| Complaints about the web site itself aside, I'd like to encourage designers to exercise more restraint when applying some of these laws. Most poignant for me is the misapplication and zealous over-application of Hick's Law. If you review the detailed link provided by the site [1] you will see some commentary about when not to use Hick's law. Personally, I would significantly expand where Hick's law should not be applied. Examine the example provided that compares two remote controls: one with a common suite of buttons, and another with a dramatically reduced set of buttons. The site seems to suggest that at the very least the stripped remote yields ratings of "better user experience" from users. I would argue that such ratings alone should not drive UX decision-making. In my life, I have seen the trend of simplifying user interfaces chip away at functionality in virtually every interaction I have with technology, and I don't feel better for it. I really miss the opportunity to more finely control devices and applications according to my needs and wants. The most recent technological epoch—focused so much on mobile devices as it is—has been among the most pronounced with its stripping of functionality (ostensibly to make things easier to use on tiny displays). I often feel that this law is misapplied, perhaps subconsciously as an excuse to not build more comprehensive functionality. Why build a hard button that can turn on and off Closed Captioning when you can just put that in a menu, or better yet, not implement Closed Captioning at all? (To be clear: it can be perfectly fine to hide infrequently-used features in special menus. I use about:config in Firefox routinely. What bothers me most is that, for example, the browser on my phone doesn't have a tenth the options of Firefox and certainly doesn't have anything like about:config. The argument this is because it's a small screen device seems hollow to me; the real reason almost always rings of laziness and contempt for customization by users. Sometimes it will be spun as a means to reduce testing time—laziness by another name—as if mobile software has had any track record of being tested more thoroughly versus old desktop software.) Designers, hear my plea: Let's start pushing back on Hick's Law. Yes, in cases of needing a fast decision, a stripped user interface is agreeable. But in many cases, we're not acutely rushed while using our devices. Generally, I want more functionality from technology, not less. Stop using a UX law as cover for laziness and reduced feature sets. [1] https://uxplanet.org/design-principles-hicks-law-quick-decis... |
I use about:config frequently on my phone - is a pain to use on a phone however. Here's an idea. Use software on the phone but allows users (who wish to) to do deep configuration of phone software on their desktop computer.
I have the opposite complaint about most phone apps - they expose complexity on screens where it's not appropriate. Good software on any platform should "make common things easy and hard things possible".