UI Expert Says Windows 9 Will Be Windows 8 Done Right
Jakob Nielsen, famous UI expert, has examined and concluded that the Windows 8 interface is "weak" on tablets and "terrible" for PCs.
In his opinion, the operating system interface is "a monster that terrorizes poor office workers and strangles their productivity." However, on a positive note, he stated that "there's nothing that a modest redesign can't fix".
Nielsen's analysis is based on a usability report he conducted with both inexperienced and experienced users that were confronted with Windows 8 for the first time and had to complete specific tasks. Much of his criticism is based on the notion that Microsoft went to an extreme approach to adapt a touch UI that we love to use on smartphones, but may not be such a great idea on a larger PC screen. "The new look sacrifices usability on the altar of looking different than traditional GUIs," Nielsen wrote.
From the post:
"Windows" no longer supports multiple windows on the screen. Win8 does have an option to temporarily show a second area in a small part of the screen, but none of our test users were able to make this work. Also, the main UI restricts users to a single window, so the product ought to be renamed "Microsoft Window. When users can't view several windows simultaneously, they must keep information from one window in short-term memory while they activate another window. This is problematic for two reasons. First, human short-term memory is notoriously weak, and second, the very task of having to manipulate a window—instead of simply glancing at one that's already open—further taxes the user's cognitive resources."
The designer also took issue with the fact that Microsoft chose a path to a flat surface and clickable icons are more difficult to identify, the fact that charms are integrated in an "out of sight, out of mind", which causes people to forget that they exist:
"In practice, the charms work poorly — at least for new users. The old saying, out of sight, out of mind, turned out to be accurate. Because the charms are hidden, our users often forgot to summon them, even when they needed them. Hiding commands and other GUI chrome makes sense on small mobile phones. It makes less sense on bigger tablet screens. And it makes no sense at all on huge PC screens."
According to Nielsen, touch gestures could also use another thought or two:
"The UI is littered with swipe ambiguity, where similar (or identical) gestures have different outcomes depending on subtle details in how they're activated or executed. For example, start swiping from the right to the left and you will either scroll the screen horizontally or reveal the charm bar, depending on exactly where your finger first touched the screen. This was very confusing to the users in our study."
To improve Windows, Nielsen suggested to revise application guidelines to promote a more restrained use of Live Tiles, consider higher information density, better visibility of key features, "and many other usability guidelines we've already discovered in testing other tablets."
lol @ "Microsft Window" HAHAHAHAHA!
So, no desktop and only 1 Window? Could it be any worse?
Yes, you're right, he's "retarded"....but thankfully we have more qualified expertise, such as yours! I know you took the time to read his entire report (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/windows-8.html) and so you are in a good position to call others "retarded" and dismiss his findings. Of course, you also realize that he used real people as test subjects - so he was simply analyzing and reporting on their experiences. But, who cares, because apparently we can just click the application and run it on the desktop...
lol @ "Microsft Window" HAHAHAHAHA!
So, no desktop and only 1 Window? Could it be any worse?
Yes, you're right, he's "retarded"....but thankfully we have more qualified expertise, such as yours! I know you took the time to read his entire report (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/windows-8.html) and so you are in a good position to call others "retarded" and dismiss his findings. Of course, you also realize that he used real people as test subjects - so he was simply analyzing and reporting on their experiences. But, who cares, because apparently we can just click the application and run it on the desktop...
Win8UI perfect? Absolutely not. But terrible? No, I think they are blowing things way out of proportion just to get their name out there. And in 2-3 years when gesture and voice control become more mainstream for desktops via devices like kinect for PC, LeapMotion, and even new innovations on the traditional mouse, we will think all of this as a truly silly problem.
That made my day...
Bwhahaha
I am sure they have learned their lesson and windows 9 will "get it right".
Windows 95 (1995) - Mixed bag, at the beginning it sucked
Windows 98 (1998) - Good
Windows ME (2000) - Sucked (hard)
Windows XP (2001) - Good
Windows Vista (2006) - Sucked although not as hard as ME
Windows 7 (2009) - Very good
Windows 8 (2012) - Not good
Windows 9 (2015?) - ?
Anyways, Tried both per-releases of Winblows 8, and all I can say is "It's absolutely horrible, unusable, not user friendly, and is a mess". I've been in the IT world for many years, my first computer I started on was a Xerox Star, and I've never seen such a POS as Windows 8. It. Just. SUCKS!
I'll be sticking with XP for non-direct X 10/11 needs and Windows 7 when I need to play direct X 10/11 games.
I seriously hope M$ learns from this colossal mistake.
I hope Windows 8 Service pack 1 adds the win7 style aero glass UI as an option. Having the ability to turn that on and run that along with the windwos 8 start screen, tiles and charms would be the best of both worlds. The windows 8 control panel, resource manager, and task manager are huge improvments, however no one even knows they are there.
granted ive only used it on a VM session on my mac but i kind of like it.