Write programs for Mom

When I had dinner at noon yesterday, my mother gave me a pen and asked me to write down the steps for "Getting files from a floppy disk into the machine". I 've been suffering from countless similar attacks, finally, I wrote the following:

Go to Windows> desktop> my computer> left mouse button> click twice> put the floppy disk on a floppy disk> select: -> left mouse button-> click twice-> find file-> right mouse-> select-> "copy"-> desktop-> right mouse-> select-"Paste"

It seems that it is still very complicated to let an old lady in her early 50 s complete a seemingly simple task. I always wondered what would happen if I told her what the Copy command would do in DOS, I often instruct her on the phone similar to how to clear cell content in Excel, and it is often a long-distance call (more than 8 minutes), because if I use a certain term, or some of the statements are inconsistent with those on the screen, which will lead to endless troubles.

Today, it is a headache to discuss the ease of use of products with our colleagues,ProgramPeople tend to ignore the ease-of-use of the program, and often think that everything will be done after the function is completed, while users complain, haha, of course there are also solutions, I have seen a very simple product, with a 1000-page operation guide, I think if you need to read the 1000-page operation guide for a software operation, this garbage should be thrown away.

We have also encountered a funny problem. Many users do not know how to use the functions on the UI. We often capture a picture or record an operation video, and the problem is solved.

But the question is, why are we so complicated to design? Why are we not paying much attention to the 80-20 theory?

In fact, programmers like to work with functions one by one, and then pile up functions on the UI. During the revision, new functions may be added, which will not be considered, in addition, the UI is even worse when the system is complex enough.

Today I started to like "Wizard" so much. This simple method combines complex operations and orderly operations. In fact, this is the focus. The traditional uidesign only focuses on functions, order is often ignored, and order is more important.

Today, I began to like workflow more and understand how important a workflow is to a product.

With the flexible customization of workflows and the simple working principle of the wizard, your work will be easier and more pleasant.

I think: in the design process, the functions are of course more important. But if you combine the functions organically, you need to use the Wizard to work in this way, when the process in the wizard needs to be repaired, the more flexible way is to build on the workflow engine. Haha, there is also not to provide so many useless functions that are best enough, excessive flexibility is a bad thing.

Finally, I wrote a small program to copy files from a floppy disk. She liked it very much.