soft-performance: messages - ista 2014
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Soft Performance: MessagingDimiter Simov, SAP
ISTA Sofia 27 Nov 2014
About
Dimiter Simov - Jimmy
Usability and user experience
Soft performance
Performance
a task or operation seen in terms of how successfully it is performed
pay increases are now being linked more closely to performance
the capabilities of a machine, product, or vehicle
the hardware is put through tests which assess the performance of the processor
Source: Google define
Recall ISTA 2013: performance has a soft side
text and formatting
Fitts’ law
layout and structure
user success and engagement
presentation of progress
aesthetics 1 x 1.618 – the golden ratio
Let me tell you a story
5
6
At SAP, we have this nice “social” tool
7
I participate in a few groups
I decided to start a new group
8
Here is the new-group form
9
1. I filled out all the necessary details.
2. I even decided to activate the group.
3. I clicked Create
What happened?
10
Error
The description you entered is too large. Please limit yourself to 255 characters.
OK
I clicked the only option
11
Gone: the message, the dialog, and all my input
Talk about messaging
Good, bad, or necessary evil
No recipe – be practical
Our goal today
I do not like to write messages
What’s in a message?
Sign
source of icons: http://www.iconarchive.com/show/soft-scraps-icons-by-hopstarter.html
0. Who shows the message
1. What happened (or did not happen)
2. Why it happened
3. What users can do about it
Text
Closing: Traditionally a button
Here is another story
I do not want them to upload the contacts from the address book on my phone, so I cleared the checkbox
Then on Sign In…
Install Twitter app on my mobile
… I get this
Now they speak of friends no idea what they mean!?!
And I do not know any of the 48 people they want me to follow
…from Twitter
Messages by type
21
when: Every time I start Windows
Warning
fix: Do not showOR Show more info so users know why it is important and what to do
When: Every time I start Windows
Critical
fix: Show option to remove from start-up listOR: Allow re-installing
Validation
fix: Parse the input and ignore spaces, dashes, dots…
Translation:
Your electronic signatureis valid and you can makemoney transfers online
Confirmation
fix: Hide the gibberish. Show a
normal message.
Informative
fix: State that the downtime will be at night and last only 1 hour and use my timezone
As you type
fix: Accept CyrillicOR: Add to the message that only Latin characters are OK
On Yes, the program starts On No, the program does not start
Guess what
fix: Do not show, just use the default locationOR: Ask users to select a library location
Glad I did not encounter the previous three
Numbered
fix: Say what happened, why, and what users need/can do
Another time
fix: Fix the site to work 24/7OR: Tell users to log in only during business hours
English: Access is blocked! Reason: #34!Please call the Eurobank officer who serves you.
Human: you are trying access outside business hours
Another place
fix: ?!?!OR: Link to a travel site so users can book a ticket to USA
what!?
Make me think a lot
fix: Simplify and state the acceptable range
Now I’m lost
Make me stop thinking
fix: No idea
Series of increasing severity
Unusual error… not enough storage
Unusual error… no scroll bars
Unusual error… catastrophic failure
fix: Fix the code
Not available… Not accessible… or Access denied?
Schizophrenic
fix: Explain in plain words; see the next slide for an example
Why not this instead of the previous message
You may have no permissions to
view the content of the folder, or it
may be located on a computer with
which you do not have a connection.
Check your connection and try again
or contact your administrator for
permissions.
Useless
fix: Show the list of external references or link to it
Unnecessary
fix: Do not show (no need to tell users in a browser that a page will be reloaded, unless the reloading will take 3 minutes)
In progress
fix: No fix needed
In progress
fix: Use a normal progress indicator - see how the others do it
Predictive
fix: No fix needed
Preventive
fix: No fix neededOR: Avoid the popup – see the next slide
2014: jetBlue “eliminated” the popup
…the message now obscures the input
fix: Make the message non-modalOR: Make the user input visible
CAPS LOCK IS ON
We sometimes need to type in all caps
Caps Lock is a mode, we often do not notice it is ON
The Caps Lock key is too easy to hit, next to Shift
When we type passwords, we don’t see what we type
CAPS LOCK
fix: I challenge you to design one or two fixes!
Do and don’t
Reconsider the limitations:
why limit the password length?!
Try to avoid messages
Parse the user input:
both 12/05/14 and 2014-05-12 mean 12 May 2014
Change the UI:
a calendar picker might work well for entering dates
Try to avoid messages: 2
Spare the technical details:
most users do not care how the program works
example: “We found search results but will not show them in this mode. Search again on another screen.
Try to avoid messages: 3
Show a modal message only if you:
have no idea what else to do
have no time to do a better thing
feel it makes business sense
know it will never show up to users
Use modal messages as a last resort
Any internal message
that is not supposed to be seen by users
finds a way to float to the surface and
shows up to users
Jimmy’s axiom on messages
Coordinate text and closing
We want to do work (have fun, find information) not read messages
Yet we do not want to guess what is going on
Keep messages short, yet complete
“You have only view permissions”
is better than
“You do not have edit permissions”
Frame messages positively
and before you write “oops“
Think twice before you try fun
Have a reviewer
Better a colleague to find your splling mistakes
Work with a writer
These people are trained to write words and sentences
Ask for help
Yes, you can user-test even messages and it pays off
Test with users
1. Avoid messages, especially modal onesDON’T WRITE MESSAGES, DESIGN INTERACTIONS
2. If you have to give a message, make sure it is obvious who shows it. State: what happened
why
what users can do about it
3. Be practical
Soft performance boosters to take home
Bonus
The best message ever
source: http://tangra.si.umich.edu/~radev/public/onlybg2/Only_In_Bulgaria_08.jpg
FISHING PERMITTED
CARP1 KG – 3 LV
Non-ambiguous
Language familiar to target users
No excessive info; just the necessary
Substantial information: price
Gives direction
Large font: can be read from a moving car
Unobtrusive
What makes this message good?
Dimiter Simov @ ISTA 2014
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