UniversalUsability.org

Bridging the gap between what users know and what they need to know

A third challenge is to bridge the gap between what users know and what they need to know. Many users don't know how to begin, what to chose in dialog boxes, how to handle crashes, or what to do about viruses. Strategies include fade-able scaffolding, training wheels, and just-in-time training. Competing theories include minimalism, constructivist, and social construction, but their efficacy needs study.

Users approach new software tools with diverse skills and multiple intelligences. Some users need only a few minutes orientation to understand the novelties and begin to use new tools successfully. Others need more time to acquire knowledge about the objects and actions in the application domain and the user interface. Research goals include validated guidance on lucid instructions, error prevention, graphical overviews, effective tutorials for novices, constructive help for intermittent users, and compact presentations for experts. Other researchable topics are easily reversible actions and detailed history keeping for review and consultation with peers and mentors. Reliable evidence from systematic logging of usage and observations of users would help greatly. Research on software tools and architectures would enable developers to provide higher quality universal interfaces.

A fundamental interface and information design research problem is how to support evolutionary learning. Proposals for layered designs, progressive disclosure, and comprehensible user-controlled options need to be implemented and tested. Could users begin with an interface that contained only basic features (say five percent of the full system) and become experts at this level within a few minutes? Game designers have created clever introductions that gracefully present new features as users acquire skill. Could similar techniques apply to the numerous features in modern word processors, email handlers, and web browsers? A good beginning has been made with concepts such as layered implementations and the minimal manual (van der Meij and Carroll, 1995), but scaling up and broader application will require further research.

Finally, the provision of online help by way of email, telephone, video conferencing, and shared screens needs further research and design improvements. There is appealing evidence that social mechanisms among peers such as news groups, online communities, and frequently asked question (FAQ) lists are helpful, but there is little research that distinguishes among the best and worst of these. Best practices, validated analyses, guidelines, and theories could all be improved through extensive research.