[OT] Microsoft Office's New UI Blazes Some New Trails for Us

[Scott Rossi]

Recently, Judy Perry  wrote:

> Of course users want to be told how things should look.

Actually, there is a difference: not how things *should* look but how things
*can* look.  Again, the premise is that users are more comfortable modifying
existing designs/layouts/templates, rather than starting from scratch.  The
template designers are giving users a starting point, which they can either
choose to use as is, or modify to their liking.


> In case you might wonder why the knee-jerk reaction, I this term have ~30
> upper-division university students (non-CS majors), and not a few of them:
> 
> (a) don't know what a search engine is;
> (b) don't know the difference between an email addy and a URL;
> (c) don't use anything other than what MS pre-loads on their computer;
> (d) when given step-by-step instructions on using blogger, and told that
> they need to click on the little orange arrow to post their blog, WHEN,
> they don't see said little orange arrow, DON'T SCROLL DOWN TO LOOK FOR
> IT!!!
> (e) they were shocked when confronted with a quote from a MS executive,
> something to the efeect that, with respect to Encarta and its errors, the
> company considered it more important that the product be politically
> palatable than accurate (!).
> 
> A report from in the trenches...

The way I read your comments, they appear to completely support the above
premise: users need a jump start that shows how things can look/work, not an
empty page.

Regards,

Scott Rossi
Creative Director
Tactile Media, Multimedia & Design
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