Usability is not that difficult to implement. Not difficult at all. Now I am thinking about it, I find it very impressive how some developers sometimes can create something that is so not usable.
It is so easy! The only thing you have to do is make sure that you don’t make the user have to think about it how to accomplish a certain task with your software. This maybe sound easy, but is very hard.
One problem is: when you are designing your software the answer is already in your mind. That makes you a biased thinker. You think that it is obvious to find your way in the software.
However, when you start with the right answer in mind, your have the wrong starting point for usability.
“Move the mouse to the left upper part of the screen.” If you give this instruction to a novice, you would not expect that the user lift up the mouse, moves it towards the monitor and touches the screen. However, some people with absolutely no experience with computers do that.
Another problem is: while developing functionality, we already have a certain not so novice user in mind.
We think ourselves that we have in mind a picture of a novice user, but in fact that is not completely true. We already know how to do the task, we find it easy to perform. Of course, we implemented it.
Therefore we cannot imagine someone who doesn’t. And to be honest, most of the times we just think that the user is plain stupid. However, your user is not stupid. Not at all. The user only is not used to your software, this footprint of your brain. People think differently. Users are not all nerds.
So, please think out-of-the-skull-cap and take your usability serious!
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