FIGURE 17.8
The simplicity of the iMovie interface versus the flexibility of Final Cut Pro
It is important for you, the user interface designer, to understand your users. Are the users??™ needs
simple and unlikely to change, so that you can design a more targeted and less flexible interface?
Or do your users have sophisticated, ever-changing needs that require that you build in flexibility?
When creating a flexible interface (or any kind of user interface, actually), it??™s a good idea to do
usability studies to see how well the user understands the interface. Paying your friend to use the
program in a real-world situation can be an eye-opener, especially if you ask him to think out loud
as you videotape him trying to manipulate the interface to accomplish the tasks you give him. An
interface with more flexibility provides more opportunities for error and will most likely take more
time for your users to get used to.
Your usability studies may bring to light how the features of your application are perceived by the
user. If the feature is perceived as complex to learn, then the benefit to using it must be high for
the user to spend the time to figure it out. For example, the recording feature of many VCRs went
unused because they were perceived by some users as too complex to bother to learn.
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