Moving Forward

In conclusion, remember to think about the patience level of your users. Since you built the software, you know very well what the software is doing when it stops and freezes up momentarily with that hourglass showing, and therefore you know that the program isn’t dead. And you might even be running some debugging tools, monitoring its progress. But the users, on the other hand, don’t know that. All they know is that they clicked the button and now nothing is happening.

But don’t just focus on the hourglass. Think of other ways you can help your users maximize their productivity. Can you add bookmarks to give them single-click access to their favorite documents or commands? Can you think of other ways to speed up your software and make your users more efficient? Surely there’s something you can do to speed up the software.

In the following chapter, “Highly Navigable Software,” I talk about ways to optimize your menus and make your software more navigable. I show you how you can make it very easy for your users to get to the information they need. Then in Chapter 6, “Data, Reports, and Printouts,” I show you how you can present the information. As you read these two chapters, think about time management and how you can keep your users as happy as possible by making your software operate quickly and efficiently.