Comments on: Customization In UIs http://www.symphonious.net/2006/06/28/customization-in-uis/ Living in a state of accord. Fri, 09 Jan 2009 23:58:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Mark http://www.symphonious.net/2006/06/28/customization-in-uis/comment-page-1/#comment-22843 Mark Thu, 29 Jun 2006 14:05:24 +0000 http://www.symphonious.net/2006/06/28/customization-in-uis/#comment-22843 Adrian, I'm sorry I don't follow your first sentence. Perhaps you could clarify. As to why people would want to remove buttons, I don't know. But they do. From Jensen's post: "The most popular single customization? Removing the 'Read' button from the Standard toolbar in Word." So if 2% customize Word, but they all remove the "Read" button, I don't think that indicates the presence of the "Read" button in the default UI was a mistake. As to whether we need to allow them to remove the button at all, that's a different question. Adrian, I’m sorry I don’t follow your first sentence. Perhaps you could clarify.

As to why people would want to remove buttons, I don’t know. But they do. From Jensen’s post: “The most popular single customization? Removing the ‘Read’ button from the Standard toolbar in Word.”

So if 2% customize Word, but they all remove the “Read” button, I don’t think that indicates the presence of the “Read” button in the default UI was a mistake. As to whether we need to allow them to remove the button at all, that’s a different question.

]]> By: Adrian Sutton http://www.symphonious.net/2006/06/28/customization-in-uis/comment-page-1/#comment-22710 Adrian Sutton Wed, 28 Jun 2006 22:12:30 +0000 http://www.symphonious.net/2006/06/28/customization-in-uis/#comment-22710 Considering the context in the Jensen's post, I think it's pretty clear that's not the case. Besides which, I'm not sure why people would remove a particular button rather than just ignore it. If they were to remove a number of buttons, they may be trying to save screen space but one button is a total of about 12-16 pixels so it's not worth the effort of removing. If they did just remove a particular button and you had evidence to show that other users used it a lot, you would simply ignore the user who customized it. Considering the context in the Jensen’s post, I think it’s pretty clear that’s not the case. Besides which, I’m not sure why people would remove a particular button rather than just ignore it. If they were to remove a number of buttons, they may be trying to save screen space but one button is a total of about 12-16 pixels so it’s not worth the effort of removing. If they did just remove a particular button and you had evidence to show that other users used it a lot, you would simply ignore the user who customized it.

]]> By: Mark http://www.symphonious.net/2006/06/28/customization-in-uis/comment-page-1/#comment-22708 Mark Wed, 28 Jun 2006 21:56:23 +0000 http://www.symphonious.net/2006/06/28/customization-in-uis/#comment-22708 You say, "... most users who do customize tend to make the same customizations. This of course indicates a defect in the UI design, rather than an argument for customization ..." That's probably correct when the customizations in question are additive, but not otherwise. If 10% of your users customize, and of these, 80% remove Button X (or replace Button X with Button Y), your rule might prompt you to remove Button X from the default UI. But then you might just tick off a lot of the 92% of your user base that were fine with leaving Button X where it was. You say, “… most users who do customize tend to make the same customizations. This of course indicates a defect in the UI design, rather than an argument for customization …”

That’s probably correct when the customizations in question are additive, but not otherwise. If 10% of your users customize, and of these, 80% remove Button X (or replace Button X with Button Y), your rule might prompt you to remove Button X from the default UI. But then you might just tick off a lot of the 92% of your user base that were fine with leaving Button X where it was.

]]> By: John http://www.symphonious.net/2006/06/28/customization-in-uis/comment-page-1/#comment-22610 John Wed, 28 Jun 2006 11:14:17 +0000 http://www.symphonious.net/2006/06/28/customization-in-uis/#comment-22610 I have used every version of MS Office, Star Office, Open Office, Wordperfect etc etc and I have to say the context sensative office 2007 menu structure isa godsend compared to anything I have ever seen before I have used every version of MS Office, Star Office, Open Office, Wordperfect etc etc and I have to say the context sensative office 2007 menu structure isa godsend compared to anything I have ever seen before

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