|
You must have been fired from every company I've ever worked for. 
What a piece of work is man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable . . . and yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? -- Hamlet, Act II, Scene ii.
|
|
|
|
|
Software Zen: delete this;
|
|
|
|
|
Although I think that ease-of-use should follow from good looking UI.
What a piece of work is man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable . . . and yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? -- Hamlet, Act II, Scene ii.
|
|
|
|
|
How so? Good looking means "pretty", and it has nothing to do with usability.
|
|
|
|
|
It depends on your universe of discourse; in this case, we're talking about desktop applications. In this context, is it not true that when someone says "good-looking UI", they are usually referring to one that is clean, neat and well-designed? Is is not also true then, that those kinds of user interfaces are intrinsically easy to use?
What a piece of work is man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable . . . and yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? -- Hamlet, Act II, Scene ii.
|
|
|
|
|
John Kuhn wrote:
In this context, is it not true that when someone says "good-looking UI", they are usually referring to one that is clean, neat and well-designed? Is is not also true then, that those kinds of user interfaces are intrinsically easy to use?
I'd agree with you there John. I yo-yo'd between easy-of-use and good-looking UI before choosing the latter; a good looking UI (by my standards) is an easy-to-use UI!
Cheers,
Paul
|
|
|
|
|
John Kuhn wrote:
Although I think that ease-of-use should follow from good looking UI.
Ummmm - not at all, no sirree, uh-uh, dead wrong, sorry, next contestant please.
It's true that butt-ugly UI's can't be easy to use, but fuufy "graphics uber alles" Uis can be harder to use than anything.
|
|
|
|
|
Perhaps a good-looking UI needs to be more narrowly defined. As you state, poor UI design can be difficult to use; but a good-looking UI is not necessarily an extremely graphical UI, either. There are, of course, many web sites that fall into this category: visually pleasing, but nearly impossible to decipher as a user interface. On that point, perhaps those should be counted as "Graphic Art" and not "User Interface" -- for is it not true that the words "Good Looking UI" imply that it is an interface designed for users? And, if so, wouldn't a "Good Looking UI" be intrinsically useful? Take for example the Windows Media Player. Is it not good looking? And does its simple, good-looking interface not benefit ease of use?
What a piece of work is man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable . . . and yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? -- Hamlet, Act II, Scene ii.
|
|
|
|
|
John Kuhn wrote:
Take for example the Windows Media Player. Is it not good looking? And does its simple, good-looking interface not benefit ease of use?
Windows Media Player is an example of simple, good-looking interfaces falling short on ease of use. When I started with Windows Media Player, I tried to open a music file. There was no Open File, just an Open Location. I clicked that and got a dialog to open a web location with no browse button. I did finally got the music to play by opening windows explorer and double clicking on the file, but I was annoyed that I had to do it. To be easy to use, a program should provide the options that people are used to having and in the places that they are used to looking for them.
Nathan Holt
|
|
|
|
|
Are we both referring to Windows Media Player 9? Perhaps you should switch to compact mode.
Even in "full" mode, you have basic controls that you would have on a portable MP3 player or walkman, everything discloses its own function with tooltips, there's online help... Not that I think WMP is the best software ever for multimedia, but it covers the bases.
But then again, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
What a piece of work is man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable . . . and yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? -- Hamlet, Act II, Scene ii.
|
|
|
|
|
For what it's worth, I think it was versio 6 or 7. I didn't look at the version, but I remember it was a year or two ago.
Nathan Holt
|
|
|
|
|
oh well.
What a piece of work is man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable . . . and yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? -- Hamlet, Act II, Scene ii.
|
|
|
|
|
Think of a woman. More often than not the prettiest ones are the hardest to use.
regards,
Paul Watson
Bluegrass
South Africa
Christopher Duncan quoted:
"...that would require my explaining Einstein's Fear of Relatives"
Crikey! ain't life grand?
Einstein says...
|
|
|
|
|
Paul Watson wrote:
Think of a woman. More often than not the prettiest ones are the hardest to use.
|
|
|
|
|
Paul Watson wrote:
Think of a woman. More often than not the prettiest ones are the hardest to use.
Or, the best looking ones tend to be the most expensive.
Remember, even if you win the rat race, you're still a rat.
|
|
|
|
|
Yes, especially since everyone else is trying to use them too. 
Regards,
Alvaro
Give a man a fish, he owes you one fish. Teach a man to fish, you give up your monopoly on fisheries.
|
|
|
|
|
I can't argue with that... I just hope my wife doesn't find this post.
What a piece of work is man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable . . . and yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? -- Hamlet, Act II, Scene ii.
|
|
|
|
|
This poll would be a lot better if the user was forced to rank those choices in order of importance. The way things are going right now everyone's going to put #1 for all 6 options!
Joel Holdsworth
|
|
|
|
|
I did take the time to rank them, though having 7 factors and only 5 levels of importance required doubling up a bit. Oh well...
Will Build Nuclear Missile For Food - No Target Too Small
|
|
|
|
|
I screwed up. It was meant to be a single choice, not a rating choice.
Sorry everyone. All votes have been reset.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
|
|
|
|
|
Chris Maunder wrote:
I screwed up.
Now there's a quote for the history books if I ever saw one!
Marc
Microsoft MVP, Visual C#
MyXaml
MyXaml Blog
|
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
