Basic Principle #6 of 9
The following was paraphrased from GUI Bloopers 2.0.
Basic Principle #6
Facilitate Learning
A common complaint about software applications is that they are hard to learn. Learning takes time; the more a user has to learn in order to use a product or service, the longer it will be before that user can be productive. Time is money. Furthermore, if users are not required to learn to use an application (e.g., because of their job), they may simply not bother. User interfaces should therefore be designed to facilitate learning. The user interface of an application can facilitate learning in several different ways.
Think “outside-in,” not “inside-out”
Software developers often design as if they assume that the users will automatically know what the developers intended. This is inside-out thinking. When developers design software, they know how it works, what information is displayed in what place and at what time, what everything on the screen means, and how information displayed by the software is related. Most designers think inside-out: they use their own knowledge of the software to judge whether the displays and controls make sense. They assume that users perceive and understand everything the way the designer intended it to be perceived and understood.
The problem is, users don’t know what the designer knows about the software. When people first start using a software product, they know very little about how it works or what all that stuff on the screen is supposed to mean. They do not know the designer’s intentions. All they have to base their understanding on is what they see on the screen and, perhaps, what they read in the software’s documentation.
The right way to design: Think outside-in
Thinking outside-in when designing a UI means making sure it makes sense to people who do not know everything you know about it. This doesn’t mean you should assume users are stupid. They probably know more than you do about the software’s supported tasks. What users don’t know is your intentions. They don’t know the intended meaning of the various parts of the display. They don’t know what depends on what. If your intended users misperceive or misunderstand your design, they may have an immediate problem, but you will have the more serious and longer term problem: unsatisfied users and diminished sales. You therefore must make sure the UI makes sense, not to you, but to them.
