User Interface Matters

One of my good friends related a story to me about some of the earliest Hewlett Packard programmable calculators in the early 80’s.   When engaging in lengthy number crunching, the calculator would  print  “crunching” (or processing, or something) on the display, and every few seconds it would add a dot, so the user would know something was happening.  User feedback is always a good idea, yes?

Then the erstwhile HP engineers discovered that if they completely decoupled the display while serious crunching was going on, they could make the computations run 30-40% faster.  Naturally they assumed the users would appreciate such a significant speed increase, so on their next revision, they just shut the screen down on lengthy computations.

Users complained about the slowdown! These are HP early adopters, mind you, mostly “rational” scientists and engineers.  Remember, when objectively measured,  the computations were measurably and significantly faster when the screen was decoupled!   WTF?

Even though these engineer users tend to be very intelligent, they are still monkeys at the core, just like everyone.    Turns out the human animal is entertained by any type of motion, even just a row of little dots slowly crawling across a tiny display.   Stillness, dead air time, black screen, white screen, and jerky updates are extremely disconcerting and anxiety provoking, even to the rational human who should know better.    In subjective time, the computations seemed slower without the feedback, even though in objective time we know they were  faster.

What does that say about modern User Interfaces?   We’ve known for years that showing a loading animation or progress bar while doing something slow alleviates user impatience.  Allowing asynchronous partial page updates a la Ajax cuts down on the klunky, jerky amateurish feel we’ve come to know and hate in web apps.    Smooth transitions when enlarging something (for example a slideup animation instead of an element just suddenly becoming bigger) make the experience more pleasant for users in ways they don’t usually articulate.  If you ask a user about a piece of software that has every possible function but works kind of jerky, vs. one with more limited functionality but runs really slick, the user is likely to say oh yeah the first one is better because it does “blah.”  However, if you watch which one they actually use, guess which one wins.

I’ve been on the wrong end of many software projects that did something brilliant but users couldn’t figure them out.  Us geeks thought, ‘this will save them so much time and they need this functionality so bad they’ll be breaking down the door to learn it.’  WRONG. They will continue to do things in a paleolithic plodding manual way, because at least they understand how that works.   How many times have I heard, “I didn’t have time to figure out the program, so I did it the long way?”  How many times have I been guilty of that myself?   User Interface matters. As these days approximately 97% of web surfers have JavaScript enabled, I am willing to leave behind those that don’t in favor of a much more favorable experience for the majority.

6 comments to User Interface Matters

  • I always feel bad when I don’t use a progress bar and other people end up using my program. Even though it often serves absolutely no real purpose, having one really does make people feel better about waiting.

    Steves last blog post..Understanding Medicare and Lift Chairs

  • Well, it definitely serves the purpose of some who have impatient visitors and are often flattered or you can say glued to the page when they get the idea that something was happening..

  • Oho there is a very self serving purpose for putting it there. In a web app you will lose customers while they are waiting for something. Having that fascinating progress bar to watch keeps more of them there. Retaining your visitors always translates to more sales.

  • Hey,
    I have one of the 41CV models! I love it, and still use it

    Bills last blog post..Got a Wish? Let Santa Know

  • it could be a little thing, but it’s a pretty useful one in terms of retaining your users… it’s a simple sign that the app or the machine is still running and not put on a sudden stall

    fayes last blog post..Red Mobile: Smart Takes a Pawn and Seeks a Fork

  • […] User Interface Matters by Colleen Dick: the earliest Hewlett Packard programmable calculators in the early 80’s. When engaging in lengthy number crunching, the calculator would print “crunching” (or processing, or something) on the display, and every few seconds it would add a dot, so the user would know something was happening. … HP engineers discovered that if they completely decoupled the display while serious crunching was going on, they could make the computations run 30-40% faster. Naturally they assumed the users would appreciate such a significant speed increase, so on their next revision, they just shut the screen down on lengthy computations. […]

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