Plasma User Types

[Michael Rudolph]

On Saturday 12 April 2008 17:44:37 Sebastian Kuegler wrote:
> On Saturday 12 April 2008 15:29:21 Michael Rudolph wrote:
> > The only thing I'm still unwilling to accept is, that one has to
> > leave the old ladies behind. (how sad is that? :-) A sign of good
> > design is that it caters to 100% (which I like to simply refer to
> > as: humans), and only if one fails to come up with good design
> > should one try to do bad design, that at least appeals to 80%.
> > That's all.
>
> 80% of what? 100% of what? Of all human beings? of all possible
> computer users?
>
> So the "my grandma should be able to do it as well" did ring a bell
> to me, because I'm touting that this imaginatory "Aunt Tillie" does
> not matter to us at all, for the following reasons:
>
> - She's unlikely to adopt a Linux or KDE desktop at all mid-term
> - She's not the one spreading KDE
>
> I could go into details here, but I propose you read "Crossing the
> Chasm" which is a very enlightening read, especially on the "broad or
> narrow focus" question.
>
> Ow, and I don't agree with one of your points: often poor designs are
> characterised by a lack of focus. Trying to accomodate is a good way
> of not making it work well for anybody because you have to make too
> many compromises.
>
> BTW, what are you proposing as an alternative, other than not having
> focus at all? :)

Hi Sebastian,

the reference for the percentages was intentionally left unspecified, 
since, as you might have understood, to me, this discrimination will 
not guide us in the right direction, anyway; so 10000% of whatever.

The problem is that people think user interface design is rocket 
science, when really it is not. Sure, if it was complicated and no one 
could ever get it right, we should give in and try to create something 
that at least some can use.

But I hold that when we look at the problem the right way, usable and 
enjoyable interfaces will actually be rather obvious. And looking at 
current users is not the right way to look at the problem, because this 
way we are already bringing too much ideas of how user interfaces 
currently work to the table. To create a great user experience you have 
to forget about everything you know about current user interfaces and 
start fresh with just what you know about humans (100%).

If you don't want to believe me, perhaps I can direct your attention to 
two of the best user interfaces the technology world has seen in a long 
time. The iphone has the best user interface of any mobile phone and 
the wii has the best one of any game console. And the design teams 
surely didn't get there by looking at how people use these devices 
today, but at how people should be using these devices. And funnily, if 
I had to give a mobile phone or a game console to your aunt Tillie, I'd 
give her an iphone and a wii.

There is not the slightest doubt in my mind, that we can do even better 
than apple and nintendo combined and plasma is already halfway there, 
but I'm not so confident, that I can convince you today, so I'll just 
let you do your thing and we will see what happens.

michael