{"id":724,"date":"2010-03-08T15:00:31","date_gmt":"2010-03-08T14:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/?p=724"},"modified":"2019-11-06T17:45:03","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T16:45:03","slug":"watching-average-users-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/08\/watching-average-users-word\/","title":{"rendered":"Watching \u2018average users\u2019: Word"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s easy to forget how useful it is to watch less technical people use some common programs, and how helpful observation is as a tool to understand the \u2018average\u2019 user. I recently watched someone using MS Word (2003 I think), and it was\u2026enlightening. They made a large number of \u2018errors\u2019 when using MS Word, but as we know as usability specialists, its not the the user that creates errors \u2013 the software does.<\/p>\n<p>The task was relatively simple \u2013 design some worksheets, including textboxes, and pictures, and lay them out in an eye-pleasing manner. I\u2019m sure there are many more appropriate packages to make this in than Word, but it was the user\u2019s software of choice, due to familiarity, and the task shouldn\u2019t be beyond MS Word. I observed, and let them lead the interaction, but advised when they asked for help (naughty I know, but it wasn\u2019t a formal lab setting!)<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<div id=\"attachment_725\" style=\"width: 340px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Beaker_muppet.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-725\" src=\"http:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Beaker_muppet.png\" alt=\"Muppets - Beakers Lab\" title=\"Beaker_muppet\" width=\"330\" height=\"260\" class=\"size-full wp-image-725\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Beaker_muppet.png 330w, https:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Beaker_muppet-300x236.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 330px) 100vw, 330px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-725\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The lab was busy that day anyway...<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h4>How my \u2018less-technical user\u2019 used Word:<\/h4>\n<p>I noted down (obviously away from the user) some of the more \u2018interesting\u2019 characteristics of how they used Word.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Used the \u2018cut\u2019 function as a \u2018delete\u2019 (with no understanding of how it links to paste). Taken out of context from \u201ccut and paste\u201d, \u2018cut\u2019 would more likely imply removing or ending something, and so this mistake is understandable. Incidentally this method has some pluses. I still don\u2019t know how to remove a table easily (not just the information within it), and cut seems to do this.<\/li>\n<li>No knowledge of the alignment tools, and so using spaces as a method to align text to the center or right. Obviously ran into problems when editing the text later, as changes would make the text run over the end of the line, ruining the formatting. <\/li>\n<li>Drew horizontal lines, across the page (i.e. a space to write in your own answer) with \u2013\u2018s. Seems a pretty effective method, even though I\u2019m sure Word has its own way of doing this. Is there a better way of doing it?<\/li>\n<li>Displayed difficulty moving images in Word. Is it right that you have to click on an image twice to move it? The first click just gives you resize options, which confused the user. <\/li>\n<li>Had difficulty with resizing objects. What happens if you make an image so big that it falls off the edge of the paper, and you cannot see the border to make it small again? I guess you could format picture, and manually change the size, but this is an entirely different method of resizing, and isn\u2019t cognitively related to the standard way.<\/li>\n<li>Constant (constant!) rewriting of words, when word autocapitalised\/auto formatted them in an undesired way (which was seemingly every autoformat). User had to delete the word, and re-write each time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>What could word do to improve?<\/h4>\n<p>This immediately throws up some questions about how Word was developed. It\u2019s clear that the tools available, such as the alignment, or horizontal lines, are not making their functionality transparent to new users. It wasn\u2019t clear to my user that they existed, or how they should be functioning. Obviously just having the icon on the toolbar isn\u2019t enough, and this should be rethought. <\/p>\n<p>This was also the case with image manipulation. The functions that the user needed do exist in Word (i.e. resizing, moving), but are modal in nature, and so are difficult to find, and don\u2019t offer a consistent user experience to someone who is not familiar with Word\u2019s nuances. <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also clear with auto format in particular that the system isn\u2019t adapting to the user&#8217;s needs. The constant changes that Word was making to the user\u2019s document, which were then undone each time only created a large degree of frustration in the user. The software should be learning how the user wants auto format to work, and adjust to their preference. In this user\u2019s case, it was causing trouble, and should have turned itself off (or at least given the option)<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<div id=\"attachment_726\" style=\"width: 280px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/clippy.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-726\" src=\"http:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/clippy.png\" alt=\"Clippy\" title=\"clippy\" width=\"270\" height=\"330\" class=\"size-full wp-image-726\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/clippy.png 270w, https:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/clippy-245x300.png 245w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 270px) 100vw, 270px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-726\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">What they need is some sort of helpful assistant<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h4>What should we learn from this?<\/h4>\n<p>It occurred to me that these issues were not unique to the user I watched since I encounter similar problems with Word. The difference is I\u2019ve had enough familiarity to learn the workarounds, or solutions to these problems that Word throws at you. For example, it\u2019s an unthinking reaction to press Ctrl+Z after Word incorrectly auto-formats things incorrectly. My user just hadn\u2019t used the program for long enough to train that reaction, and so word\u2019s error became more of a big deal.<\/p>\n<p>Its important when considered usability to realise that users aren\u2019t just like you. If you are in a position to make a difference with usability, it\u2019s very likely you are not an \u2018average user\u2019, and as such its difficult to comprehend how \u2018average users\u2019 use software.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Average users\u2019 are not stupid. They are your mum, and just don\u2019t have the time, or effort to put into learning these workarounds, or making them second nature. The solution, rather than \u2018educating\u2019 users, is to make the programs better; make programmers understand who their users are, and how they use the programs. And make them program for the \u2018average\u2019 users, rather than the power users. And that is the point of usability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s easy to forget how useful it is to watch less technical people use some common programs, and how helpful observation is as a tool to understand the \u2018average\u2019 user. I recently watched someone using MS Word (2003 I think), and it was\u2026enlightening. They made a large number of \u2018errors\u2019 when using MS Word, but [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[40],"class_list":["post-724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-user-research","tag-bad-ux","grve-entry-item","grve-blog-item"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v15.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Watching \u2018average users\u2019: Word - Steve Bromley - User Research<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/08\/watching-average-users-word\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Watching \u2018average users\u2019: Word - Steve Bromley - User Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s easy to forget how useful it is to watch less technical people use some common programs, and how helpful observation is as a tool to understand the \u2018average\u2019 user. 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