Blog #4

It is important to pay attention to the user's NEEDS, not what the user thinks they need or what they want. Most computer users will say they want their computer or device to be able to do 't anything and everything. They don't realize this could be the primary source of all the frustrations they suffer while using this technology. This "featuritis" as Hoekman calls it clutters up the interface and provides more opportunities for something to fail, spreading out the attention of the programmers and troubleshooters. Just because a handful of consumers want a feature doesn't mean it is necessary, they key is simplicity; we should work on simply addressing the issues everyone has in common. To do so we need to eliminate the space fillers and the fluff applications and focus our abilities on improving the main tools of our product.


Interface Surgery:
The first thing I would do is eliminate the list of program types and put them all in one screen that you can scroll through with an up and down button. This eliminates most of the text on the interface of the machine and cleans up the overall look. I would also eliminate the numerical key pad the user can arrow up and down to their desired level just as easily. A potential solutino I would like to work into this equipment if at all possible would be a universal up/down arrow with a single button for each of the different systems, one for the fan, another for programs, another for vital stats etc.

Will Niethammer