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Consistency and simplicity in technology are rare but possible
I am constantly frustrated by the need to relearn what I already know. I bet you are too.
It is possible to keep technology consistent and simple as it is updated, but it does not seem to happen often. I am reminded daily, sometimes hourly, of Frisch’s third law, “technology changes, always.” Sometimes the change is real progress, like the internet replacing private networks; frequently, the changes are little more than tweaking the user interface (UI) by moving things.
If you used any version of Microsoft Word from Word 95 through Word 2003, you could use any other version in this series, no training required. The menus and icons changed a little in each upgrade, mostly to accommodate additional new features. Yet the UIs are so similar in each version that no real learning is required.
Then Microsoft released Word 2007. The customizable menus and toolbars were gone, replaced with a fixed set of tabs and icons named the Ribbon. Things were moved. Why? Microsoft says to improve the new user’s experience and to make it simpler. Most of my clients and I disagree with this. We can no longer find things we use. Microsoft could more easily have cleaned up its menus and changed some of the toolbar icons. They chose instead to radically alter the UI. I believe a major motivation was to create a patented UI that could not be copied by competitors.
Thankfully, Patrick Schmid, a software developer, came up with RibbonCustomizer, a wonderful solution for the 99% of Word 2007 users who are not newbies. He offers free and commercial versions. Both versions add a tab to the Ribbon, titled “Classic UI” that has the older Word 2003 UI, menus and default toolbars. Click on the “Classic UI” tab and you can find things again. RibbonCustomizer is available at http://tinyurl.com/ynk2vp.
The change-for-change’s-sake mentality is evident in the move from Windows XP to Vista. So many items were renamed, moved, or altered in Vista, with no benefit that users become unnecessarily frustrated when they first try it. This has added immensely to the poor perception and slow acceptance of Vista.
Microsoft is not alone in this change-for-change’s-sake stupidity. Apple made several changes between the Tiger and Leopard operating systems that had the Mac user community howling about changes that made no sense. The transparent menu bar is an example.
The ugliness of change without consideration for the user was recently driven home. I have a client, Mickey, who will be 100 years old in July 2008. He has deteriorating vision. We installed a new larger monitor to help. For some reason AOL 9.1 would no longer work properly with the changed hardware, so we upgraded to AOL 10. The designers moved the controls making it very hard for Mickey to adjust to the new interface.
On the other side of this issue are two excellent examples where designers have considered their users. TiVo has evolved over time. The changes for each model’s remote control are minimal. The revisions to on-screen menus, that come with each update to the operating system, are subtle, not radical. If you use a TiVo Series 1, you will have no problems moving to a TiVoHD. The UIs are almost identical.
The other example is Acura’s placement of dashboard and instrument controls. They have evolved but are so similar that if you moved from a 1990 to a new 2008 model you would not require classes to drive the vehicle. Conversely, BMW, Mercedes or Volvo present radically different controls each model year that befuddle the “untutored” driver. This is dangerous and unnecessary.
I should add a corollary to Frisch’s third law, “most change is not improvement, just change.”
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