RE: User training [was: Integrating the chrome]

Agree. There was a time before the web, that people used tiled windows. Then
the web came and changed that along with other changes in behavior. Recently
tabbed windows for handling multiple web sites came and caused a change.
Changes to occur, users adapt. Sometimes really superior interfaces come and
change peoples style of interaction - then adoption is still quicker, but
does require change - e.g. when Excel changed the Lotus 123 command line.
Don't be afraid of change - new user interactions might actually be
welcomed.

-----Original Message-----
From: public-wsc-wg-request@w3.org [mailto:public-wsc-wg-request@w3.org] On
Behalf Of Michael(tm) Smith
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 10:06 AM
To: W3 Work Group
Subject: User training [was: Integrating the chrome]


"Close, Tyler J." <tyler.close@hp.com>, 2006-12-04 17:12 -0600:

[...]
> Under the above regime, the user becomes habituated to using the form
> filler to provide input to web pages, and to having their locus of
> attention drawn to the chrome's indicators. In a phishing attack, the
> user would activate the form filler, drawing their attention to the
> chrome's indication that the user does not have a relationship with the
> host site, and to the indication that the user's credit card number has
> never been provided to the host site. At this point, we can hope that a
> significant number of users would become suspicious. Some amount of user
> training might be required to teach users that when they encounter this
> situation they should abandon the current transaction and attempt to
> visit the expected site via some other means, such as a previously
> stored bookmark.

I think it's likely that some amount of user training is going to
be needed for any new UI mechanisms. It doesn't seem terrifically
realistic for us to expect that we can come up with mechanisms
that effective and yet so simple that they aren't going to require
some changes in user behavior.

I think general user behavior with respect to a certain class of
applications can change over time. One example I can think of is
user behavior with websites that require vertical scrolling.
Years ago, most usability studies that looked vertical scrolling
concluded that users absolutely hated sites that required them to
do a lot of vertical scrolling. But I remember seeing a more
recent study which found that users hate it a whole lot less than
they used to. I think one of the conclusion was that users just
seemed to have gotten more used to it, along with the fact that
there have been hardware improvements, such as the scroll wheel on
mice, that make it a lot less painful than it used to be.

  --Mike

Received on Thursday, 7 December 2006 13:56:24 UTC