Lachlan Hardy wrote:
Geoff Deering wrote:
> He said children don't
> have this problem, they regard the whole interface as potentially
> interactive. I think things have evolved a lot since then, but I
notice
> how quickly young users can learn a user interface, and it probably
does
> not effect them to the same level if UIs do not behave in a standard
> way. But if they don't, UIs are far more likely to impact the average
> user if they have none standard ways of communicating the nature and
> state of their interface.
We've been having interesting discussions at work lately about gaming
interfaces and how they apply to UI on the web. We're still in the
middle of roughing out concepts derived from that, but some
interesting points have already been raised
In particular, that long-term gamers have far more adaptability
towards interfaces. They seem to retain the abilities you mention
above much better than those of us who don't game. These observations
are drawn from totally informal testing of a very small sample but we
can't justify anything else at this stage (although I'd love to see
someone who can!)
The implications I see are that as gaming becomes more and more
mainstream (which is pretty hard to argue with in Western society, I'd
say, but feel free to shoot me down), more children are going to
retain these skills into adulthood. This would mean that the potential
for interfaces to become more complex and more individual will
increase in future
I don't want to give the impression that I am in any way against
standardising UIs on certain conventions - resulting in 'best
practice' methods for communicating particular things to our users. I
consider that a vital part of our duty to the evolution of the web
I just find this concept to be an exciting indicator of cool things to
come - building on the aforementioned conventions creatively to
produce stunning, fun, *usable* interfaces
Does anyone else feel this or do I need more coffee? (Or possibly a
clue to staying on topic...)
Lachlan
The other other Lachlan
I missed this because of the change in thread title.
There are so many possibilities and variables here. I would not be
surprised to find that some research shows enhanced user experience
through gaming and also the opposite. Everyone responds to their
environment differently. What I do think is important is that sites
that cater for *real* personalisation of their content, via skinning,
style switching, feeds, whatever, will be far more attractive to users
that a one size fits all approach. But it is important as good design
does enhance the user experience.
---------
Geoff
Only different from the other one through evolution and degradation.
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