Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on March 13, 2006 06:13 AM
"Any software that has "quite a steep learning curve" to learn how to use it has, by definition, a bad user interface."
Too general - rather, any such software has a bad user interface *for new users*. That's certainly a bad thing if you're designing it for those with no experience of the kind of software you're building.
But equally, you may have designed it to be highly efficient for the people who use it continuously for everyday work - that's a valid decision. It might take a little longer for new users to come up to speed, but it may be worth it for the greater productively once they've learned all the tricks.
They're both valid approaches to usability, they're just focusing on different aspects of it - ease of learning versus long-term efficiency. Both are important, but the balance depends on the case. Organisations with high staff turnover probably want systems that can easily be learned - organisations where people stay in a role for years will probably favour long-term efficiency, even if it means a slightly slower start.
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Re:I don't think we need a fork
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on March 13, 2006 06:13 AMToo general - rather, any such software has a bad user interface *for new users*. That's certainly a bad thing if you're designing it for those with no experience of the kind of software you're building.
But equally, you may have designed it to be highly efficient for the people who use it continuously for everyday work - that's a valid decision. It might take a little longer for new users to come up to speed, but it may be worth it for the greater productively once they've learned all the tricks.
They're both valid approaches to usability, they're just focusing on different aspects of it - ease of learning versus long-term efficiency. Both are important, but the balance depends on the case. Organisations with high staff turnover probably want systems that can easily be learned - organisations where people stay in a role for years will probably favour long-term efficiency, even if it means a slightly slower start.
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