This week in ux-clinic: Beyond don’t make me think

This week in the ux-clinic discussion group:

Recently, I switched from working on consumer websites, to the more staid, practical, button-down world of accounting software. As in, accounting software for accountants. In reviewing all the usability classics, I’ve noticed how focused on the pick-up-and-play side of things most of it is.Aside from the odd mention of Fitts Law and the number of clicks required to perform a task, there’s little coverage given to designing for efficiency, especially expert efficiency, in interface design.Anyone have experience with designing for performance, not ease of learning, as job #1? What tips and/or references can the list offer that might help me adjust my mindset to this new set of demands? Is it even possible to make such data entry software a pleasure to use?

- Working beyond don’t make me think

Posted Monday, August 7th, 2006 at 10:22 am

in Design, UX-Clinic | 2 Comments » |

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Bob Marshall - August 17, 2006 at 11:55 pm #

You might care to take a look at the field of Interaction Design, and in particular the books (and website) of Alan Cooper. I suggest you’ll find lots of practical approaches to the problem you’ve described. Let us all know how you get on? It always interests me to see the reaction of programmers to the whole Interaction Design thing.

Cheers
Bob