Question and answer: design means remembering to ask the question

ABSTRACT

Have you found yourself using standard design features simply because they are standards? I know I have. We assume that a feature has become standard for a good reason, and we may follow it without much consideration. Josh Seiden urges us to change our approach, restrain our impulse to use the standard answer to a design problem, and look deeper to see if it really does meet our users' needs.---Elizabeth Buie

P.S. When I conceived "Whiteboard," I envisioned a provocative, opinionated, informal, and humorous column. What I did not insist on was that I agree with its contributors' views. This installment was difficult for me to edit---not for its main point (challenging assumptions can be a very good thing) but because I question some of its specific recommendations (I certainly want to know in which folder my file is being stored!) and also because I am involved in standards development. It was an interesting exercise in maintaining my detachment, and I have Josh to thank for the opportunity.

REFERENCES

• 1: Cooper, Alan. 1995. About Face. Foster City, California: IDG Books.
• 2: Nielsen, Jakob. 1999. When Bad Design Elements Become the Standard. Alertbox, November 14, 1999. (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/991114.html).
• 3: Norman, Donald. 1988. The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Doubleday
• 4: Larry A. Wood , L. A. Wood, User Interface Design: Bridging the Gap from User Requirements to Design, CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, FL, 1997

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.1 MODELS AND PRINCIPLES
      H.1.2 User/Machine Systems
          Subjects: Human factors

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors, Standardization