Re: Fw: Upper Management Knowledge of GUIs
In general, I don't think that the "user interface" concept is widely
understood by people not located somewhere on the nerd-geek continuum.
Expecting non-technical users or managers to know about it is
unrealistic.
Agreed.
"You just use the computer by pointing at stuff and clicking
buttons... isn't that how all computers work and have always worked? Every computer I've ever seen works that way."
That covers one subset of the user world. I just encountered a completely different subset (and I have no idea whether or not this is relevant to the OP's situation).
I have a client (someone I built a Web site for) who is in the industrial supply manufacturing business. That's a fancy way of saying he builds pallets. He bought a piece of equipment that is monitored by a dedicated computer. He's got Windows 95 on the machine, and the program that monitors the equipment hasn't been updated since Windows 3.0. Neither he nor his foreman has a computer on his desk. They both have computers at home on which they can just barely browse the Web and read email (through a browser interface, not a mail client), but need help on a regular basis from their kids to do even that much. So we're talking pretty primitive skill levels here. These are not stupid people or <cough/> old people, either.
The interaction with the monitoring software (which is well documented if you have even a _basic_ understanding of computers and have ever interacted with a Windows program other than a browser) is one of fear, confusion, panic, .... You get the picture.
The client and foreman had been trained briefly (but not tested) when the system was installed a year or two ago. However, now they were going to have to actually run it; and they had forgotten how. So they called me in. I walked them through the operation of the software and, at the client's request, prepared a VERY brief cheat sheet to post on the wall.
Fast forward a couple of weeks, during which time the foreman has used the system a couple of times; but now it is time to create a new folder to hold April records and I get a panicky phone call. Creating a new folder each month is something I've documented for them. You know what the hangup was? The word "navigate." The guy could not look at a dialog and figure out what control to click in order to move up a folder level. The concept of "folder" and the little yellow folder icon did not connect in his mind.
Point at stuff and click buttons? Yeah, if the stuff has names and meanings. Otherwise, it's just a sea of pretty pixels. Button? What button? All I see is dots.
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References:
Fw: Upper Management Knowledge of GUIs: From: Anonymous Poster
Re: Fw: Upper Management Knowledge of GUIs: From: Barry Campbell
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