A quick comment:
Not just number of buttons - Nr of functions per button is just as
important. And if you need a lookup table to be able to use the thing. I
have a terrible example at home - an alarm clock that only uses two
buttons. This means that you always need to press combinations of
buttons to make anything happen - and if you lose the manual (which
easily happens) the clock is just plain unuseable. I threw it away (and
we won't buy something like that again unless we can avoid it....:-). So
if possible - one button one function - and preferably an attempt at
self expanatory design - but with one button one function you can use
trial and error (that quickly becomes impossible if you have to
investigate if AABAAAB or ABBAAAB does the trick;-).
In general though with few functions it is not so hard to design
something that is both easy to use and looks easy. The problems begin
when you have many functions....
One kind of general "guideline" (apart from the usual published ones) is
actually to write a manual for your intended design. If you find you
need to go into long explanations or start making excuses it is probably
time to re-design:-)
Best wishes from a rainy Swweden,
/Charlotte
Charlotte Magnusson
Assistant Professor
Certec, Division of Rehabilitation Engineering Research
Department of Design Sciences
Lund University
Lund
Sweden
tel +46 46 222 4097
fax +46 46 222 4431
-----Original Message-----
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and
related research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Raymond Jepson
Sent: den 27 juli 2007 16:31
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Selling and perceiving usability
Dear Ken & group
I agree that in the real world, where users have access to a product and
can play with it, there are a huge number of factors that come into
usability. However, I'm in industry right now. I need to create an
interface that will look simple in a photo on a box. I know my
customers will not touch the product until they install it at home.
Now, my goal is to have the interfaces look simple and actually be
simple. Some others want it to look simple and only if possible, be
simple. In most cases, due to cost, I'm dealing with buttons, so I
can't do something too complicated.
For future products, I would like to do some testing. However, right
now I'm looking for some general non-specific guidelines I can use.
Thanks!
-Raymond
Ken Friedman wrote:
> Dear Raymond,
>
> Number of buttons is only one factor. Many other factors come into
> play -- experience, analogy, affordances, context, ease of learning,
> size, built-in instructions. There are more factors we can all
> identify if we think our way through different kinds of products.
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