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programming and human factors
by Jeff Atwood
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In The Problem with Configurability, I noted the tenuous balance between the opposing goals of customization and convention. Kam VedBrat, one of the Microsoft Windows UI designers for Vista, riffs on a similar theme. Why isn't Windows Vista completely skinnable out of the box?
There is also the issue of supportability - how does the guy on the phone doing tech support, or working at the helpdesk tell you to click on the big green start button to open a program, or the red button in the corner to close a pop-up add if the skin you installed replaced your start button with an alien-head and turned the close button black?
Don't get me wrong - I love the fact that people can do this stuff with their PC. But it is far more invasive than it may appear to be on the surface. One of the best selling cars in the United States is the Honda Civic. And a huge contributor to its popularity, especially amongst younger buyers, is the vast array of aftermarket parts that are available for it. Honda lets you do some customization at the factory - you can pick your paint color, maybe tint the windows, etc. But if you want your car to look more like something that you saw on "Pimp My Ride", you can get it done, but it also voids your factory warranty.
This might not be an issue for someone who authored the skin themself but once you make it a broad reaching thing that anyone can download and install -- maybe even accidentally -- you run the risk of really making things worse for people.
Our stance is somewhat similar - if you're going to do simple stuff, we have some options for you. And for a very large percentage of the ~700,000,000 people running Windows, what we offer in the box is fine. If you want more customization, it's available. And it will continue to be available in Windows Vista. But depending on how much you do under the hood, you might void your warranty.
I was thinking about the skinning problem this weekend as I browsed through the 200+ skins available for the Desktop Sidebar. So many of them are just awful. Customization is in the eyes of the beholder, of course, but the odds of a user picking a random skin that actually reduces usability is high. The default UI may not have flames/aliens/J-Lo on it, but it was probably built by designers versed in usability.
So, to take this analogy to its logical conclusion-- WindowBlinds is how you Pimp Your OS, and your rapper-turned-host is Brad Wardell. Aiiight?
I think a simple uxtheme.dll patch is all it takes. No need to run an entirely new service to run different themes on Windows.
derek on October 2, 2005 8:32 PMMicrosoft broke it, Microsoft should fix it. There should be a button somewhere that temporarily turns off all skins and other such stuff. The Ctrl-Alt-Del box sounds like a good place to put it. Call it visual safe mode.
Loren Pechtel on October 3, 2005 10:51 AMUmm ... I would assume that a person who knows enough to pimp their desktop would be able to:
* figure out what the "start menu" means
OR
* disable WindowBlinds during the tech support call
If that's giving users too much credit, then I like Loren's idea (above).
Hell, when I called Dell customer support after hosing my system, the first thing the woman asked was whether or not I had installed Partition Magic (bingo!).
Joe Grossberg on October 3, 2005 12:02 PMThe worst part about all these demands for configurability is how much harder it makes to develop an app. Themeing really sucks from a developers point of view. All of a sudden I have to revisit the dirtiest, trickiest parts of my app, just so end users can be dazzled by some useless eye-candy. The worst part is that they will cease to notice that eye candy 2 weeks after I give it to them. I have to re-write every custom widget, learn a whole new API, AND support backwards compatiblity mode for people who turn off themeing or are running on a pre-XP OS.
Personally I've always felt that the only people who need to sit around customzing their desktops are people who don't actually *use* their computers productively (specifically real-world results), rather they use them to pass time (i.e. geek kids with nothing else to do)
Mind you, I don't expect that what I am saying is 100% true. There are artists who effortlessly come up with new themes, because thats what they like to do (create art.) But I can't help but feel that 95% of the themes out there are just the result of teenage geek-angst.
Armen on October 3, 2005 4:12 PM> Personally I've always felt that the only people who need to sit around customzing their desktops are people who don't actually *use* their computers productively (specifically real-world results), rather they use them to pass time (i.e. geek kids with nothing else to do)
Very funny-- and probably a kernel of truth there as well. How many automobiles do you see driving down the street that look like the ones on Pimp My Ride?
Jeff Atwood on October 3, 2005 7:44 PMI'm only 23 now, so still pretty young. But when I was younger and get my first Windows computer, I used to customise the hell out of them.
Mainly because, as already touched on, I loved computers but didn't really have a work purpose.
These days, I couldn't be bothered to really customise Windows.
It didn't seem that many years ago (Win95 era) when everybody has different wallpaper, sounds and mouse icons on their computers.
I guess these days, people are actually using Windows to run programs, instead of trying to customise it! :)
Peter Bridger on October 4, 2005 7:05 AM>Personally I've always felt that the only people who need to sit around customzing their desktops are people who don't actually *use* their computers productively (specifically real-world results), rather they use them to pass time (i.e. geek kids with nothing else to do)
<
but, of course, deary. your Auntie Em has done numberless studies over the last 20 years. they all show that the PC, in particular, has not led to a productivity increase. generally, quite the opposite, IIRC. people who spend 20 minutes deciding which font to use on Some Particular Memo are among my favorites.
robert on October 4, 2005 4:32 PMI think another factor on configurability in general is how many different OS installs you sit in front of in one day. Most of the populace has at least work vs home, many more add on laptops, lab machines, virtal machines...
There's nothing worse than feeling helpless because you're absolutely dependent on Ctrl-Alt-C to start calc.exe. Or if you really need your maximize button to be in the bottom left corner. My work buddy has the close button on his mouse, where your thumb goes, which is just awful for me. At some point you just give up and live with the standard (wincing whenever you do come across the lemon yellow ducky theme you have to troubleshoot on).
Steve on October 5, 2005 6:22 PMIt is very easy to avoid this "tech support" problem by providing some key combination that is not frequently used and that will turn off the skin...
Esad Hajdarevic on October 10, 2005 11:45 AMHere's a great primer on XP Skinning from Brad Wardell of Stardock software:
http://www.joeuser.com/index.asp?c=1&AID=92719
Jeff Atwood on December 27, 2005 11:44 PMthis is so awedome
ricky on October 30, 2008 9:53 PMheloooooooooooooooooo
aman on November 3, 2008 7:44 AM| Content (c) 2009 Jeff Atwood. Logo image used with permission of the author. (c) 1993 Steven C. McConnell. All Rights Reserved. |
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