Re: Target browsers for web development

>> You should NEVER educate a user.

> I couldn't disagree more. (I hope you're joking)

Actually, I'm not joking.
The word educating is what I am questioning and maybe I have my own bad
experiences w/ that word, but I would say that educating or "teaching" is
VERY different from hand-holding, guiding, comforting, and assisting.

Education means taking the user out of the control position.
It implies that the user doesn't know what they are doing.

If your system is based on their environmental and contextual needs then you
shouldn't ever have to force them to relinquish that type of control.

To be honest, I hate systems similar to the web browser behavior where you
click the browser warns you that you are leaving a secure or entering a
secure environment and that you can turn it off later. The system should be
a lot more fluid and less interruptive than that. That is an example of
educating. "Secure" vs. "non-secure" ... You mean there are moments when I'm
not secure? Should I just assume that I'm always secure when using your
browser? Your site? Your application? And if I can't make that assumption is
that my problem? The browsers? The apps? I seldom ever am trusting the
browser. I trust the sites that I go to and the experience of the site
should give me that sense of trust, not teach me what to look for or rely on
the browser to make me feel better about your site or app.

This is VERY disruptive.

An example of hand-holding would be a checkout system that has an assistant
who's content denote this level of trust. Even the more heavy-handed.
Checkout through our secure process is good enough for most people. But
there are even less obvious ways to get the same message across w/o having
to "teach" the user anything.

-- dave

David Heller
Sr. User Interface Designer
Documentum: The Leader in Enterprise Content Management
925.600.5636

[email protected]
http://www.documentum.com/
AIM: bolinhanyc  //  Yahoo: dave_ux  //  MSN: [email protected]

--"If it isn't useful, it will never be usable."

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