Blend is one of my favorite coffee shops in Portland. It’s really easy to hang out there for hours. With more time comes a necessary trip to the toilet. For two years the lock to the bathroom opened the opposite direction. To move the deadbolt to the left, I had to turn the key to the right. This confused me for a long time, until finally I got used to it.
About a year ago, they fixed this broken interface. Now the deadbolt works as anyone would expect. Yet, every time I use their restroom, I still turn the key to the right before going the correct direction.
Do bad interfaces stick around because the user base is used to them? If the interface is improved, new users are happy, but will old users revolt?
This is a real question for the folks at Adobe (formerly Macromedia). I have long considered Macromedia’s user interfaces to be difficult to understand, but now I’m used to it. Will Adobe “fix” Macromedia’s UI now that it owns the products?
I think one look at Photoshop or Illustrator should tell us that Adobe’s traditional answer is “no”. Those interfaces may have seemed logical 10 years ago but they’ve long since been outdated. Using either application today feels like using a different operating system and involves a steep learning curve.
Microsoft Office hardly ever changes either and it’s still on top. But I think the immobility of both products will doom them at one point or another.