[IxDA Discuss] ease of use & interfaces for "power" users

[Esteban Barahona]

2007/1/16, pauric <radiorental at gmail.com>:
>
> Concepts of average or power user only open the door for feature
> creep.  You
> need a well defined user set for the chosen application.


I agree. Sometimes making a "power app" is the same as making a feature
crippled app. Using a suite of apps may be more clean/transparent.

Secondly, is the functionality of an OS self fulfilling or is it merely a
> platform for accomplishing work.  The question shouldnt be is OSX too
> simple? The question is, are the right applications available on this
> platform for the work I need to do?  That question includes the assumption
> that the applications are well suited to the job, i.e. well designed.


That's a tricky question. I expect from a freshly installed OS to include a
bundled file browser, web browser and a basic text editor. But a thin/simple
OS is a nice goal ^_^

A slider is a nice concept, but I'm not sure how you would realize a series
> of scalable workflows within one interface.  I find simply dumping stuff
> under the Advanced button plays in to mindset of people who like to tweak
> by
> giving them all the controls they want to play with in one place, without
> any convoluted flows getting in their way.
>
> My thinking is that if they want to play in the deep end, they better know
> how to swim. You cant be everything to everyone, focus on one thing and do
> it well.


...the slider was more a rethorical question. ie: it can be
implemented as chose
the features you really use and hide the advanced features. But without the
"show the rest of features" arrow on each menu (instead using a global chose
the features you really use and hide the advanced features option). That
further configuration could be leaved for the "main configuration" ...and
that's grey too.

And speaking of how features are organized, should the user be allowed to
change the text and order (including hierarchical) of each button/function?
(...so that I can use "websites" instead  of "bookmarks" on Firefox).

modo 202 <http://www.luxology.com/whatismodo/> uses a customizable UI
*disclosure: I don't work for Luxology and haven't tested modo 202 yet*


-- 
http://www.zensui.org