[thelist] User perception

[M. Seyon]

Message from Andreas Wahlin (11/15/2004 09:14 AM)
>This is perhaps a bit of a philosophical question ...
>I have this form, that you log into. On the login page are instructions
>on what userid/password to use, and on the form input page are
>instructions on how to fill out the form. Still users mail/phone
>questions about how to proceed, some claiming that instructions are
>scarce, and when I say "there's the text answering your question", they
>go "oh, ok thanks".

Well, if a user, having encountered such problems with a form, resorted to 
calling in for support I certainly wouldn't say "there's the text answering 
your question". Not immediately anyways. I'd *answer* their question, then 
refer back to the relevant text.

>Now, is this always so? Is it impossible to make it so that everyone
>follows and read instructions?

Yes. That's why no matter what, tech support will always exist, and why 
making users jump through "Press 1 to... Press 6 to... Press #..." hoops to 
get to a human isn't really a good idea.

>This falls I suppose under HCI and GUI study, but I was more interested
>in your spontaneous reactions and whether any of you feel the same
>things.

Spontaneous reactions are all well and good but I'm sure you'd have more 
success if you could demonstrate the pages your users having problems with. 
As the developer you may be overlooking something that an unbiased, 
uniformed "user" would spot straight off that could improve performance.

regards.
-marc

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