I’ll Take What’s Behind Door Number Three
I have been in search of an interface convention for my application, Charlie. First I considered a conversational interface convention, then a PowerPoint interface convention, and then an explorer interface convention. My original plan was to evaluate many, many popular web applications such as Flickr and WordPress and the like. I have trialed both applications, but their usability pales against that provided by CityDesk. CityDesk gets it right because it builds on the Windows user interface, which also gets it right. This has convinced me that the third option, an explorer interface convention, is the right option for Charlie. I’m not going to trial more applications or come up with alternative interface conventions.
I have said before that my brain dines on Corn Flakes, so my challenge now is to break the Windows Explorer interface into its constituent parts. I started by skimming through the Apple Human Interface Guidelines, and immediately felt despair. Mac OS 9 was a fantastic operating system, and I miss it dearly. In the transition to Mac OS X, Apple seems to have put form over function.
I then attempted to read Microsoft’s Official Guidelines for User Interface Developers and Designers. What is ironic is that the documentation’s own interface is fucking awful! How about a “Next Page” link so I can go to the next page? In order to move to the next page, you have to find the current page in the treeview to the left, and click on the next leaf down. Worse, clicking on the link clears the screen and then loads up a whole new frameset, with a whole new copy of that same treeview. Why not just leave that bloody treeview there? Because I happen to be downloading Windows Vista in the background, it is taking about one minute to turn each page! (The Apple pages took a few seconds each to load.) Maybe it is deliberate that the documentation is impossible to navigate, to force developers to purchase the book with the same information? To hell with that resource.
The plan now is to learn about the new Windows Vista User Experience. With luck, I can get the Beta to work within Virtual PC, and I can see Vista in action. I’ll let you know how I go…
by Alister Jones | Next up: Charlie Seeks Friend, Open to Romance →
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