3 Strategies to Make Your App Easier to Use
Web-based software is all about democratizing functionality. It used to be that you had to have expensive packages like Adobe Photoshop to edit your photos and Cubase to write a song. With the ever-expanding data pipe and more robust browser-based development platforms, anyone with a modern web browser can run apps like picnik to tweak their snapshots or Hobnox's Audiotool to make a beat. Not only are these apps inexpensive-to-free, they also make the activities they support more accessible to the lay audience. Creating simplicity out of complexity is no easy task, but there are a few things you can do to help more people get great results out of your web applications.
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3D on the Web
Twenty years ago I was playing Rad Racer and watching Captain EO in 3D. I would have predicted that by now, we'd be well into the 3D era of entertainment. However, films like Up and Avatar have only recently brought 3D into the mainstream of Hollywood. Going forward, I can't imagine many major animated or action films NOT being released in 3D. While being the last person on Earth to see Avatar this past weekend, I couldn't help but think how this technology might one day relate to my day job. Will the type of 3D effects we're now seeing on the big screen make it onto the web? I think so, but it will take a while and won't be as impactful as it has been for the movie industry.
3D entertainment content will make its way onto the web first.
It's not a huge leap to expect we'll be seeing movie trailers offered online in a 3D format in the near future. When you go to a movie's trailer page, you're already seeing multiple options for the resolution of the trailer. Tacking on a 3D option seems to be a no-brainer; they're already filming the movie in 3D anyway and the only barrier for the user is obtaining a cheap pair of glasses. After movies, I expect to see video games make the leap. In fact, I'm sure armies of people are working to make this happen as we speak.
"Web" content will follow with shopping sites leading the way.
There are a number of other types of content that would benefit greatly from the 3D treatment. Most notably, I can imagine users wanting to view products like sneakers, bike helmets, furniture, etc. in 3D. Allowing rotating views of certain products was a big leap forward for online shopping experiences. Enhancing that type of online product browsing with 3D would be another step forward. In addition to retail, I envision real estate tours, trail maps, photo sharing sites, and infographics all benefiting from 3D enhancement.
Will we see interfaces designed for 3D?
We'll likely see some attempts to make this happen, but ultimately, it won't catch on. I think the path here is roughly analogous to the one Flash previously went down. It's a great fit for delivering certain types of content (video, audio, games, etc.), but building entire interfaces around the technology typically creates more problems (accessibility being a big one) than it solves. I have a hard time envisioning 3D interfaces providing a real, tangible benefit to users.
Don't start worrying about 3D any time soon.
Ultimately, designing for 3D content is not going to have a major impact on web and user experience designers' jobs in the near future. I'll be on the watch out for the first movie trailer site that offers the 3D option though.
The 3 Rules to Breaking Up
If you accept sign ups for your website, there will inevitably come a time when some of your users no longer desire to use their accounts. Sometimes, this is because they've moved on with their lives and don't need your services anymore. Other times, it might be because they've found someone else. No matter what the reason, the way in which you handle the break up can be the difference between an angry tweet and a recommendation to a friend; afterall, you're likely not going to know why they left in the first place. The following three rules will hopefully give you some guidance for how your website might handle breakup situations in the future.
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Rule #1: Let them retrieve their data
In the words of the faux boy band, 2gether, "The hardest part of breaking up is getting back your stuff." If your website allows people to publish podcasts, manage photos, create contact lists, store bookmarks, etc., it's a good idea to provide a method for bulk exporting this content into a format that can reused. For example, Wordpress provides an export feature that generates an XML file with all blog content - posts, tags, categories, etc. This XML file can be imported into other blogging platforms.
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Rule #2: Provide a way to cancel or delete accounts
Having lingering accounts floating around the web with names and email addresses potentially associated can be worrisome to certain people. While you could argue that changing a username and email address is effectively the same as deleting an account, to me, there's a pleasant feeling associated with deleting an account I'm no longer using - like I picked up after myself. This is especially true in cases where I've inadvertantly created multiple accounts on the same site. As an example, I once had multiple accounts on GitHub and was pleased to discover how easily they allowed me to Cancel my account. The process involved two clicks with no questions asked and I appreciated them for it.
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Rule #3: Don't call or write
Once I've signaled to a website that I no longer want to use my account by either deleting the account or becoming inactive, I really don't want to receive emails asking me why I left or trying to entice me to come back (a confirmation email after an account is deleted is obviously fine.) Some may disagree with this one and argue that it's good follow-up marketing to send out an email after a user has gone inactive for a certain period of time. I disagree. While it might be possible to lure a small percentage of former visitors back to your site by following up with them down the road, you're likely annoying a larger number of people (some of whom may still be using your website through a different account) with un-solicited emails.
In the end, if someone wants to stop using your website, there's nothing you can do about it - and that's okay. Give people a nice experience on their way out and there's a better chance they'll come back to you if they do in fact need your website again in the future. Even more importantly, if you you see a trend of users becoming inactive or deleting their accounts, find out why and improve your website.
Evolution not Revolution
"It's just a big iPod Touch."
"Exactly," I say. "Isn't it great?"
There's been a lot of criticism of the new iPad around here at Viget. With most of the office working on MacBooks and living out of their iPhones, you'd think the Mac FanBoyism would be strong, but on the whole the lab rats don't seem to be impressed. But I think i think it's a fascinating product offering. Why?
As a user experience designer, I love the way Apple evolves their user interfaces. Apple warms its users up to new ways of interacting with their products by introducing simplified versions of an interface and gradually add more features and apply it in more contexts as users become comfortable. Let me give you a few examples.
Case Study: Cover Flow to Quicklook
Apple first introduced the Cover Flow carousel in iTunes. It was a clever idea that made your mp3s a little more "physical." An OS update or two later, the Cover Flow appeared in the Finder as a way of looking previewing files. Apple continued to iterate on the idea of giving you larger previews of your files by introducing Quicklook, where you can actually scroll through PDFs, documents and spreadsheets.
Case Study: Keyboards to Touch-screens
I'm always hearing people say that they'll never transition to a touchscreen keyboard, but I think those who use Apple laptops have been doing just that without knowing it. Over the last several generations of its notebooks, Apple has reduced the travel on its keyboards considerably. While at first it looked like Apple was compromising tactile feedback for form-factor, I think they've been training their users to happily use touchscreen keyboards by gradually reducing the tactile feedback they expect. Now, the iPad introduces a nearly laptop-sized touch-screen keyboard. It's like the parable of the frog in the pot.
Case Study: Two-finger Scroll to Multi-touch and Gestural Control
Two-fingerscroll wasn't necessarily the most innovative feature
Apple ever introduced, but I've seen it change the way people navigate
on their lappies. Whether we knew it or not, it also changed the way we
thought about our trackpads, showing the concept of gestural commands
to users who don't spend their days geeking out on how people interact
with their computers. With the introduction of the iPhone, Apple was
able to give users a more direct way to use multi-touch and gestures to
interact with their information.
http://www.apple.com/macbook/features.html#trackpad
On to the iPad
Yes, the iPad is a big, and I dare say, horsey-looking (thanks for the adjective, @graphicsgirl), iPod Touch. And yes, I'm a little disappointed that my next laptop purchase won't be an Apple Tablet with a 2.4GHz+ Intel Core 2 Duo processor. But when we step back from our unrealistic consumer expectations for a minute and look at the iPad next to the iPod Touch, there are two important things to note. First, size does matter. With a 9" screen, not only can we really read on the thing, but I can get most of my 10 fingers on there at once. The possibilities for multi-touch interfaces are much more compelling when you have room to use two hands and see what you're pointing at (see the Jazz Mutant Lemur for an example). Second, the iPad is aimed at entertainment and netbook consumers. The iPad is the not-so-missing link between the iPhone and a true Apple Tablet. As users become familiar with multi-touch as their primary input method the UI designers at Apple have time to identify and overcome the limitations of multi-touch for more complex and critical tasks (as @crnixon says: "It's not a computer if I can't program on it").
As for me, I'm pretty happy with this evolutionary step. As an electronic music nerd who got on the waiting list for one of the first-iteration monome and has more music-making or midi apps than info or organization apps, I'm downright giddy at the idea of having a 9" multi-touch screen I can use to control Ableton Live and Max/MSP.
Five Major Identity Schemes, and How to Decide
Almost any site that has user-generated content has an identity system in place. Choosing that identity system is one of the first decisions made by any product team, though most seem to punt on it and go with the standard option of allowing users to create a username or screen name of sorts. There are other options, though, and this choice can have a pretty substantial impact on not only the functionality of the site, but also on the character of the community that gathers there. Here are five primary options, with some examples of sites in the wild that use them, followed by a few ideas on how to choose.
The Default: Pseudonyms
The vast majority of sites are based on a pseudonymous identity system, where users choose a name by which they'll be known on the site. For example, on most sites where I register, by pseudonym is 'whafro,' and has been for nearly twenty years now. It's not anonymous, per se, because actions are attributable to someone in particular, though their genuine identity may not be known.
Wide Open: Anonymous
Far fewer sites provide an anonymous system, where there isn't any identity attributed to a user, real or fictional. Craigslist's anonymize option is probably the most noteworthy example of this type in the wild, and it's a double-edged sword for them. On one hand, people take advantage of the anonymity to use the service in ways they probably wouldn't otherwise, and it's led to a very healthy site. However, the site can come across as being sketchy, especially when it's used to commit a crime, and that likely keeps away many folks who may otherwise use the site.
Of course, the question of whether or not any user is ever truly anonymous is a different one. Often, these sites maintain logs of IP addresses or other information that could be used to identify a user in the event of criminal activity or something like that.
The Truth: Abstracted Names
Yelp uses what I call an abstracted identity model. Users are generally represented using their first names with a last initial, like 'Jackson W.' This creates the feeling that you're interacting with real people, while still providing a healthy amount of distance between your actual identity. Especially for a site centered on local reviews like Yelp, this model can help establish authenticity while not scaring folks away.
Sure, there probably isn't more than one Jackson W. in Falls Church, Virginia, but it's at least abstracted away a step or two from being my complete identity. In fact, a quick Google search for those terms doesn't really yield much of value.
The Whole Truth: Real Names
While it wasn't initially the case, Facebook now places a lot of emphasis on the use of real names throughout their service, making it a required part of their terms of use. For a while, this wasn't the case, and I had friends with names like "Mother Superior" and "Jaaaaaaaaybo," but they've all been kicked into line by now. Even people who change their names more than once may find their accounts locked -- so if you change your name when you get married, don't divorce ;)
This makes complete sense for a network where the emphasis is on interacting with people you actually know. Unlike many topical social networks, Facebook really doesn't have many great avenues for meeting people you don't know, and everything is tailored to help you find keep up with those you actually have met offline. Offline, people generally interact with each other using their real names, so Facebook tries to mimic this as much as possible.
Nothing But the Truth: Genuine Identities
While Facebook emphasizes the use of real names, they aren't checking IDs or anything during the sign-up process to ensure that the name you've given them is genuinely your name. Yes, that means that you could sign up for an account as M. Jackson Wilkinson and pretend that you're me -- not that there's anything remotely interesting about doing so. Other services are beginning to experiment with taking the next step and actually verifying that the assumed identity is in fact genuine.
Twitter has started verifying accounts for well-known people -- think Shaq and Ashton Kutcher -- through their Twitter Verified program. For accounts that have a history of impersonation, Twitter staff gets in contact with the account holder and verifies that it does indeed represent the person it claims to. It then places a badge in a specific spot on the profile that advertise this verification so others can have confidence that it's a legit source. Now that news agencies are actually using Twitter as a real source for news, this has become increasingly important.
Amazon has a similar process for its members, using it most often in the context of reviews. When a reviewer's name appears alongside a Real Name badge, that verifies that the name given is the same name as on the user's credit card. In this case, it's used to give users confidence in the reviews posted by these members, showing that a real person is standing behind the opinion given, rather than an anonymous coward throwing tomatoes.
Choosing the Right Combination
Of course, your product need not commit to only one of these systems. Slashdot allows for anonymous comments, posted as "Anonymous Coward" and rated down by default, while letting logged-in users post with their pseudonyms without the anonymous penalty. On SpeakerRate, one of our products here at Viget, we use pseudonyms by default, and allow users to validate their accounts against a LinkedIn profile, in which case we use their real names as defined by LinkedIn.
The key to choosing a system is balancing the needs for the contributor's privacy against the skepticism of the consumers. In Yelp's case, a pseudonymous identity system might lead some to think that many reviews of local restaurants are being posted by the restaurant staff itself. That might still be the case, but at least it's discouraged by the emphasis on abstracted real names. In Facebook's case, privacy in terms of identity isn't really necessary for people who are supposed to know each other anyway. For a forum dealing with sensitive topics like disgruntled workers, relationships, or medical issues, anonymity might be crucial to creating a safe haven for people to share their thoughts.
In the end, it's important not to gloss over the identity system. As easy as it is to create a typical signup and login process based on pseudonyms, it could be a major roadblock in the way of building a community that can grow organically. It's one of the first, and most important, elements of your product's user experience.