[Sigia-l] Mac mail packages

[Stewart Dean]

>From: Listera <listera at rcn.com>
>To: SIGIA-L <sigia-l at asis.org>
>Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] Mac mail packages
>Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2006 06:00:49 -0400
>
>Eric Scheid:
>
> > and then once that is done she wants to just get on with using the 
>product,
> > not having to think about the product.
>
>"Once that's done"?
>
>Is that a joke or are you deliberately trying not to understand the Krug
>dictum? He says "Don't make me think" and you're suggesting for the user to
>create her own UI herself? Does everything happen for you without having to
>think?

I think you're confusing the task with the user interface. The user 
interface should be as invisible as possible so that that user can focus on 
the task.

>In that imbecilic scenario there is no "product". It's a DIY funfest. Tell
>me what consumer-level email app comes as a DIY framework where the user is
>expected to cobble together her own UI and interaction-flow?

Let's go back to the original email. Consider this an experiment in defining 
user requirements.

"So, what other options are there for excellent mail software running on X - 
the sort where I can customise EVERYTHING and am not forced to do it the way 
someone else has decided is best?"

Now from my take this is about having an open flexible way of working in the 
application, not a perscriptive way of working as you will find in programs 
like Omnigraffle.  The pain is the user cannot do what they want to do. So 
what's their motivation?

"(and [outlook express] let my son and I have two completely separate 
mailboxes with separate rules, separate email address on the same computer. 
"Mail" won't let that happen - yeah, this is a biggie when you share a 
computer)."

There you go. The user requirement is to allow different accounts to run on 
the same machine in the same program. The techie responce is 'log in as a 
different user' but that doesnt answer the user needs, only provides a work 
around that may cause different problems. The current applications on the 
mac don't appear to cater for that user need and are set up with 'one 
person, multiple accounts' in mind.

So really it's nothing to do with the user wanting to define their own UI 
and 'workflow' is a buzz word that is probably better covered in this case 
by task or 'something to do'.  In this case the task appears to have no way 
of carrying it out - therefore user pain and confusion.

And the reason for moving away from Outlook Express....

" Sadly, it becomes unstable when you have large files in it, and is 
irretrievable once that happens. "


> > thinking about set up != thinking about using
>
>Sometimes, reading != understanding.

I sometimes think being an IA is a state of mind, it's a unique perspective 
on problem solving that allows you to free yourself up from who you are in 
an attempt to see things in terms of what it is the user is trying to do.

Amanda, if you're reading this - how far off the mark am I?

Cheers

Stewart Dean