Made to Measure S60
Steve Litchfield wonders why the whole concept of 'Settings and Preferences' in an application, or even in S60 as a whole, can't be enhanced and mirrored by a initial setup wizard that asks just one simple question...
The official Nokia S60 browser blog's post on the problems of simplifying their application has got me thinking... They rightly contend that it's tricky to design software to be simple to a large range of potential users with very different aims and expertise levels.
BUT
Why not set things up so that the same application, or even S60 as a whole, can look and behave in different ways according to the personal preference and ability of the person using the smartphone?
I remember 10 years ago when the desktop email application Eudora came with three different levels of interface complexity, from simple through to advanced. When installed, it asked you which one you'd like and then it presented you with just the level of menu/icon/pane complexity you'd asked for. Thus, beginner home users wouldn't get bogged down in complex folder and rule management, and so on. At any time, if you wanted to change the level of interface, you could do so in Settings.
Why could the same idea not be applied to complex S60 applications like Web (reducing the number of menu options in 'simple' mode, especially important as more and more functionality gets shoehorned into the program) and Messaging (for example removing 'My folders', 'Reports', 'Cell broadcast', 'Service command' etc in 'simple' mode)?
And perhaps apply the idea to the S60 application launching interface itself. What about dropping the active standby icons and, in simple mode, have no standby screen, with the Menu being the only launch screen, taking away the numeric app shortcuts so that users could dial from the app launcher? And of course reducing the usual cluttered set of 50 or so application icons to around 20 at most? (things like 'Data cbl', 'Modem', 'Dev mgr', 'RealPlayer' [standalone] and 'Flash' [standalone] spring to mind as obvious things to lose)
Then there are all those 'Settings' which even I don't really understand - the total number of settings could be happily reduced down to just the half dozen that the beginner user will want.
The moment a user starts needing something from the 'Advanced' tableau, i.e. they're going beyond the basics and are now familiar with S60 and how it works, they make the switch in 'Settings' and everything returns as it is now.
What about it Nokia? One simple question when a smartphone is powered on for the first time. "Are you experienced?" Or, playing less to the title image above:
Something to think about anyway, Nokia... An optional 'S60 Lite', maybe? Ditto developers - two apps in one, depending on user experience?
Steve Litchfield, 19 Feb 2007
Published by Steve Litchfield at 7:44 UTC, February 17th 2007
Categories: Comment, Software, Develop
Platforms: Series 60, General, S60 3rd Edition, UIQ 3
Feature Discussion
Obviously there would also be the good old complex interface available for experts, but like Steve says there ought to be an optional easy mode for people who simply don't need anything more, and the user ought to be asked which mode to use when they first turn the machine on.
This principle is long-established in software wizards, they almost always have a simplified "recommended" option and a complex "advanced" option.
If you've never run anything but Word and Firefox for the past six months then I don't see why you would want anything else on the desktop to confuse you. In "easy mode" you shouldn't really be seeing any other icons on the desktop by default, and if you want to do something else there could be a "do something else" icon which would reveal the other stuff.
Also, as Krisse suggested, Windows does ask you if you want to remove any icons from the desktop that you haven't used in a while. Personally, I find it bloody annoying, but I can see the benfit for most users of the "Holy Trinity" of Office, Internet and Email.
There is quite a lot of work going in to adaptive interfaces at the moment and I think it's proving to be a "lot" harder than most people would imagine when first giving it some thought.
Whilst hiding less used options sounds like a great idea, how many people have complained about not being able to find an option because it is hidden away? Imagine the frustration when you discover it's because the OS was [B]deliberately[/B] hiding it from you because it didn't think you'd need it.
Or think of the old Office Menu's and how they used to hide options you hadn't used in a while. Which meant, if you weren't sure which menu an option was under (and that would be common for commands you didn't use often) you had to click on the little expansion arrows for ALL the menus until you found it.
It's a bit like people asking software houses for a "Lite" version of some app. The software houses nearly always say no. not because there isn't demand or because it's technically difficult but because everyone who asks for a "Lite" version with "just the essentials" has a different list of what is essential. Eventually, all those lists add up to the full product!
It IS a brilliant idea and I think it will start to creep in more and more, but it's a lot more difficult than it sounds so it will take some time.
An easier alternative might be what Steve suggests and have a really really cut down simplified interface, with an icon for removing it if the user feels confident.
User-defined cut down interfaces are possible, there could be a wizard that asks really really down to earth questions like "do you want to type letters?" (which would add the Word icon) and "do you want to browse the web?" (which would add the browser icon) etc.
Not sure i really agree with what is being said here surely the whole point of a smart phone is the more you play with it and get to know it the more you are able to customise it to how you want it to look at feel.
The active standby app actually IMO is a perfect example turn it off if you don't want it otherwise you have the ability to customise it the way you like adding the shortcuts that you use the most or want to see and as you add apps if that's what you want to do you further customise it to look and do what you want. I have only been using S60 since June of last year and found i got to grips with it quite quickly and with very little problem initially on a N70 and since then N73 and now N93. Now prior to this i was an UIQ user and in the P900 and P910 also found this easy to get used to and customise to present itself the way i liked, now UIQ3 and my M600 things were very different half the things were no longer where i expected them to be and IMO there was a distinct lack of customization available plus even the menu structures appeared illogical as many things now appear hidden IMO and require real exploring to find, but is that not the whole point of smart phones they are as simple or complicated as the user wants them to be and personal preferences dictate what suits one person may not the next.
Marc
- Could the power user mode of S60 have 4 command buttons instead of 2?
- Could the power user mode of S60 have touch screen?
- Could the power user mode of S60 have typeable keyboard?
- Could the power user mode of S60 be truly converged? E.g not relying on a PC for PIM syncing.
- Could the power user mode of S60 have a Contacts app which with ease can handle 10000 entries and a large number of additional user defined fields?
- Can this Contacts database be easily accessible from your own applications, may they be written in Python, OPL or whatever on the device itself?
- Can the Agenda sustain an average of 10 entries per day for 10 years = 36500 entries?
8 years after the End-of-Life declarations of S5mx/S7/netBook, the world's vast number mobile professionals still do not have an obvious platform. Nokia works entirely in an FMCG mode. This is not criticism. That's just Nokia. It has brought some wonderful devices. But it should be clear that addressing the power user market entails quite a lot more than just some tweakings of S60. It's increasingly clear that Nokia's enterprise division will not move sufficiently far from the tree to ever be attractive for this market.
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