I’m currently reading “The Inmates are Running the Asylum†by Alan Cooper. Alan was one of the original developers of the “Paper Port†software program. Of all the windows programs I’ve used it truly was the easiest to use. You stuck a piece of paper into the scanner and it produced a scanned image, already named, into the programs desktop. Sad to say, that my new HP :â€All in One†scanner sucks in this aspect. You hit the scan button on the hardware and if your computer does anything at all, it produces a confirm dialog about what you want to do with the scan! -- “Just put the freakin thing on the desktop and then I’ll decide!â€
If nothing else the book gives you a great insight into the developer mind…..if you are fluent in a programming language that produces a UI you too are guilty of some of what he talks about in the book. Reading it is kind of like visiting a shrink that gets how we think!
Excerpt from the book about Amazons Jeff Bezos “1-Click†interface:
The programmers went off and coded for a while, and then brought the finished work to Jeff for him to try. He found a book he wanted and pressed the 1-Click button, whereupon the program asked him a confirming question! The programmers had converted his one-click interface into a two-click interface. To the programmers, this was simply an additional click—what’s the big deal? To Jeff—and to every user—it is a 100% inflation rate!