Well, the normal way to get to it is a usability failing. Far too much work. And the shortcut isn't readily apparent... So...
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Jakob Nielsen critiques the iPad's usability failings - 93 page report
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Well, the normal way to get to it is a usability failing. Far too much work. And the shortcut isn't readily apparent... So...
well put.
the ipad is so easy that toddlers and people who have never used computers before can use it in almost no time (have seen the latter personally). It's probably the most user-friendly computer ever made. You can make a lot of criticisms of it, but complaining about its usability borders on lunacy.
I didn't know till right now. I guess the idea makes sense, you are moving a comma up and turning it into an apostrophe...but there is no visual indication that you can do this.
Kind of like in Pages when you grab a corner of an image to scale, then tap another image with another finger to math the size of the other image. Once you do it once it makes sense and you can use it, but the chances of a new user picking up an iPad and doing it on their own are very slim.
No, he's not "complaining" about it's usability. He's pointing out things about it that are still issues. Is it the most user-friendly computer ever made? Perhaps. Does that mean that it's user-friendly to ANYONE? No. You and I are considered computer literate. I handed the iPad to my mother as a gift, with her never having used a computer before, and she was completely befuddled.
e.g. "How do I get out of sending this email?"
Another good one is when you download an app, it installs it on the 2nd page. Is it obvious to swipe to get to the previous page? To you and me? Yes. To people who've NEVER used a computer before - probably not.
Again, unless you think the iPad is FLAWLESS in its usability, your argument is ridiculous. And that's EXACTLY what Nielsen is drawing to our attention. The guy is VERY smart.
I could list a boatload of usability issues with the iPad:
Why aren't tabs visible in a bar?
Why isn't the "x" to stop loading a page bigger or near the bottom of the page for easy access? (see A1 Perfect Browser for a more useful interface)
Why do I have to swipe my finger up and down to scroll up and down a page? Why can't I hold an arrow up or down if I choose to? (see A1 Perfect Browser...)
Why can't I add more icons to the springboard?
Why are the back/forward icons in Safari so tiny?
Why can't I 3-finger swipe to go back/forward pages in Safari like there is on the MacBooks. You may argue that's not an obvious feature even if it WERE implemented, but I'd then argue that for Mac aficionados who are USED to this feature on their laptops, it's an obvious omission.
Why does it add apps to the 2nd page by default when you download them?
Why is autocorrect so infuriating?
Why does the iPad make a trill sound when I plug it in? I should be able to turn that function off without muting my iPad sound. How many people knew that to turn that sound off you have to mute the iPad?
Why is the Home button so hard to find in the dark, or when you've gotten confused which way up you're holding it?
etc etc. It's easy to find these issues. Do I love my iPad? HELL YES. Are there usability issues with it, though? Hell yes.
Ya don't need to read a 93 page report to know that you just tap on stuff and it happens.
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Bob Dylan
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Bob Dylan
This report was released on the Nielsen Norman Group website, which means it IS the usability expert Nielsen.
My apologies, you're right. There was some confusion because there is a Microsoft employee with that name, and one Net article I read noted this and it caused a discussion. But they were wrong and you are correct.
Regarding the paper itself - I skimmed it a bit, and thought it had very useful points to consider if you're an iPad app programmer. Things like, users were much more likely to notice a navigation bar at the top of the screen than a tab bar at the bottom of the page.
You folks who are criticizing this paper - this ISN'T one of those stupid "10 reasons to not get an iPhone 4G" lists, with crap like "It has bad headphones." (See https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/927761/) Nor is this a damnation of the iPhone OS's touch UI - no "complaining about its usability" here. It is in no way "anti-Mac."
For a group of people who consistently tout the iPad and iPhone as better than any other device with more advanced feature specs, because the iPhone OS is so superior to the software running on the other devices, I'm surprised there are so many that deride usability studies. UI is what makes our devices so great. And studies like this are what lay the foundations for great UIs.
This is a paper full of real-world empirical data, from observing users interact with the iPad, about user-interface design elements that do and do not work. It talks about things like elements you should be able to interact with but can't, and elements you need to interact with but there's no indication you can do so unless you start moving your finger all over the screen experimentally. They talk about good design like the NYT with swipable pages of synopses and tappable links to the full articles, and bad design like the GQ coverpage that's a static image - no tappable links to articles displayed on the page. GQ doesn't quite get the electronic magazine paradigm, and tries to organize things like in a physical magazine - by page number. They talk about a Yahoo app that has links to articles that are just pictures, with very little indication of what the article is about beyond a particular person. Etc. etc. etc.
You folks who are criticizing this paper - this ISN'T one of those stupid "10 reasons to not get an iPhone 4G" lists, with crap like "It has bad headphones." (See https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/927761/) Nor is this a damnation of the iPhone OS's touch UI - no "complaining about its usability" here. It is in no way "anti-Mac."
For a group of people who consistently tout the iPad and iPhone as better than any other device with more advanced feature specs, because the iPhone OS is so superior to the software running on the other devices, I'm surprised there are so many that deride usability studies. UI is what makes our devices so great. And studies like this are what lay the foundations for great UIs.
This is a paper full of real-world empirical data, from observing users interact with the iPad, about user-interface design elements that do and do not work. It talks about things like elements you should be able to interact with but can't, and elements you need to interact with but there's no indication you can do so unless you start moving your finger all over the screen experimentally. They talk about good design like the NYT with swipable pages of synopses and tappable links to the full articles, and bad design like the GQ coverpage that's a static image - no tappable links to articles displayed on the page. GQ doesn't quite get the electronic magazine paradigm, and tries to organize things like in a physical magazine - by page number. They talk about a Yahoo app that has links to articles that are just pictures, with very little indication of what the article is about beyond a particular person. Etc. etc. etc.