m6: dont force ur way

Steve Krug's Heuristic

  • The concept that all software begins with a reservoir of goodwill.
  • Users are initially prepared to be forgiving towards software issues.

Importance of Design Decisions

  • Good design can maintain or even enhance the reservoir of goodwill.
  • A key principle in user experience (UX) design is to avoid inconveniencing users without cause.
Negative Impact on User Goodwill
  • One guaranteed way to diminish goodwill is by arbitrarily inconveniencing users.

Krug's Bugbear: Formatting Data

  • Steve Krug emphasizes the significance of allowing users to input data in a flexible manner.
  • Many systems impose strict data formatting rules on users.
Examples of Poor Data Handling
  • This includes forcing users to conform to specific data formats, which can be eliminated with simple code.
  • Krug asserts this functionality should be within the skill set of any first-year computer science student.

Real-World Examples

Case Study 1: Birthday Gift Purchase
  • Example scenario: A user was attempting to purchase a gift voucher.
  • He provided credit card details and billing address but received an error due to formatting issues.
    • Error Message Issue: The system would not process the payment because of incorrect space formatting in a phone number, despite the format being correct for Ireland.
Case Study 2: Easons Bookseller
  • Another instance involved Easons, an Irish bookseller.
  • The retailer rejected a payment based on the use of a comma in the address field.
Case Study 3: Harry Curry Retailer
  • A large British retailer (Harry Curry) did not accept a postcode due to the presence of an included space.
  • The space was consistent with standard format practices.

Frustration with Poor Attention to Detail

  • The crucial point of frustration with these retailers is that the time invested in crafting error messages likely matches the time required to implement a working solution that automatically reformats user input.
  • The failures showcased imply a lack of awareness, laziness, or negligence in addressing user experience effectively.

Consequences of Poor User Experience

  • Poorly handling data formatting diminishes users' goodwill towards the brand.
  • It reflects the organization’s priorities and attentiveness to user needs.