Re: Documenting two similar interfaces

[Caroline Tabach <caroline -dot- tabach -at- gmail -dot- com>]

I reviewed GUI of 2 new applications  with a couple of programmers
recently and I explained my suggestions by telling them that users
look for a familiar paradigm, and then transfer it to the application
that they are using. When you make an application, it will be user
friendly if you fulfil people's expectations of how applications
generally work.  (see the book, The Design of Everyday Things).

For many people it seems that Office 2007 does not do this.

Maybe as TCs we are familiar with these guidelines, so encountering an
application that is not user friendly at first makes us more upset (as
it is breaking the rules so as to speak).

On Thu, Jun 25, 2009 at 1:47 AM, Lauren<lauren -at- writeco -dot- net> wrote:
>>> I think that the Office ribbon is effective for people who have *no*
> experience with Office, they loathe Office, or they simply want something
> completely different.  I think that most people who use Office on a daily
> basis would prefer the original interface because we know where everything
> is.  Personally, I do not mind that MS adds items to the toolbars, but to
> completely change the toolbars into something absolutely unintuitive for the
> veteran Office user is absolutely moronic.  The learning curve of the
> "ribbon" is so much longer than configuring Office 2007 with an add-in that
> restores the toolbars and in reverting to older versions of Office, that it
> is not worth the effort to me.  I am looking for an effective Office-like
> mini-app or Java-app that I can keep on my thumb drive so that I do not need
> to deal with client mistakes of using Office 2007.
>
> Lauren
>
>


-- 
Caroline Tabach
Technical Writer
e-mail: caroline -dot- tabach -at- gmail -dot- com
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/

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