On Saturday 01 December 2007 01:45:30 :murb: [maarten brouwers] wrote: Hi Maarten,
> Hi Graham, [....snip out the points on cost definitions and sales/Marketing that we agree on ....] > > >> I think you over-simplified the type of questions. Problem with a > >> question based approach is that it may not fit all questions (or the > >> user may have formulated their questions differently). Furthermore, long > >> texts on buttons are not easy to process either, so I am not sure > >> whether that would fit in with the simplicity approach. > > > > Actually that is incorrect, when a person is in a familiar environment > > then yes a simple suggestion, a single word, a simple icon is enough > > (however...)? > > > The most basic intuition is to read sentences. People do not read words. > > They read blocks of words in groups of between five and eight. People > > are ALWAYS attracted to any sentence with " I " in it. I'm talking the > > Definite Pronoun here not the letter. They will then take in the block > > of text around that. They will read large text first before small. They > > will read anything in or around the colour Orange before anything else. > > All of the above are on the level of instinctive > > Is it your intuition or some intuition learned at marketing schools, or > some basic scientific knowledge behind it? I know people don't read > letters, but do read words. Focusing on "I", is something I have never > heard of, but could be true. I only know that a lot of user interaction is > done using single/two word buttons and icons, which has been reasonably > effective in creating usable interfaces. That is not to say that I would > formulate this email in one word 'sentences' rather than the format I am > using now. Sentences are great for communication, explaining, but I doubt > whether an interface should be based around Q/A. And that is what you seem > to suggest. I don't mind having question/statements like, 'Why should I > download OOo?' but, I wouldn't want such sentence as a button. A link, > could do, but not a button... Why? Interface language is variable in terms of what is required of that interface. A couple of questions come to mind, "For whom Is the interface designed" (This is not as simple an answer as first seems) The "I" thing and Orange thing is a pretty well known in pedagogical and behavioural science circles. I simplified it rather drastically for ease of understanding, but it can seem a bit like Snake Oil. > > Hard to give a definite answer, but the main thing that is coming to my > mind is because no-one else is doing it, and there has to be some reason > for it. I would think it is because sentences, multiple words, take longer > to process, cognitively. Silly, too extreme, example but still: > > "I would like to download OpenOffice.org" > "I don't want to download yet, but want to read first" Heh you paraphrased! Naughty! :) These are what I call Action Statements and they are "I would like to download OpenOffice.org now" "I want to learn more about OpenOffice.org before I download it" Don't leave the name out, it's important as is the time. Action Statements are not random, the words are carefully chosen > > Compare that to: > > "Download" > "More Info" Good comparison Show a person unfamiliar with the OOo website the above phrases. Your ones first with no context. Yours are cryptic, no doubt. Do they make sense out of context, no. Do they make sense to someone familiar with OOo? Sure, they would make perfect sense. But we have to step outside our own familiarity. If a person is unfamiliar with the OOo website then "Download" and "More info" are not taken "in context". Context comes with familiarity. A person such as you or I, familiar with the website and the Internet in general will immediately put "Download" and "More Info" into the context of the surrounding page. But even then the statements are not obvious. They just create questions. "Download".... Download what? .... now? later? "More info" ..... More info about what? why do I need more info? You have to remember that many of our clients are not even familiar with the Internet and yes after a few minutes people will read around the page and add context, however isn't there a thing somewhere about people moving on from a webpage in 15 seconds on average or something like that. I can't remember but you would probably know that sort of thing better than I. The point is that the new user has to put "Download" and "More Info" into context, that takes time. What the Action Statements do is they are definitive. The new user doesn't know exactly what is going to happen but pretty close to it. We make it specific to them by including the Definite Pronoun. "I" in the Action Statement gives them ownership of that action then we tell them what is going to happen and when. Using single words means that the Author is making a lot of assumptions. I have looked at it from the extreme case scenario. Mr Thomas Harold Edward Client bought his first computer yesterday and has heard a rumour that he can download an Office Suite called OpenOffice.org off the internet for free and so he has just got himself an internet connection. I think the Action statements cater for that client. Are they any worse for the "cognisant", I don't think so, because the Cognoscenti, will view it simply as a splash page or will bookmark the particular part of the site that is important to them. Personally, I rarely go to the front page but my Opera bookmarks have 33 OOo specific addresses. > > In your e-mail you referred to a TV demonstration in a shop. You would > like to see a nice DVD playing it, probably with more of a cinema > atmosphere to it, rather than a dull cardboard box saying HDTV inside. > > I'm inclined to think that the suggestion about statements may be more of > replacing the 'TV', 'Radio', 'Other' alley names in a factory store to 'I > want televisions', 'I want a stereo', 'I want something else' it is still > not about tackling the right convincing atmosphere. We need the showcase. > We need to able to show people why OOo is the best product. We have to > position it better. It doesn't offer a better colors, but it does offer? > For me as a more of an advanced user it is clear why to use OOo, it has a > good technical basis, but what do we say to someone who doesn't care about > creating large documents, just wants to have a wordprocessor for their > kids' schoolwork, and for some nice invitations? > > What we don't have: > - A great font selection (in either quality / quantity) > - A great clipart selection (in either quality / quantity) > - 100% support for the worlds most popular word processing format > - Great themes to get you the most fanciest letters (in either quality / > quantity) > - A price tag that communicates, well it is expensive so it rather be good > > What we do have: > - A free office suite > - ISO compliant OpenDocument format > - Great way of promoting styles > - Multiplatform (as in 2+) > - Easy to use? (well that's just ones opinion) > - Great software (well, why?) > > but how does that appeal to the average user who doesn't care these? I > don't think you solve these shortcomings by turning words into phrases. I agree with most of the above but that isn't the reason for the TV shop Metaphor, the casual arrival or our "foot traffic" will go to the "I want to learn more about...." statement which links them to the why.openoffice.org page which gives them most of the above, that's our "High St Retailer" shop The person who is familiar with OOo, in other words is already sold on it goes to the first TV shop or in our case clicks "I want to Download Openoffice.org now" and is sent to download.openoffice.org. That's our "Factory Warehouse" type shop. ( to extend the Metaphor further into the ether! ;)) > > > I am however a Teacher and knowing how people take in information is > > important in my profession. > > I think interfaces are not only about intake of information. Everything is about intake of information, whether that information be fact, idea or emotion, interface design is about making that information accessible. Marketing is about making sure that the information the client gets guides them toward purchasing our product. We give information so that clients can then make decisions. Marketing is about providing answers to questions that will encourage the client to make the decision that we want them too. If we can preempt, things a bit by providing answers to questions that the client may not even know they're asking, but are doing so on a subconscious level, then so much the better and it makes for a better, less confusing experience for Mr T.H.E. Client > > > Some people touted the OpenSuSE.org front page and I like it's simplicity > > but when I went there to get help for a problem with 10.3 I decided that > > it was actually really bad and in fact other than the central download > > button very confusing. Does that count as inspiration caused by > > frustration? :) > > Well, would it have changed if only the button text was changed in a > sentence (i guess this is more the point of this mail) Yes, with a carefully crafted action statement, it would have, hence this discussion! :) However, given that the probable audience for the OpenSuSE page is a little more cognisant of Web norms on average than OOo's then it probably is not an issue. I, for instance got where I wanted to go in fairly short order, but it did get me thinking. > > > The Answers I put up however follow the sequence > > > > What now? -->yes =click > > > > no= "What else" > > > > and so on down the list until the answer matches the users need at that > > moment. > > Maybe it is about what you like, and what I like as well... When I need a > new shirt, I go into the store and always hope to avoid the person trying > to 'advice' me... yet I do look at what is at display. Arguing about what > I might like with some person who's running a script, since he or she > doesn't know me, always makes me want to leave the store, because it is > consuming too much of my energy... but as said, it could be personal > preference, and maybe age related (I'm only 25)? Your salesperson analogy also demonstrates what I'm talking about. I'm exactly the same way, but that's because of bad experience. Bad salespeople can be annoying. A good retail salesperson stands off for a second or two until he gets an idea of what the client is looking at. In other words he is figuring what questions the client is asking. Usually when I walk into a shop shop the first question that I ask is "Where is...." if I'm looking for something specific, or "What do I look at first..." if I'm just browsing. The good salesperson can tell the difference. He sees me make a beeline for the shirts and start nosing. After a few moments he comes over and just quickly states "There are more shirts over there, you can try some on in the changing room over there and I'll just be over there if you need me." and he goes. He gives options without pressure. Answers to likely questions, but all lead to me buying the shirt off him rather than anyone else. > > I like this discussion though, so while my answers may be a bit > short/critical (which you might interpret as something negative), I don't > want this to stop the discussion. I'm interested in what you have to say > about this! Heh the discussion is intelligent and relevant and I was a great admirer of your work in the last revamp so I'm happy to put the time in and don't worry I see nothing that has been said so far as critical, just an opposing viewpoint designed to scrutinise the ideas. No problem with that at all, quite the opposite. > > Kind regards, > > Maarten Cheers GL -- Graham Lauder, INGOTs Assessor Trainer Moderator New Zealand (International Grades in Office Technologies) www.theingots.org OpenOffice.org MarCon (Marketing Contact) NZ http://marketing.openoffice.org/contacts.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
