[Sigia-l] DHTML Menus and Usability

[Laura Norvig]

<mantra>it depends</mantra>

Clearly there's a tradeoff. If a new user interface is stunningly 
easy to learn and use, bring it on. There are so many types of users 
out there - some love to upgrade every chance they can get and don't 
mind learning new things. others get extremely frustrated by change. 
Gauge the impact of change. If the auto industry suddenly came out 
with cars that required a completely new way of driving (say, 
steering with a combination of your feet and voice commands), umm, I 
think there would be a lot of wrecks.

-Laura


At 11:29 AM +0100 9/20/02, MATTHEW GODDARD wrote:
>Ziya
>
>>Hopefully, folks who design those UIs won't say to themselves, hmm, let's
>>port to these tiny devices that word processor UI we use and love so much,
>>'cause it's just so dominant and people would be so lost without it.
>
>When you move to a restrictive medium such as PDA's, Cell Phones etc. you're
>right you should modify the UI so that it's appropriate, but then the users
>expectations are different as well, they don't expect to have a fully
>featured application.
>
>Obviously I believe that UI design should improve, evolve and change but
>that doesn't mean that we shouldn't do something simply because *we* think
>it's bad, especially if the user expect it!
>
>Matt