.

Also, what about us in the UK? Where are our messages? Bring on GrandCentral....

Goal Directed Design

2007-08-28T09:17:00.000+01:00

A really interesting interview well worth reading for anyone involved in setting up development of a new interface or system. Kim Goodwin tells UIE.com about Goal Directed Design (you may already have heard of it, but this is a quick way into what it's all about).

Multi-touch pseudo-transparent devices

2007-08-26T10:46:00.000+01:00

This article explains how a new research project by Microsoft and Mitsubishi has made a prototype touchscreen device where you can use all digits - by having touch-sensitivity on both sides, and displaying the areas your fingers are touching as though the device were transparent.

This is great! another step towards computers acting just like real life objects which can be manipulated all over and not just by pushing buttons or clicking links...

Artificial Artificial Intelligence

2007-08-14T14:40:00.001+01:00

OK this isn't exactly about usability, and it's also been around a while, but I loved the title.

Apparently Amazon are implementing HITS which is a system allowing computers to give individual tasks to humans to perform, if humans are better at those tasks (like identifying objects in images, for example).

Thomas Purves has an interesting post on his blog about how usability has evolved to robot-robot interaction which is worth a read, although the inclusion of 'AAI' is a little irrelevant :)

Quick Usability test

2007-08-08T13:09:00.001+01:00

If you're looking to do a quick usability test on a project but don't want to spend months and thousands doing it, you could do a lot worse than to follow this guide. Concise and well written, it covers all the main points of a full-blown audit but is easy enough for any organisation to implement.

Usability for the masses!

Designing for Word of Mouth, and using Progressive Disclosure

2007-08-08T09:05:00.000+01:00

I saw two new technical terms on this blog I was reading by Joshua Porter - Designing for Word of Mouth, and Progressive Disclosure.

Both are really useful; Designing for Word of Mouth encapsulates the often-overlooked point that word of mouth often doesn't just happen; you need to enable and facilitate it for it to really be effective as a part of your marketing strategy. Designing for it means things like giving people the facility to add contacts from wherever they are currently stored - webmail or desktop applications (like Facebook does).

Progressive Disclosure is a useful concept well known in Interface Design but I hadn't come across the term before. It encapsulates the kind of functionality shown by wizards; where the user only sees the information relevant at the time - so they see that there different ways to upload their contacts only once they have decided to upload them in the first place.

What happens when you do something right?

2007-07-31T07:36:00.000+01:00

For all the chat the iPhone is getting at the moment I am not going to buy one. I think the interface does a lot right, but at the moment not enough to justify the price tag, IMHO. I have also got used to all the bells and whistles with my phone, that this just doesn't seem to have yet (read the Ars Technica review here: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/iphone-review.ars).

But they have done something right to justify the hype: the multi-touch interface is an enormous step forward, and here's the proof: everyone is trying to copy it...

The OS phone: http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Neo1973
The MP3 player: http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/07/italian-pmp-wit.html
The Windows mobile: http://www.tech.co.uk/gadgets/phones/[...]698151920

How to make a good website, or, Usability for Developers

2007-07-26T09:01:00.000+01:00

This post is really just an excuse to link to Kim Krause Berg's post here, which is essentially a crash course in User Centred Design.

It's great to see someone succinctly put out the message of "test it on users at every stage", and it's a post all my developer friends should read ;)

Usability and SEO

2007-07-26T08:44:00.000+01:00

There has been a lot of recent discussion on the web about the relationship between Usability and SEO, centring on an exchange between Usability expert Kim Krause Berg (of cre8pc) and the social content network Sphinn.

One good thing arising from this is that many SEOs are apparently taking Usability more seriously as one of the tools in their armoury (a good thing - thank you Kim). Another is writing like this by Jim Hedger, giving a brief overview of both concepts and their relative importance.

In essence, he states that Usability means how easy a site is to use. The ease of use of a site dramatically affects conversion rates, which affect rankings (as well as profits). Also, more interestingly, the ease of use of a site affects user behaviour, so that more users will spend more time browsing and bying - behaviour that is tracked by Google and Yahoo! (something I didn't know) and contributes to their evaluation of the site as worthwhile.

So there's another reason then - usable sites don't just give you more visitors converting to customers, they also help increase your rankings so you get more visitors in the first place - a virtuous circle.

When Usability is the answer, and when it isn't

2007-07-24T00:36:00.000+01:00

I've been reading a lot of posts (example) recently about how usability isn't the answer to every money-making venture on the web's every problem.

And they're right.

But no pro-usability comments or blogs that I have read are claiming that it is. Let's be clear: there are several distinct, important steps to converting a web browsing member of the public into a contented repeat customer:

Offer something they want
Give them a reason to get it from you
Help them find you
Help them see that you have what they want, and that they want it from you
Help them get it
Help them use it, replace it or send it back

Steps 1 and 2 are totally unrelated to usability, but are general business principles. Step 3 is a general business principle; on the web this usually means SEO or SEM (Search Engine Marketing) as well as / instead of advertising - also not usability.

Step 4 is where your traditional marketing and branding comes into play. Usability is an issue here, but mostly as part of a more general User Experience Design (UXD), creating trust and informing the consumer about you and your offering.

Step 5 is down to usability. Without this they won't buy your product or service.

Step 6 is Customer support. Without this they won't come back.

The point I'm making is that usability is not The Answer - that would be a stupid thing to think or to claim, just as to say that having a till near the door accepting various means of payment is the answer to the problems of a traditional B2C business.

It's just that without it your efforts will be wasted - with it your conversions will increase.

Human verification codes

2007-07-18T09:29:00.000+01:00

I saw my first really interesting human verification code yesterday; instead of the CAPTCHA-style "type in the letters in the image" system, I was allowed to continue only after clicking on all the animals in a grid of 9 photos that "don't have fur" - so I clicked the seagull and the lizard and was on my way.

I think this is great - it was a really engaging way of getting me to do something onerous, as opposed to squinting at some hard-to-read gobbledegook. A friend mentioned he saw another with a simple arithmetic problem written out; he had to write the answer to "three plus seventeen"...

is the iPhone the answer?

2007-07-17T09:27:00.000+01:00

Hot on the back of the iPhone release (and all the accompanying fuss), the first usability study of the iPhone interface has been undertaken by User Centric in Chicago.

Interestingly, while people were very happy with the phone and music-related functionality (especially CoverFlow; which gives some of the feel of 'traditional' media to your digital collection), they were frustrated and disappointed with SMS text entry, web browsing and Google Maps.

Web browsing on the iPhone I'm told is slow, mainly due to AT&T's network capabilities. But the other two downfalls really surprise me: Google Maps is a selling feature of the device, and for people to find the multi-touch screen hard to use for this app is very disappointing.

SMS entry being difficult is due to the vertical keyboard layout being enforced; the horizontal one seems much preferred. With SMS being much more used in Europe than the US, perhaps Apple will think of a software update before their imminent Europe release...?

Either way, there is already competition in terms of multi-touch keyboardless phones on their way; personally I am interested in the Open Source Neo - the next version coming out has similar specs to the iPhone with added GPS and removable media (but also a slower chip unfortunately).