Windows 8 Usability Article

Ur_Mom

Ur_Mom

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http://www.useit.com/alertbox/windows-8.html

This article discusses the usability of Windows 8 using some test subjects. For me, I can agree with a lot of what this article is saying. Some things are due to the "newness" of the OS and the new UI while others carry a lot of merit. Very similar to my own opinions.

I love Windows 8, but these some of these critics are spot on. Some of the best things in Windows 9x-7 were removed. Some of the worst things stayed. It's not so much a step backwards, but a step sideways. Windows 8 is a great operating system when you get used to it. But, it still has a lot of things that could have been better (and they were with Windows 7.).

I'm a Microsoft fanboy, myself. I love the company, I love it's products. But, not blindly. Windows has a lot of problems. Windows 8 has a lot of problems. Office.... Well, I love Office. :)
 
Some of the points don't make sense... like using Metro apps for desktop work. It just doesn't work, and was never designed for that. There's a reason why the regular desktop is still there.

The live tiles thing... that's not Microsoft's fault, that's the app developer's. Although, they could have made more strict guidelines, but it's their first implementation and they are going to overlook some things, which will be brushed up as time goes by. If it doesn't... well, then we can validly say Microsoft is stupid.

Bing showing little information is validly Microsoft's fault. Other apps, however, is not.

Yes, some of the things are a little more complicated and hard to find. It took me ~2-3 weeks to learn about right-clicking the lower left corner. It definitely needs a more comprehensive tutorial to use to its fullest, but for general media consumption on tablets, or desktop use on PCs, for the most part it's fine.
 
Tsumi said:
Some of the points don't make sense... like using Metro apps for desktop work. It just doesn't work, and was never designed for that. There's a reason why the regular desktop is still there.
Click to expand...

Which is the whole Dr. Jeckell and Mr. Hyde thing. There are two apps for two different UI's and uses. The Start Screen is used to launch applications. People use it for such. Yet, if you launch IE or several others, then it could be the one that wasn't designed for (Metro app vs. Desktop app). That's a big part of it.

Regular desktop is still there, but it's been moved to a background task. The Start Screen is the main UI, the launch pad, the 'Start Screen'. That's where you start. But, it's not designed to launch desktop apps? Then, why is it on a desktop PC? I don't mind the Start Screen. I like it (took a while). But, there is that duality that people are talking about. With Windows 7 (and below), when you launched an app, it was the app you needed. No worries to figure out if it was launched in the correct area to get the correct app you needed. It is a downside to Windows 8. You can get used to it after a while, but that doesn't make it right. It's confusing and counter intuitive. It needs work. Can't really deny that, regardless of how much of a fanboy you are.
 
I've stated repeatedly that one of their design goals was a unified experience. Whether or not that's the right choice remains to be seen.

Yes, the Metro vs Desktop app is a bit annoying. It should at least be clearly labeled as Metro (or whatever they want to name it, like tablet) or Desktop. That's why I removed mine from the Start Screen. And I've removed most of the productivity/media consumption Metro apps, but a few Metro games are fun once in a while. Also, why does it matter if the desktop is run as a background process? It doesn't affect its overall functionality, and the first thing I do when I boot into Windows is launch a program anyways.
 
Tsumi said:
I've stated repeatedly that one of their design goals was a unified experience. Whether or not that's the right choice remains to be seen.

Yes, the Metro vs Desktop app is a bit annoying. It should at least be clearly labeled as Metro (or whatever they want to name it, like tablet) or Desktop. That's why I removed mine from the Start Screen. And I've removed most of the productivity/media consumption Metro apps, but a few Metro games are fun once in a while. Also, why does it matter if the desktop is run as a background process? It doesn't affect its overall functionality, and the first thing I do when I boot into Windows is launch a program anyways.
Click to expand...

It's definitely a unified experience. I have a Windows Phone 7 (soon to be WP8 with the HTC 8X) that I love. Windows 8 is great. Desktop being a background process doesn't matter to me. I don't mind. But, there are a lot of others that it really confuses. Those others are the Mom & Pops, the Average Joe User, the download MP3's and check Facebook crowd. They have an iPad and a Windows powered Dell.

I think even Steve Ballmer could admit that the two UI's aren't perfectly combined and a perfect experience. I've jumped back and forth. But, I use the Start Screen as a launch pad and a style of 'notification center' with the Live Tiles.
 
I agree with some of what he's saying at the beginning, Windows 8 is a hybrid so there's is the complexity of Metro vs the desktop. But I think it is learnable in a reasonable amount of time for most people.

Some of the other stuff is simply not liking the style of certain apps, there are other apps with different styles.

Disagree with the Live Tiles comment, there's so much information I'm getting through them as they update.
 
Why couldn't Windows 8 boot to a desktop with a big button 'touch here for the touch UI' ? How is that any less unified? Unified doesn't mean prioritizing one UI over another, the only reason it was done is because MS wants to promote Metro, live tiles, WinRT etc.

I actually think the Start screen is quite pretty, but I can see why people see it as a nuisance. Widgets are a hundred times more useful as most people will spend much more time on the desktop and I want it visible all the time, not hitting Start every time I need to glance at some updates.
 
Tsumi said:
Also, why does it matter if the desktop is run as a background process? It doesn't affect its overall functionality, and the first thing I do when I boot into Windows is launch a program anyways.
Click to expand...

It was stated well in the article linked in the op: Double Desktop = Cognitive Overhead and Added Memory Load. Conversely, if like many desktop users, you only ever use Metro during login, then having Metro hovering in the background is sloppy from a technical standpoint as well - sitting there resident in memory with its associated process threads sitting open needlessly.

They need to give desktop users a way to disable/uninstall the damn thing altogether, until such time as they decide to reinvent Metro in a way that doesn't dumb down and punish desktop users and instead offers something compelling. Because as it stands right now its a "console port" in its purest form.
 
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odditory said:
It was stated well in the article linked in the op: Double Desktop = Cognitive Overhead and Added Memory Load. Conversely, if like many desktop users, you only ever see Metro to login, then having Metro hovering in the background is sloppy from a technical standpoint as well - sitting there resident in memory with extra process threads sitting open never to get touched anyway.

They need to give desktop users a way to disable the damn thing altogether, until such time as they decide to reinvent Metro in a way that doesn't dumb down and punish the desktop.
Click to expand...

Dude, do you even bother reading? Half the time I feel like you're just picking out things you want to read, and ignoring the rest.

I see Metro to login, launch programs, weather, and mail notifications. Windows 8 has much improved memory management, and performs at least equal to Windows 7, so your performance argument goes right out the window.

As for punishment, that is a completely subjective UI taste. Don't force your views on others as if they were fact.
 
Tsumi said:
Although, they could have made more strict guidelines, but it's their first implementation and they are going to overlook some things
Click to expand...
This isn't their first implementation of Live Tiles. That first appeared in Windows Phone 7 over two years ago.
 
LOL!

Yet another article telling me not to believe my lying eyes and explaining in great detail how I can't possibly be using Windows 8 as successfully as I am.

Oh well, these trolls know the type of article to publish to get hits.
 
The insinuation seems to be that it's required to run ModernUI apps to do some number of tasks. I have no idea why. There has been some attempts to move processes to ModernUI (ie. Wifi setup), but the vast majority of the stuff is still desktop apps. If the ModernUI Internet Explorer is not your thing, there's absolutely nothing stopping you from putting "c:\program files (x86)\internet explorer\iexplore.exe" on the Start menu, and it will run the desktop IE. Unpin the ModernUI one. Problem solved. Wow.

The four live tiles are also sort of misrepresented. The logic seems to be if someone randomly sits at a Win8 machine where a bunch of random junk is installed, oh no the user won't know what's what.. well.. part of the whole "multi user" thing is generally if you're using Win8, you're using *your* Win8, and if you installed the LA Times app, you know what the fancy L is in the tile, because YOU installed it.

The ModernUI and Start screen in general are definitely 1.0 in implementation but not hopeless by any means.

You might like them, Sam I Am!
 
Tsumi said:
It took me ~2-3 weeks to learn about right-clicking the lower left corner. It definitely needs a more comprehensive tutorial to use to its fullest, but for general media consumption on tablets, or desktop use on PCs, for the most part it's fine.
Click to expand...

I still haven't found out how to right click the left lower corner using touch interface :rolleyes:
 
Tsumi said:
Some of the points don't make sense... like using Metro apps for desktop work. It just doesn't work, and was never designed for that. There's a reason why the regular desktop is still there.

The live tiles thing... that's not Microsoft's fault, that's the app developer's. Although, they could have made more strict guidelines, but it's their first implementation and they are going to overlook some things, which will be brushed up as time goes by. If it doesn't... well, then we can validly say Microsoft is stupid.

Bing showing little information is validly Microsoft's fault. Other apps, however, is not.

Yes, some of the things are a little more complicated and hard to find. It took me ~2-3 weeks to learn about right-clicking the lower left corner. It definitely needs a more comprehensive tutorial to use to its fullest, but for general media consumption on tablets, or desktop use on PCs, for the most part it's fine.
Click to expand...

I don't get any of that functionality at all. Then again, I haven't seen the metro screen in a couple weeks and all the corner stuff was disabled at the same time. :D Now to get Aero glass and I'll be back to a happy Windows experience.
 
TFA said:
The underlying problem is the idea of recycling a single software UI for two very different classes of hardware devices. It would have been much better to have two different designs: one for mobile and tablets, and one for the PC.
Click to expand...
Wow, that sounds familiar. I think someone around here must have said something similar, at least a dozen times.

Wish I could remember who said that mobile and desktop usage patterns are different, and that the UI should be reflective of that.

It's going to bother me until I remember who that was.
 
XOR != OR said:
Wow, that sounds familiar. I think someone around here must have said something similar, at least a dozen times.

Wish I could remember who said that mobile and desktop usage patterns are different, and that the UI should be reflective of that.

It's going to bother me until I remember who that was.
Click to expand...

But are they really that radically different? What's the #1 thing people do on a desktop or tablet? Browse the web, indeed most web browser UIs on tablets don't even look that different from their desktop counterparts. When you look at what most people do on a desktop versus a tablet there's an great deal of overlap.

Now I understand that people will run multiple monitors and programs and heavy tasks on desktop, but that's driven by the applications more so than the OS UI.

But if you're right and the usage patterns are that different then the days of the Windows PC are limited in terms of general consumer appeal. PCs will just become more and more niche for tasks that can't be done on tablets and tablets will occupy the vast bulk of the client computing space as they become more and more powerful and do things that only could once be done on desktops.

The unification is going to happen one way or another, it's just inevitable. Even if Windows 8 and the hybrid approach fails tablets will become more and more powerful and support things that used to be only possible on the desktop and that's already happening today.
 
rflcptr said:
Unification inevitable? Citation needed.
Click to expand...

Tablet hardware is becoming more and more powerful. Tablet software is becoming more and more powerful. Desktop power in also increasing at a healthy rate but the power isn't needed by most desktop users.

Yes, it is evitable unless there is something that happens in the PC world that utilizes the power of PC that tablets can't match that makes them interesting consumers in new ways.
 
Lots of assumptions, restating your statement, no citation. Surprising.
 
rflcptr said:
Lots of assumptions, restating your statement, no citation. Surprising.
Click to expand...

Tablet hardware is becoming more and more powerful, that is a fact. Tablet software is becoming more and more powerful, that is also a fact. It is also a fact that many market analysts see tablet sales replacing PC sales.

What I am saying is already happening according to a lot of people so to characterize it as far fetch and not already well discussed is simply a rejection of reality.
 
The person that wrote that article is infinetley more qualified to express his finding then the majority of the people on this forum. This goes double for Heatlessun, Eman D Romyan
 
Yeah Wrench but you need guys like that, you need bad guys. Makes for mild entertainment when the need to tweak them arises.
 
Wrench00 said:
The person that wrote that article is infinetley more qualified to express his finding then the majority of the people on this forum. This goes double for Heatlessun, Eman D Romyan
Click to expand...

Never said he wasn't qualified. If he were an expert and liked the UI I doubt you'd be promoting his credentials then. I wonder if he can use Windows 8 as easily as I and others can though. It would be funny to see the UI expert not actually know how to use the thing he is criticizing. Not saying that he can't, just wondering.
 
Wrench00 said:
The person that wrote that article is infinetley more qualified to express his finding then the majority of the people on this forum. This goes double for Heatlessun, Eman D Romyan
Click to expand...

Great way to just tell everyone that they're just dirt, makes you seem like a real hero, right? The Hero of UI's, protecting everyone from Metro brainwashing and world domination.
 
Tsumi said:
Great way to just tell everyone that they're just dirt, makes you seem like a real hero, right? The Hero of UI's, protecting everyone from Metro brainwashing and world domination.
Click to expand...

I do find it odd that people with such an extreme dislike of Windows 8 post so much in Windows 8 threads. If they dislike it so much then they can't possibly be using it much, I know I wouldn't use it if everything was confusing and took twice as long to do.
 
Wrench00 said:
The person that wrote that article is infinetley more qualified to express his finding then the majority of the people on this forum. This goes double for Heatlessun, Eman D Romyan
Click to expand...
You do realize that "appeal to authority" is a logical fallacy?
 
heatlesssun said:
Tablet hardware is becoming more and more powerful, that is a fact. Tablet software is becoming more and more powerful, that is also a fact. It is also a fact that many market analysts see tablet sales replacing PC sales.

What I am saying is already happening according to a lot of people so to characterize it as far fetch and not already well discussed is simply a rejection of reality.
Click to expand...

Still begging the question.
 
More clicking to get less done. Seems like a step in the direction of OSX.. 'trick' it into doing what you want it to do.
 
wonderfield said:
The point being...what?
Click to expand...

That just because he's a UI expert, he's the the end-all be-all voice of how UI's should be designed. And, as we pointed out, there are several flaws in the way he conducted his studies.
 
That wasn't the argument being made. The argument was that, as a UX expert, his opinions on the matter of UIs are more valuable than ours. That seems like a perfectly reasonable claim to me.
 
wonderfield said:
That wasn't the argument being made. The argument was that, as a UX expert, his opinions on the matter of UIs are more valuable than ours. That seems like a perfectly reasonable claim to me.
Click to expand...

More valuable maybe, but certainly well thought out and refined, unlike those of most people we see complaining about the new UI. I'm sure as a UX expert, he didn't stop after 5 minutes to go on forums and complain that he doesn't know how to find the control panel or close apps or print, and tell us all that his desktop isn't a tablet.
 
wonderfield said:
That wasn't the argument being made. The argument was that, as a UX expert, his opinions on the matter of UIs are more valuable than ours. That seems like a perfectly reasonable claim to me.
Click to expand...

And there are valid criticisms and flaws in his study which you are conveniently ignoring.
 
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