Simplicity Rules

The Web has been moving toward snappable content for some time. It’s the middle ground between a site owner wanting content and a content producer wanting exposure. The name we’ve given them, widgets, isn’t especially creative, but it does describe their most basic properties: small, usable, and interchangeable.

For example, here is a WeatherBug Widget showing the current conditions in Portland:

Last week the Portland Web Innovators had a great presentation/discussion on widgets. Kevin Tate and two of his fellow members of the StepChange Group gave a history, an overview, and discussed how they use widgets.

Though a widget can be a lot of things, the most interesting to me are the kind that are snappable web content, like the weather details above. I can easily include someone else’s content in my site. This content can come in different forms:

• Static. The content is the same as the day I picked it, like embedding a YouTube video
• Updating. The widget pulls in new content, lik the latest headlines, or a word of the day.
• Interactive. Visitors to my site can use the widget to find what they want.

There can also be combinations of these. For example, I might choose to show my favorite WiFi hotspot (static), but the widget also shows popular places in the same zip code (updating), while providing the visitor the chance to plug in their own zip code (interactive).

Along with making a widget useful to the visitors of a site, the key is to make them easy to snap in. Widget-making is about being a People’s Programmer. Make the technology simple enough, and anyone can share what you’ve done.

My friend John just returned from Chicago and has a summary of transit observations. That town really has this stuff down.

When I lived there for a month in 2000, I took trains and buses everywhere. One of my favorite things was the CTA card, used instead of fare.

Whether you had a monthly/weekly pass, or had filled it with money, it worked the same way. Before getting on a bus or entering a train station, you slide your card in and it spits back out. It’s fast, it makes sure people pay fare, and it’s always the same.

Something John found that I don’t remember are pictures of the street before exiting the subway.

What an elegant solution to something frustrating that happens to me all the time at Pioneer Square mall in Portland. I’m below ground and I want to know where I’m about to exit. I don’t know how many times I’ve ended up at the wrong side, disoriented.

October is breast cancer awareness month. Many sites are going Pink for October to show their support. Hopefully those sites aren’t linking to Susan G. Komen for the Cure outside of the strict guidelines the foundation imposes. In fact, I broke the agreement just by linking to it.

“Links may only be established to the homepage of the Komen website. Links to any main section page or sub-section within, and/or any featured area of the sites, are prohibited.

When linking to the Komen websites you may use either a text link or the pink ribbon graphic. You must use hypertext only and it must be in the following form: ‘Susan G. Komen for the Cure.’ Any variation without written consent from Komen will result in immediate termination of your rights to link to the Komen websites.”

To be fair, Komen isn’t the only organization to use this strange legalese. What the lawyers who drafted this don’t understand is that you can’t control the Internet. They can’t stop me from linking to whatever page I want, however I want. Further, they really don’t want to stop me.

The Internet is all about linking. You can’t control the terms, because you can’t control the Internet, and it works better that way.

The most important time to keep things simple is when the user is on edge, when they will be most open to frustration. Design for over-communication and obviousness–hold the user’s hand.

One such time might be when you’re uninstalling some software, like I did recently with MailTags. I didn’t have a particular problem with the software. The trial had expired and I decided I didn’t want to register it. Here is the uninstall screen (I added the blue ovals):

Everything about the uninstall window points me in the direction of where I want to go. But to move forward, I am forced to click an “install” button. That’s the opposite of what I want. I’m an advanced user and that made me look at it two or three times. Imagine if I was a novice, or I was angry with the software.

There are also moments where your software may have to deliver bad news. Ikea’s stock availability often has to do just that. Unfortunately, there is a sea of text to wade through to finally get my answer, as you can see below (again, I added the blue oval):

These are fairly tame examples. What about when there are major errors, or the user enters an invalid email address? One of my favorite books, Defensive Design, discusses the topic in-depth. I’ve probably read it through four times and I’m still learning things.

And that’s the dirty little secret about hand-holding. Like everything else, it takes practice to get it right.