Yahoo Finance revolt . . . and user interface fatigue
By Tom Foremski - July 18, 2006
Yahoo Finance has been changed for the better says Yahoo, but many users disagree. Mark Coker tells me the message boards are teeming with complaints.
Here is a sample of what I saw:
There is big risk in a redesign of a popular web site because people are creatures of habit and nobody wants to have to learn a new user interface.
There are already too many user interfaces to learn, too many new "web 2.0" apps to learn, too many new digital gadgets to learn how to use. Every time I change my cell phone I have a different user interface to learn, there seems to be very little continuity.
All remote controls for consumer electronics products seem designed to each have unique user interfaces, even within the same company and the same product families. Even when it comes to positioning the power-on switch--there are many forms of expressing what must be the single most common user interface element.
I've noticed my kids always pick up user interfaces a lot more quickly than older generations. They can figure things out more intuitively. Clearly this is a skill that can be learned: quickly learning new user interfaces. But why should we need that skill?
What puzzles me is why isn't there a best practices user interface for nearly every type of electronic gadget? Surely there must be agreement on placement of keys and controls? Our typewriters have a standard interface, and our cars, why so little else?
It used to be that companies would sue others for copying the "look and feel" of their product, such as a spreadsheet program, or trash can icon. But such lawsuits are rare these days yet we have ever more user interfaces to learn rather than some basic standard formats-- onto which companies could add differentiating buttons and controls.
The lack of standard user interfaces must be the single largest obstacle in growing the markets for digital products of every kind. Nobody wants to have to learn yet another user interface when there are so many better things to do.
By Tom Foremski - July 18, 2006 | Permalink | Comment
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Comments (2)
Great point about the importance of the power switch. I am sitting in front of a supposedly easy-to-use iMac. The power switch is a small, flush white circle 4/5ths of the way back on the right side. There is a white glowing dot on front that lights up when the power is on but you can't push that.
Oh, and what ever happened to the volume knob? Am I the only one who misses these terribly?
Joel Spolsky has a great essay on this:
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/design/1stDraft/00.html
Posted: July 18, 2006 8:58 AM
The problem with the change to the Yahoo message boards is not just habit. Stock discussion boards are fundamentally different from general-topic boards. With general topics users follow discussions (threads) over time. Stock boards are all about the flow of current messages. Messages from two hours ago are useless.
Yahoo simply turned all of their boards into threaded boards without recognizing the difference.
Posted: July 18, 2006 12:23 PM