1 of the things that gets me about this conversation is that it is spoken about in terms of absolutes. "the iphone is not easy to use."
really? the entire device is "not easy to use"? As to the specific scenario, I haven't checked but I wonder if the new Voice command might be a way out for people who urgently and w/o attention to small motor movements (with no haptic feedback) would require. I bet you could easily add a 911 entry to your contacts, and say, "Dial 911" and it will do its thing! (I wonder if there is just not a dial emergency command already embedded in the app. never checked and don't want to test out of fear of getting arrested. To the bigger issue on the distinction between learnability and usability there are some other things to consider: discoverability - can I find what it is to do?, "doability" - Once I know, can I actually physically or mentally do it? (the ability to do the action, ala Joan's inability to as of yet swipe with predictable results). I think that repeatedly 2nd and 3rd level functionality (non-primary) can be very difficult to discover and some unnecessarily so. e.g. the way you get the map to turn in against your gps position is not indicated. It actually only indicates as a button when you are IN the mode, but not to get in it. I've actually always had this problem w/ play/pause on iTunes, too. Should the icon be what I'm doing, or what I can do? In general though, my point is that this is not an all or nothing type thing. Apple like every other development company has its processes and procedures for testing (not necessarily user testing) their ideas before they launch them. the question is, in the balancing act between the many different elements of the iPhone, can we really say it is "hard to use"? If my toddler of 3 can already use it, I don't think we can make that assumption. -- dave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=45113 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
