What Does All This Mean?

A programmer's goals, background, and preferences necessarily form the basis upon which he makes decisions about how to implement software. Unfortunately, many poor user interface decisions have resulted from programmers putting their goals ahead of the users'.

The next time you see a programmer create an awful user interface, ask him what his motivation was. You probably won't get an answer like "I was trying to help the user accomplish this task more efficiently." You are more likely to hear something like "I found this neat ActiveX control on the Internet and wanted to use it in the program somehow. Isn't it cool?" Sorry, it's not cool. It's really lame. You cannot possibly create a good user interface with this type of thinking.

TIP

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Be an advocate for the user. Put the user's goals ahead of your goals.

Some people believe that programmers can't create good user interfaces because they are incapable of looking at software from the user's point of view. I don't buy this idea at all. Programmers can create good user interfaces, but they need to understand how to do it right, just like anyone else. Universally declaring that programmers can't create good user interfaces doesn't help anyone. And hearing that they are incapable certainly doesn't encourage programmers to improve their user interface skills.

Understanding that there really is a conflict between your goals as a programmer and the user's goals is half the battle. If you look at the user interface from the user's point of view and become an advocate for helping the user get his work done, you are well on your way to creating great user interfaces.

TIP

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Looking at the user interface from the user's point of view is the first step in creating great user interfaces.