A Programmer's Dream

UI Usability.

Posted by Stephen Wrighton on 11 Jan 2007

A freelance project I'm working on involves manipulating large datasets of random numbers tied to a specific date. There are about 6 or 7 different algorithms which the dataset gets passed through.

My first intention was a tabbed setting, displaying a tab for each algorithm and the processed data always there for the user to view. Additionally there was going to be an Overview tab which provided just the results for the algorithms.

Yet the more I work with this layout the more I realize that it sucks. It's clunky and not very user-friendly. After all, what the user is truly after is the result sets not the actual crunched data sets themselves. And while the user may want the ability to view the crunched numbers (and make simple modifications to the way the datasets are crunched) that is not the primary focus of the application.

In my zeal to display information to the user I forgot the fact that the user really doesn't care about it.

All they are concerned about is the results.

At least I caught onto this glaring mess of an UI before I delivered.

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