How do you find your software interfaces?

Question

You all must have worked in one software or the other, its time to rate them and know which is better and why?

1) What is your name, country, profession and designation (if any)?

2) Please name a few softwares you frequently work on and try to find as many good and bad points about them.

3) Do you use windows or macintosh? Why?

4) Whose interface fascinates and attracts you more, windows or Mac? Which is easier to work with? Why?

5) Do you like sober colored softwares like photoshop or word or hightech gizmo styled softwared like morpheous or 3d max?

6) Do you like complex softwares like 3d max, mediocore softwares like photoshop or simple softwares like word?

7) Do you like dark softwares like morpheous, sober softwares like photoshop or bright softwares?

8) Do you like all the effects on MAC's interface or do you like it simple like windows 98? Or may be a mix of both as windows XP?

9) Are age old practiced icons and icon placements best for you like a cross for closing at top right or you want something new?

10) Do you like graphic icons like a bird with a mail in its beak depicting email or text icons with just "email" written?

11) Do you prefer a "x" button at top right with a caption "close" to help you understand it or without the caption?

12) Do you like to explore a complex software or a simple software is preferred which is understandable the very first time you see it?

13) Can you list a few errors or weak points you like about any software's interface?

14) Do you want some special things with your new software like may be captions for each button which disappear after a fixed time to ease working?

15) Would you like to help with a particular software creation by giving your personal inputs? If yes, my IM is coolshort5000..msg me!

Thanks guys..for taking your time and helping me but it will benefit us!

Answer 1

One question at a time.

8) Do you like all the effects on MAC's interface or do you like it simple like windows 98? Or may be a mix of both as windows XP?

I like OS X and the Vista copy even more.
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Answer 2

1. Rex / US / Web Architect (that means the most senior web person), Online Banking Division, major international bank

2. Software I use on a daily basis:
Microsoft:
Visual Studio 2003
Visual Studio 2005
SQL Server Enterprise Manager console
SQL 2000 Query Analyzer
SQL 2000 Profiler
SQL Server 2005 Management Studio
IIS 6.0 Management console
Enterprise Library management console
Word/Excel
Visio
Project
SharePoint
Outlook

Adobe/Macromedia:
Photoshop
Fireworks

IBM:
Lotus Notes
Sametime

In my opinion, Microsoft and Adobe/Macromedia have some of the best user interfaces in the world because they have been around the longest and have invested millions of dollars in research to discover the most effective UI strategies and methods. There is no reason not to take advantage of all this time and money spent by studying the results - their software.

IBM's Lotus Notes is, in my opinion, one of the most painful software programs I've ever had to use. It's slow as hell, completely non-standard with any other software application on the desktop. It buries every option into poorly organized menus and places the menus in too many different locations. It provides a myriad of icons for different functions that all blur together into a useless pile of symbols that are very hard to quickly scan and comprehend.


3. I use Windows because it is more suited to the enterprise environment. A macintosh works fine for causal use, graphic design and certain programming languages, but Windows just has more applications for the things I do. Also, I just don't like the Macintosh computing paradigm. I don't want my operating system to hide the unpleasant details of normal operation from me.

4. See #3

5. Software should always use a neutral palette and a solid interface. This is simple color theory - it is unpleasant to look at bold colors for long periods of time. Many inexperienced users are attracted to garish colors initially because they *are* more visually appealing than bland colors, but after the software has been around for awhile and the user is more interested in using it than looking at it, it will become more tiring to use it.

6. It is questionable whether Word is a simple piece of software. Considering all the myriad of options and nested menus and macro programming that Word is capable of, it is arguable that Word is just as complex as Photoshop. It's just not quite as hard to learn the basics. That having been said, it's not a matter of whether a person "likes" more or less complex software, it's a matter of what a person needs to do. If you are trying to make something that requires a circular saw but you just really like the hacksaw better, you still need to learn to use the circular saw. Everyone is obviously going to prefer things that require less effort, because humans are lazy. Humans will also enjoy the satisfaction of having conquered a challenge when learning complex software.

7. See #5

8. Visual effects are great as long as they don't hinder the user experience. If they are superfluous or cause the user to have to wait for the effect to finish, or if they make visual or interactive elements harder to focus on or understand, they are bad. Otherwise, there's no reason not to have them.

9. The oldest and most established UI elements are the oldest and most established for a reason - they are based on even older graphic design patterns and concepts that have proven to be successful. There is no reason to change them unless it can be demonstrated that the alternative is quantifiably better for users. Also, the best UI elements take advantage of symbology that is already culturally pervasive. If people already understand certain design elements to mean certain things, these should be reused.

10. A good e-mail icon is a mail icon, which is culturally pervasive.

11. Hover captions are useful but not necessary for things as pervasive as the "x" for close.

12. See question 6.

13. Nothing in particular...

14. The best user interfaces are self-explanatory. The most helpful thing for users who are inexperienced with how to teach themselves a new piece of software is a wizard or something that walks users through the UI and is very easy to turn off.

15. I'm always happy to provide software architecture and design help to other users. My website is currently being redesigned (http://www.rexmorgan.net) and when it is finished, there will be plenty of resources for developers and designers. Until then, just e-mail me using the Yahoo Answers messaging system.