Apr 02 2013
User Interfaces

Empowering users

One of the most important aspects of any application is the way that it empowers the user. This is so important that I don’t think that this can be overstated too much.

Which is why I find it so strange that game software on the likes of PCs, where user-empowerment is the entire point, has moved so far as to almost totally disenfranchise the user.

Take, for example, the new Sim City from EA.

When this works, it’s a fantastic game. However, it’s fairly unreliable. There are problems connecting to servers, or even worse, you can be happily playing a game and suddenly a drastic error occurs…

“Your city is not processing properly…”

That’s it. Game over.

You can rollback your game all you like, but it’s history. Abandon the region – and all your hours of endeavour – and move on, because it’s never coming back to life correctly.

So what has this got to do with empowering users?

Well, cloud-based or not, the user is unable to save their city. Some ethereal creature does it for you – and in the case of Sim City – not reliably.

Would it have been too difficult to provide the user with a “save now” option?

For another example of dis-empowering, you only have to look at the Start Screen of Windows 8. Quite simply, i find it offensive that I’m not allowed to determine the position of my tiles.

Sure, I can group items.

But I have three browsers installed (IE, Chrome and Firefox), and I’ve grouped them into a “Browsers” group. Now I want this to be one tile wide, and three tiles deep. After all, there’s absolutely no need for this group to be two tiles wide.

Except that I’m not allowed to do that.

Which is pathetic.

And as for not allowing me to run a Windows 8 Modern Style application in its own window on a secondary monitor, well, just don’t get me started on that!

So this post is a call to all UX developers out there.

Remember that whatever you think, the most important part of the application experience is the bit that empowers the user. Because once you’ve started to do that, they will love your software.

Then they will want to use it.

And most importantly, they’ll want to pay for it.

Tagged
Mar 19 2013
User Interfaces

When UIs go wrong

I needed to throw together a spread sheet today, so I fired up Excel 2013.

Excel has long been a great spread sheet app, and I still like it. However, it really annoyed me today.

I was building a UK Personal Tax Calculator for the upcoming tax year. Something that can take about thirty minutes or so. Now I’ve never been a fan of trying to remember cell row/column indices, so I like to name the important cells.

But I cannot fathom the thinking of the coders who, when you’re typing in formulae, don’t support autocomplete. So given a cell named TotalIncome, I was really hoping to write a formula in another cell based on TotalIncome.

So I type

=Tot

and a little popup appears showing me my beautiful TotalIncome cell. It’s even highlighted in the list.

So I press Enter (as you would expect to select from a list using, say, Visual Studio IntelliSense), and

BLAMM!

The magical #NAME? appears in the cell.

Grr! Grrrr!

So I thought about this for a while, and then realised what the developer of this Excel feature was literally trying to tell me, namely

“Sorry, dude. I’ve made a hash of this name feature.”

Of course, they had the time to turn the menu to shouty UPPER CASE, and to put in an annoying animation to move the focus rectangle when you click on a cell.

But not enough time to do a proper auto-complete list.

Ah well, there’s always Office 2015, I suppose.

Tagged
Mar 19 2013
Uncategorized

Who eight all the editors?

Books.

They cost money.

Sometimes a lot of it.

Now I’m guessing that a lot of people assume that the money either goes to (a) the author, or (b) the cost of printing and distributing heavy paper books.

So one might naturally assume that, with the emergence of Kindle/Nook/et al, there would be a large drop in prices of “books”, given that the distribution side is largely taken care of.

However, I’ve noticed something.

Good “books” really don’t cost any less on Kindle than they do from a bookshop.

The first cause of this is VAT, of course. Sneaky! Treat an e-book as if it were software, and you can rake in a cool 20% tax. Thank you, Mr. Osborne.

The second cause is that there are a lot of other costs associated with books, and one of those is the cost of editors.

“Editors”, I hear you cry, “who needs them?”

Well, maybe someone who puts “eight” in their blog post titles, rather than “ate”.

Editors make books. They take raw, wonderful output from authors and sprinkle on minor details such as grammar, spelling and consistency.

Editors are like a combination of unit and user tests for software. And we know that these cost; sometimes, a lot.

So the next time that you’re looking for a book for your Kindle, and you’re wondering whether that £0.99 price looks reasonable, just remember this: once you’ve knocked off the VAT, author’s and Amazon’s fee, and you’re left with a balance of £0.00, then the book never got an edit.

Which means that all those grammatical and spelling errors, along with the gaping plot flaws, are just weighting to pounce and destroy the story.

Just like buggy, untested code.

And yes, before you ask, that should have been “waiting”.

Mar 15 2013
Apps, User Interfaces, Windows 8

On devices

I’m a fan of modern computing devices. I think that they’re great.

But as I work on apps, I find myself continually reflecting on one thing.

You can debate the merits of Android vs. Windows 8 Modern UI vs. iOS all you like. But at the end of the day, when the app is running, all of these operating systems share one thing in common: they get completely out of the way of the user.

The app owns all the pixels on the screen.

Which is the most awesome thing for an app designer.

So the one thing that matters is actually the feel of the device. Or to be more precise, its size and weight.

If the device feels wrong, then there is nothing that the OS, or its apps, can do to remedy that.

For me, the iPad is just about the perfect size, with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 a close second, and the Surface a distant third. To me, the Surface feels like a laptop, albeit one shorn of its keyboard.

And I guess that’s why, when I retire to my sofa at the end of a day’s work, it’s either the iPad or the Samsung that comes with me.

Leaving the Surface to silently fulfil its role as a mere test and debug device.

And that’s a huge shame, as there is no doubt that the Windows 8 (or Windows RT) OS offers, in my opinion, a generally superior experience to either iOS or Android.

Mar 15 2013
Apps, User Interfaces

In-app Advertising

With the arrival of Windows 8, there’s a whole new generation of developers that are thinking about, or actively engaged in, building apps that are deployed through an online store.

And that’s a group that includes me.

And the evidence tends to suggest that one of the ways to make the most money with an app is to offer it for free. Now whilst this sounds contrary to common sense, it is generally accepted that users are more likely to download free apps.

So this gives you two primary ways of monetizing the app, namely:

  1. In-app purchases
  2. Advertising

Of course, you can do both, and a very common in-app purchase is the one that turns off the adverts, effectively making the game paid-for, rather than free.

So I was thinking about this today, as I plan for my new app, and I wanted to get a real feel for the pros and cons of in-app advertising. Consequently, I booted up the iPad and prodded around with a few apps.

One really caught my attention: Angry Birds.

Undoubtedly one of the most successful apps in history, this was a paid application when it first came out. Now it’s free, but with in-app purchase options.

I haven’t played it in ages, but as I prodded around with it, I realised something: badly done in-app advertising is one of the most annoying features. Ever.

Here’s the problem with Angry Birds.

You mis-throw a bird, and realise that the score on the level is going to suck. So you hit pause, to bring up the in-level menu so that you can restart it.

And the menu displays an advert.

OK. No biggy so far.

Then you press the button to restart the level.

Pause.

Advert fade to black.

(OK. They’ve been resetting the level in the background, I assume.)

Pause.

Advert fade back in.

(Huh? What? Let me play the level already!)

Pause.

Level restarts.

(Too bored to bother, now)

Every pause, and every time, exactly the same irritating advert.

This is a case where the advert is directly, and adversely affecting the player’s enjoyment of the game.

And it lead me to believe that Rovio think I shouldn’t be playing the “#1 app of all time”.

So I fired up Angry Birds Space.

Smack over the top of the big play button, the same ad appears.

Here, though, Rovio have been particularly evil. There are two buttons, a tick and a cross, at the bottom of the ad.

Now anyone who’s done any UI design work will have heard of the Gutenberg Diagram. The cross button is placed in the Weak Fallow Area of the diagram – in other words the bit that the user is most likely to ignore – and the tick is placed in the Terminal Area.

This also happens, of course, to be nearest the right hand, which is the predominant hand for the vast majority of people.

Consequently, I can imagine that a vast number of people click the tick, without even really getting the chance to think about it.

(At least Rovio are reasonably kind – they then prompt you with a dialog before scurrying off out of the app so that you can get the other one).

So I’m intrigued.

I find it deeply annoying when an advert is so overt as to materially impact the enjoyment of something. ITV Player is another classic example of this, as when it crashes – which it invariably does – it then won’t restart the program that you’re watching until it has replayed the adverts of the day.

But do Rovio, and ITV, know something about advertising that I don’t?

Are modern users so inured to advertising that they will ignore all adverts unless they are so prominent as to get completely in the way?

It’s certainly something to ponder over the coming weeks.

Mar 13 2013
Personal

It all depends on who you call…

So, yesterday I was talking to a less-than competent call-centre operator at BT.

Today, it’s a completely different experience.

This morning, I had the privilege of talking with Julie who, by the sound of her voice, is a lovely lady from the Newcastle area.

I’d like to buy her a drink!

She’s managed to

  1. cancel the completely erroneous order generated by her colleague from yesterday, and
  2. make a TAG clearance request to BT Wholesale (OpenReach?)

Julie represents the very essence of efficiency and determination. When faced with a system that wouldn’t let her send the TAG clearance request, she got hold of her boss and made it happen anyway.

And it was really nice to speak to someone who actually understands the difference between a MAC and a TAG, and has the ability and desire to want to solve customer problems.

BT should find Julie. Then they should look at why she’s so good, and use that as a model for improving their disastrously poor service from their evening crew.

Because, with more “Julies”, they’d have the best customer service in the UK.

Mar 12 2013
Uncategorized

Why is broadband so damned useless in the UK?

Broadband sucks.

Or to be precise, broadband providers suck.

I cancelled my broadband service some years ago, and never really thought anything about it. After all, you don’t think about empty bottles of milk, or old baked bean cans.

So why think about a broadband service that you no longer use?

Well, it is clear that there is a chance that you’re going to be left with a TAG on your line, which means that it is going to be almost impossible to get broadband reinstated.

Maybe five or six weeks ago, I decided to re-order broadband via BT. OK, maybe not the smartest choice, but the favourite broadband provider in Yorkshire wouldn’t supply (thanks a bunch), and O2, my mobile provider, didn’t care for it either.

Hrrmph!

So I went online with the easy BT ordering system, and,

KERRBLAMMO!

Please enter you MAC (Migration Authentication Code)

I don’t have a MAC. I don’t have broadband.

So, just on the off chance, I called my former provider and, you’ve guessed it, they can’t provide a MAC because they don’t provide a service.

Thus, the conversation ended. (Thus, geddit?)

So I’m on the phone to the nice chap at BT, and he says (you’ve guessed it) “Can I have the MAC?”

Aaargh!

Anyway, the very nice chap at BT, after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, says “No worries. We have the power to remove the TAG. It’ll take ten days or so.”

Cool.

All power to BT.

Unfortunately, no TAG removed.

So I call BT today. Interesting chat.

I explain that I need the TAG removed. He asks for my MAC. I explain that I don’t have a MAC. He asks for my mobile phone number.

WTF?

I explain I want broadband, not mobile services.

He asks for the MAC.

(Oh my, it’s Groundhog day)

I explain that I can’t get a MAC.

He asks for the name of the former provider. I tell him, explaining once more that they can’t provide a MAC. He finally acknowledges this.

He tells me that he can connect me to someone who can help. Would I like him to dial the number? But of course. How friendly.

The phone rings.

I’m through to the answer phone of my former ISP.

Thus endeth the call. I throw the phone on the floor in exasperation.

Now, fair play to the BT operator, he calls me back.

I explain that I can’t get a MAC.

He finally gets in, and tells me that he can order me a new line.

“A new line?”
“Yes, sir, a new line with a fine package on it”
“And I can keep the same number”
“Oh yes, sir. Absolutely”
“And there won’t be any interruption in service”
“Oh yes”

Fair enough, I think.

“OK then, if that’s what’s involved, I guess that’s fine”
“I call you back in five minutes when the order is complete”

Five minutes later…

“Sir, I have your new order ready”
“And it’s the same number”
“No.”

WTF?

And he’s right. It’s a completely different number.

Seriously. There must, somewhere, be someone in BT who can do something as simple as remove a TAG from a line.

Ultimately, it might end up with me needing to get a whole new line.

But one piece of advice for anyone who is thinking of buying a house. Check the phone number. If there’s a TAG on the line, whatever you do, make damn sure that you get the line cleared long before you want to communicate with the outside world.

Now where is the number of that Satellite broadband company…

Tagged
Nov 07 2012
.NET, Conferences, WPF

Model-View-ViewModel Sample

I ran a couple of sessions at the recent Software Architect conference.

At the conference, I showed a small M-V-VM sample based around the game of Tic-Tac-Toe (or Noughts and Crosses).

The slides and the sample can now be downloaded as follows:

Code

“Why M-V-VM is (not) Working” (Talk)

“Structuring XAML-based Applications” (Workshop)

Please feel free to use as you find appropriate.

Tagged ,
Nov 06 2012
WPF

Binding’s great, but boy is it no fun to debug

I’ve been working on some code for the past couple of days.

It’s finishing up a sample from my M-V-VM talk at Software Architect, and I’m hoping to post it tomorrow or Thursday.

Anyway, I spent a good couple of hours this afternoon chasing down the most bizarre behaviour in data binding today.

I’m going to try to cull out a really small sample and post it, just to remind myself – and hopefully warn others – on the perils of RelativeSource bindings!

Tagged
Nov 04 2012
Uncategorized

I so want to love Windows 8, but…

So once again Windows 8 annoys me.

All I want to do is to print from the (to be frank, very poor) Reader App.

Unfortunately, every time I try to send anything to the printer, I get a completely unhelpful “Your printer is not connected …” error message.

Which is interesting, since every desktop app can print happily. And printing a test page works every time. And the printer troubleshooter identifies no problems – although it is keen for me to share the printer to the HomeGroup, and even though I don’t want to, it considers that an error.

(Errors really should be actual problems, but let’s no get into that discussion!)

So is it the Windows “Metro” mode that is just completely unreliable? Is it the Reader app?

Who knows?

But when you factor in the mail client that is all but useless and a reader app that is unable to print it really starts to indicate that the Windows 8 “Metro” environment, in its current form, simply isn’t reliable enough for even basic use.

If I’m continually being forced to use traditional desktop apps to do basic tasks, then it makes Windows RT a complete non-starter – no desktop apps work on Windows RT – and it makes Windows 8 a pointless upgrade from Windows 7.

So it’s time to download Adobe Reader and print from there.

Which makes me sad.

Tagged
← Older posts
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.