and if they haven't had that option, the PdF guide will help them along the way :)
On 11 May 2010, at 16:00, Pete Nalda wrote: > Ok. Yes I'll admit it was a "Usability Study", and not a review. And I also > agree that things could be changed to make it more "usable" to the masses, > but, I think, also, that in this day and time, people are going to get a > chance to experience some "how it works" information prior to sitting down > with it. I also feel that there are very few products (especially computers) > that are automatically useable out of the box without some form of study. > That's why there are quick start guides and the like. Also, I think that the > majority of iPad buyers will have had experience with another Apple product, > thus allowing them the ability to figure out the interface. > > On May 11, 2010, at 9:42 AM, Bryan Smart wrote: > >> Pete, >> >> This is not a product review. It is a summary of an academic study. In the >> summary that you read, he isn't expressing his personal like or dislike for >> the iPad. His conclusion is based on the results of the testing of the >> people in his study. The way those tests work is they tell the person to do >> something, without telling them how, and they observe how the person tries >> to accomplish the task. How long it takes a person to accomplish a task, how >> many mistakes they make, and even things like their frustration level are >> logged. In user interface design, the goal is to design interfaces that work >> like people expect, not to train people to work a particular interface. Of >> course, nothing is always obvious to all people, but the goal is to make the >> operation as obvious to as many people as is possible. >> >> Some of this won't apply to blind people. VoiceOver gives blindies clues >> about what is clickable and what isn't. Sighted people don't have any >> automatic cues, like clickable things are circled or highlighted, though. >> >> As far as the buttons at the bottom, that might be obvious to you, but not >> necessarily obvious to a sighted person. In western language, flow starts at >> the top left, and continues down while scanning across each row. Even though >> sighted people can see an entire screen at once, they can't focus on all of >> it read it all at once. Since they're trained, through reading, to scan left >> to right, top to bottom, this is also the common pattern that they use to >> scan a screen like the iPad. Of course, any experienced iPad user will >> eventually learn to look to the bottom for buttons to switch between pages, >> but that is something that must be learned. The more obvious way to do it is >> to put tabs at the top of the window. A sighted person looking at cards in a >> card file, for example, will see labeled tabs sticking out of the top of the >> cards. That's why multi page dialog boxes on Windows and OSX display their >> dialogs this way. This whole left to right, top to bottom approach is also >> why the OSX menu bar is at the top of the screen, while the dock is at the >> bottom. Any user wondering "where should I go next", or "how do I get back >> to the screen that does that thing", will naturally start looking at the top >> of the screen. Beyond that, there are gesture reasons for the menu bar being >> up there, such as the mouse gesture for zipping to the top of the screen is >> very easy (just push the mouse away from you). By contrast, the dock, at the >> bottom, is the last thing they see. This is because you're likely to need to >> perform actions in the current program before you need to switch to another >> constantly. Also, the dock isn't extremely useful to sighted users, as most >> of them would just switch to another app by clicking a visible portion of >> one of the app's windows. >> >> Apple has very strong interface guidelines for designing desktop apps, but >> they aren't as strict, at least in that area, for mobile apps. So, he says >> that developers are left to their own ideas about how apps should work, and >> the result is that not everyone knows what to expect from app to app. >> >> Anyway, all that to say that this guy is an expert in user interface design, >> and his highly informed and tested conclusion is that better choices could >> have been made to make it so that the iPad's operation was more obvious to >> untrained people than it is now. >> >> Bryan >> >> >> >> On May 11, 2010, at 9:42 AM, Pete Nalda wrote: >> >>> Thanks for the article. While he makes some valid points, I get the >>> feeling he just doesn't like the iPad. That's ok, but the first thing he >>> complains about is the dock. I had no problem noticing it myself. I think >>> that anyone would be inclined to study the whole screen, and not just the >>> top, and I'd bet that people would read reviews where they talk about it. >>> Also that "Tab Bar" is called a Dock. The rest of the review just sort of >>> follows this complaint. Also, he didn't even review the built in apps at >>> all. What about ibooks? I'm sorry, I still get the idea he just wants to >>> hate the iPad and for that matter probably hates Apple's way of doing >>> things. >>> >>> On May 11, 2010, at 3:53 AM, Dónal Fitzpatrick wrote: >>> >>>> Hi all, >>>> >>>> I don't know if many on this list will be familiar with the work of >>>> Jacob Nielsen. For those who don't know him, he's one of the >>>> foremost minds in the field of interaction design. Those who took >>>> (or are taking) computer science at University may have encountered >>>> his work during courses in HCI or User-Interaction design. He is >>>> well-known for the famous "Nielsen's 10 heuristics" which play a major >>>> part in interface design. >>>> >>>> Anyway he's done some testing on the iPad. I don't have one myself, >>>> and don't have a personal interest in getting one (though I may get >>>> one for my lab to do some projects on), but I thought the link below >>>> might interest some people on the list. >>>> >>>> http://www.useit.com/alertbox/ipad.html >>>> >>>> Enjoy, >>>> >>>> Dónal >>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>>> "MacVisionaries" group. >>>> To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>>> macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >>>> For more options, visit this group at >>>> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. >>>> >>> >>> Egun On, Lagunak! (Basque for G'day, Mates) Pete Nalda >>> http://www.myspace.com/musikonalda >>> http://www.facebook.com/lpnalda >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "MacVisionaries" group. >>> To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. >>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>> macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >>> For more options, visit this group at >>> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. >>> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "MacVisionaries" group. >> To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "MacVisionaries" group. >> To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. >> > > Egun On, Lagunak! (Basque for G'day, Mates) > Pete Nalda > http://www.myspace.com/musikonalda > http://www.facebook.com/lpnalda > > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en.
