Title: The Dark Side Of Usability
Context: Obi Wan was right; the Dark Side is an easy trap to fall into. Be strong young UX Jedis.
Synopsis: Socrates thought that writing would rob people of their ability to remember things. But of course he said that back when the only thing he had to remember was to not get eaten by a T. Rex (Note: historical inaccuracies my apply). When it comes to software, we tend to think the exact opposite of old Socrates. No, not that it’s OK to get eaten by a T. Rex, but rather that when it comes to usability, the less we ask our end users to have to remember the better. But a new study says that we might be wrong about that. If we hold our user’s cognitive hand for every single decision point they may have a harder time adjusting to susequent changes in the overall system. Perhaps we need to start giving people a bit more credit and stop trying to solve for every last possible user case. Hey, it’s just a thought. What do I know? Now where is that stupid “Send email” button again?…
Best Bit: “[The study] suggests to take care with externalizing especially in tasks with: frequent interruptions, educational objectives, skill transfer, high costs, continuous attention and deep domain understanding.”
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