Understanding Users

The design and usability techniques described in the previous sections have been used in the development of Windows and in many of the guidelines included in this book. That process has yielded the following general characteristics about users. Consider these characteristics in the design of your software:

• Beginning Windows users often have difficulty with the mouse. For example, dragging and double-clicking are skills that may take time for beginning mouse users to master. Dragging can be difficult because it requires continued pressure on the mouse button and involves properly targeting the correct destination. Double-clicking is not the same as two separate clicks, so many beginning users have difficulty handling the timing necessary to distinguish these two actions, or they overgeneralize the behavior to assume that everything needs double-clicking. Design your interface so that double-clicking and dragging are not the only ways to perform basic tasks; allow the user to conduct those tasks using single click operations.
• Beginning users often have difficulty with window management. They do not always realize that overlapping windows represent a three-dimensional space. As a result, when a window is hidden by another, a user may assume it no longer exists.
• Beginning users often have difficulty with file management. The organization of files and folders nested more than two levels is more difficult to understand because it is not as obvious in the real world.
• Intermediate users may understand file hierarchies, but have difficulty with other aspects of file management — such as moving and copying files. This may be because most of their experience working with files is often from within an application.
• Advanced, or "power," users want efficiency. The challenge in designing for advanced users is providing for efficiency without introducing complexity for less-experienced users. (Shortcut methods are often useful for supporting these users.) In addition, advanced users may be dependent upon particular interfaces, making it difficult for them to adapt to significant rearrangement or changes in an interface.
• To develop for the widest audience, consider international users and users with disabilities. Including these users as part of your planning and design cycle is the best way to ensure that you can accommodate them.