Types of Users

As I describe the three fundamental types of users—beginner, intermediate, and advanced—in detail, note that each skill level is really a combination of two different factors: Microsoft Windows experience level and application experience level. The more important factor is the user's overall level of experience with Windows. Since Windows programs are usually created from the same user interface building blocks, the skills a user acquires from using one Windows program usually apply to other programs. An experienced Windows user should be able to figure out how to use many other Windows programs (that is, if those programs have good interfaces) with very little help. The less significant factor is the user's overall level of experience in using the program in question and in performing the program's tasks. For example, I have been using Windows for years, but I am pretty much a beginner when it comes to three-dimensional animation programs or computer-aided design (CAD) programs. Understanding Windows doesn't help me much with such programs.

Beginning Users

Beginning users are determined largely by how much they know about Windows alone. And beginning users don't know much. Of course, this doesn't mean that beginning users aren't smart, but it does mean that certain user interface features are probably inappropriate for them. For example, if your program uses only context menus to accomplish a task, chances are that a beginning user won't be able to figure out how to do that task. The beginning user's experience just doesn't encompass advanced user interfaces such as context menus. Luckily for user interface designers, while all users start out as beginning users, few users stay beginners for long—with more and more experience with Windows, beginning users quickly become intermediate users. So, while it makes sense to make your program beginner-friendly, your real emphasis should be on accommodating intermediate and advanced users.

Intermediate Users

Intermediate users understand how to use the standard features of Windows fairly well. They are comfortable with context menus and dragging and dropping. They understand more subtle details, such as the difference between single-clicking and double-clicking. They have also used your program enough to know roughly how it works, but they don't understand all of its features, especially its advanced features. Intermediate users use your program only occasionally. If they used your program more often, they could become advanced users.

Advanced Users

Like intermediate users, advanced users understand almost all of the standard Windows user interface features. What separates advanced users from intermediate users is that advanced users understand most of the functionality of your program and they want to get their work done as quickly as possible. (Intermediate users are more willing to trade some efficiency for simplicity and ease of use.) Advanced users want to use toolbars and context menus instead of the menu bar. They want to keep their hands on the keyboard and use keyboard shortcuts whenever they can. They prefer to manipulate objects directly and want to see as few dialog boxes as possible. Advanced users typically use your program for several hours a day.

Since the difference between intermediate and advanced users has less to do with their Windows skills and more to do with how much they use a program, the majority of a program's users are intermediate users. As we will see in the next chapter, users typically spend most of their time with a few applications, eventually becoming advanced users of those programs. This leaves them too little time to master all the other programs they use. For example, users rarely become advanced users of utilities, simply because they don't use them long enough. I used the Find utility in Windows literally hundreds of times before I bothered to check its menu bar, and even then the reason I checked the menu bar was out of curiosity, not out of necessity. I can't imagine not checking the menu bar of an application. The difference between applications and utilities is discussed in detail in Chapter 7.