World Usability Day - Making it Easy
Apparently tomorrow is World Usability Day. The slogan is “Making it Easy” which is generic enough, I suppose, but pointless and in my opinion, downplays what usability really is.
Tom Stewart wrote recently for the BBC:
Now, I have no objection to making life easier but I believe - and I’m supported in this view by an international standard - that a usable product or service has two other key features in addition to being easy or pleasant to use.
It must also be effective and efficient. In other words, the interface to our personal mp3 player should actually allow us to select the right music with an appropriate degree of effort and also be nice to use.
This approach to usability involves focusing on what users are trying to do with the product and making sure it delivers results without requiring us to be rocket scientists or contortionists. It doesn’t need to be easy - it depends on what we are doing.
It depends on what we’re doing. Context is important. A hammer is easy to use, until you want to make soup. Experience is important. Unix is easy to use but only if you know your ls from your rm *.
Usability is really, really important. But there’s a lot more to usability and making something good to use (as opposed to easy) than the trite slogan suggests.
On a lighter note, I’m going to put a usability violation ticket on my Mum’s stove. Take that, poorly designed stovetop!
