User interface is THAT important
You like things that are gratifying. And by this, I mean they affect you. It might not be life altering, but it forces you to pause. The physical world provides us with daily gratifications embedded in music, phones, and cars. It’s what distinguishes successful products. But when it comes to web applications, I continuously see a lack of respect for creating a gratifying web application. How does this happen (over and over again)? In the upcoming weeks, I will be writing a series of articles on gratifying UI. Today’s post is an introduction to the different directions I will be investigating.
Vital Web Applications
My mornings are pretty routine. I wake up at 5:30, unplug my Blackberry, and read through my emails. Then I get up, let the dogs out, maybe eat a little cereal, and eventually bring my Thinkpad out of standby. Groggily, I open Facebook to see if any of my friends are in relationships. 30 seconds later I check bank account balances followed by Google analytics, and eventually read some blog postings. After I’ve completed my morning status check, I login to Basecamp where I remain for the next twelve hours. I’m making a point and it is not that I wake up early and work long hours, it’s that I checked Facebook first, followed by several other important web applications. Each of these web applications could change my life at any moment; i.e. a girl that I’ve liked since 6th grade could become single or an unexpected financial transaction could be processed. The information that each application provides is vital. And that’s how you make a good web application. You create an application that becomes part of someone’s morning queue.
Niche Authorities
Being a reliable, on demand, resource works too. Not every web application aims to be a daily staple. In fact, most web applications that want to have a fighting chance, try to be a niche authority. They succeed by doing a better job, solving fewer problems.
I suspect a general user’s interest is highly underestimated. If a user is looking for a widget, the user WANTS the widget. They don’t want anything more than to purchase the widget. So then why am I also required to create an account, check boxes about newsletters, and asked about extended warranties before I can pay? If users have a successful first experience, they will return creating future page views allowing new opportunities to collect more information.
Does your user interface birdie par?
I’m always jazzed to play golf until I actually play. After slicing the ball into the rough on my first stroke and ricocheting it to the opposing fairway on my second, frustration mounts. With a slightly better third stroke, I put the ball 50 yards shy of the green, but still in the trees. The pitching wedge brings me within feet of the pin. Three strokes later, however, my putter is found lifeless in a nearby lake while I contemplate seven strokes on a par three. The first hole was much different for my golf buddy, Eric. He shot a whopping 320 yard drive out of the blocks laying him up for a comfortable 20 yard pitch. With both strokes perfectly executed, Eric makes the ball magically disappear with an inaudible tap of his putter. If golf skill translated to Internet skill, Eric could adapt to complexly convoluted web applications like he can to bunkers, hills, and lakes. But most users can’t, and those who can will find easier alternatives. Like a golfer attempting to birdie par, building an interface that users master before losing interest will improve conversion.
