James Frye 3_I
I thought the section on feedback and feedforward were pretty important. We usually take feedback for granted, but when it's not there or there's poor feedback, it becomes frustrating quick. Has anyone ever had a DVD with a horrible menu where you couldn't tell what you were selecting? Or how about on a web page that doesn't load right away, and you start clicking everywhere and end up somewhere completely unintended. The feedforward part was also pretty insightful. If you can let the user know what the interaction is designed to do before it actually takes place then you can build confidence with the user.
Labels: James Frye
posted by James @ 5:41 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
I agree with your comments on feedback. And along with that, just when pages are loading it's so helpful just to know that the page is doing something so we aren't left wondering if we need to click again or go somewhere else. Feedback can be very important, especially in web sites.
That's why I think it's important to test media (like DVDs) on every possible device that it can be played on. I know I've designed DVDs with rollover buttons that look great on a computer, but don't work at all on a DVD player.
I've definitely had the problem of selecting something on a dvd and not knowing what is being highlighted at all. It's one of the more frustrating things that can happen when using a dvd. All it would have taken was an extra ten minutes of making sure the buttons looked a little different when being selected.
I totally agree with your post. That is why “loading…” and “progress bar” are so important in just about anywhere. I also think how products will give their users feedback is important. For example, Mac OS X gives their user feedback as progress bar of blue, which is the color that makes you relaxed and feel the time is running faster, and little waves going against the direction of progression indicated (from left to right), which makes it seem like the progress is ongoing, even though it stays at the same spot.
I think I made it sound very confusing… But I hope you get what I am trying to say.
Feedback can be one of the most important things to consider before publishing a site or producing a final project. I've had my fair share of DvD menu issues, it's always important to test your DvD's on both the PC and in a player before you try to hand it to anyone.
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