Choose the Default Configuration Carefully

As users gain experience with your program, they will make the transition from beginner to intermediate to advanced. Your program can accommodate this transition by providing enough depth in functionality to satisfy the more advanced users. Your program might provide things like multirow toolbars, several types of docking windows, and floating palette windows. Whatever you do, don't display all these windows on the screen by default. If your program has a lot of functionality, let users grow into it at their own pace. You don't need to show every feature in the beginning—let the user choose to display these other windows when they are ready. If you initially present your program with a clutter of windows, the reaction isn't going to be "Cool, look at all these neat features!" Rather, more likely the reaction is going to be "Whoa, what is all this junk?" Users unfamiliar with a program are rarely impressed by a clutter of windows.

TIP
Make your program's default configuration very simple. Let users grow into the program at their own pace.

Making your program highly configurable also helps accommodate a wide range of users. But make sure that the default program configuration is usable for beginners without modification. Users typically don't start to configure a program until they become familiar with it.

Understanding your users' skill level plays an important role in a program's user interface design. Users with different skill levels have different needs and different goals. Consequently, you need to make sure to select those user interface elements that are appropriate for your target users. Ideally, your program should have enough depth to accommodate a wide range of users and to allow a user to grow into it.

Once you understand the type of user you are dealing with, are you ready to start designing the user interface? Well, no—there is one more step. You also need to understand the type of program you are designing and the implications of the different program types. These are the subjects of the next chapter.



Developing User Interfaces for Microsoft Windows
Developing User Interfaces for Microsoft Windows
ISBN: 0735605866
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 334

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