Is Too Much Usability a Bad Thing?
Consuming Software — “The way I see it, software which doesn’t make you think and is as easy to use as a pencil really isn’t good software. If you want to sell pencils then go ahead and sell pencils.”
When should software be hard to use? Come on, we need some good examples here!
November 30th, 2006 at 9:46 am
That was a really stupid thing to say. No, software shouldn’t MAKE you think, especially not about the software itself. Software should HELP you think - about your problem, or workflow, or whatever. A pencil can help me think, by allowing me to draw a picture or write words, and thank goodness I don’t have to think *about the pencil*.
December 9th, 2006 at 8:09 am
Software should be tool to support a task. If its getting in the way, use something else … users are excellent at rebelling against something that does not help them in their job.
December 11th, 2006 at 5:33 pm
Just because software is complex doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to improve the design to make it easier to learn or easier to get back into than the first design you started with on the project. Too much usability is not really accurate. Too simplistic is what you’re talking about.