On Jun 9, 2008, at 7:19 PM, Robert Hoekman Jr wrote:
It's not so much that the "Save Now" button do what users expect.
It's that it do what users need, which, if I'm not mistaken, is to
save the stuff now.
It's possible I'm just overanalyzing your statement, but when I read
it initially, it felt a little unsettling.
Granted, I've said many times that "it's not necessarily about
simplicity, it's about clarity", which is a statement with a similar
intent — to point out that one term/phrase is perhaps accurate than
the other and encourage people to consider the distinction. Still,
something about it just caught my ears wrong.
Maybe it's because it sort of ... cancels itself out. As in, the
need the user has at a given moment may only exist because you
created/encouraged an expectation in the first place, but then you
say a good experience isn't about meeting expectations.
Hard to articulate, I guess. Just sounded ... off ... somehow.
It's ok. I don't mind the discussion. In fact, it's a good thing.
I thought this would play into your Activity-Centered Design mantra.
After all, understanding user expectations would require studying
users, which I thought was against the rules of ACD. Whereas, just
looking at needs would be focusing on the goals of the activity. Isn't
this a suit that feels comfortable to you? :)
Seriously, all I'm trying to say is that if you try to focus on
expectations, it's a hit-or-miss proposition. If you focus on needs,
you increase the odds of a hit.
Jared
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