Re: Refresh vs. Update

[Seth Greenberg <SETH -at- ELNICE -dot- NICE -dot- COM>]

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RE:The software people here think that Refresh is just fine and very intuitive.
They feel that Update implies changes that the user would have to perform.
A few non-techies (English language editors) had no idea what the Refresh
command would do. They preferred Update.
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Chani,

Sounds more like the software could use a tweak from
Engineering. If it's a program for non-techies, maybe
the refresh/update function should be automatic. In
other words, when you do whatever it is that requires
refreshing/updating, the screen should be refreshed
when you click OK, or do whatever you do to execute the
command.

When I've encountered the refresh issue (I can recall
two cases with two different techie-oriented programs),
the GUI engineer explained that refreshing is too
processor-intensive, and it would hold up the execution
of the command. The trade-off was that the user doesn't
have to wait for the command to execute, but, in the end
still doesn't see the result of his/her effort until the
screen is refreshed.

As far as educating a non-techie user about computer
jargon, it's challenging enough to explain how to use
the features that they actually do want to learn.

If possible, suggest that the GUI^2 include picture buttons
instead/in addition to just text (1,000 words and all).

Last resort: I'd go for Refresh, with a one-line
explanation of what it does. Update sounds as though
I'm going to have to do something after I click the
button. And Refresh is so...refreshing.


--Seth Greenberg
seth -at- marketing -dot- nice -dot- com
Tel Aviv