Confessions of a User Experience Junkie

Yeah, so it’s again been awhile since I updated this blog. I’ve been composing what’s becoming a long essay on software installation/distribution methods… probably gotta cut it down a bit, but first I have to finish it

But I couldn’t help but notice how crazy the installation scheme for one of Apple’s latest software updates is: download the new iPod updater and wonder at the number of layers of packaging you’ll have to tear through in order to actually use the update:

• MacBinary encoding (completely unnecessary if the web server is configured correctly) around…
• a disk image, containing…
• an Installer package, which installs…
• a new folder within /Applications/Utilities, containing…
• a single item, the updater application, which you have to find and run in order to update your iPod

This is ridiculous. The more steps in an unwrap-and-install process, the more difficult it get for novice users, and the more susceptible it is to failure (of the human or machine variety). Not to mention that all the intermediate-stage files are the digital equivalent of fast-food packaging — you’re just going to get rid of them once you get to the goodies inside.

They could have done this much more simply — either a disk image containing the app and docs (perhaps with some prompt included to “double-click this”), or an “internet-enabled” disk image that just dumps the app onto your desktop and then goes away. Why didn’t they?

Okay, here’s a quick one on design principles for the impatient readers out there. : ) Actually, it’s just one design principle. But it’s a pretty important one.

When you present the user with a choice, you force them to make a decision. Choices are generally good, but forcing decisions is bad. And the more choices the user has to make, the more time they spend weighing decisions and the less time they spend actually using your software for its purpose.

If you’ve ever had to deal with a waiter asking too many questions when you haven’t even opened the menu yet, you might recognize this problem. Good software, like a good waiter, lets you think at your own pace and in your own order — and is immediately ready to grant your requests once you’re ready to make them.

And for the love of Woz, don’t force a choice over something trivial. I swear, I’ve seen apps that pop up alert dialogs asking “Do you want me to put an alias to myself in the Dock?”. Thank you… you’ve interrupted my thought process to make me consider an action which, normally, can be done almost without thinking about it.

Okay, someone pointed out today that I haven’t updated this weblog in a while. Heck, I didn’t know anyone was reading it! Anyhow, dearest apologies to my readers… there’ll be another meaty update soon. (And a vegan update, too, I guess.)

Actually, I discovered not long after my last update that there’s more than one other weblog with this title, of no relation whatsoever. So I’ve been spending much of these past two weeks trying to think of a new name for mine. Inspiration hasn’t yet struck, though… I’m open to suggestions.