Judging a product’s user experience
September 7 2006 10:00:00 AM
Add/Read Comments [19]
Yesterday Ed Brill (Lotus) and Peter de Hass (Microsoft) both blogged about the consistency, or lack of in the user experience of Microsoft products. Ed mentions the perception amongst some customers that Microsoft products are "easier for our users" and "we won't have to do training". He highlights several examples where this is not true, and how Microsoft products can be very different, and often difficult to use. Peter of course expresses the opposite opinion, and states "opinions are being formed out there by people who have not actually seen, let alone worked with the new Office 2007 UI (and ribbon)." I agree with Peter. I don't think people should make final judgements on things based on speculation, rumour, or uninformed opinions.
So with that said, I wanted to blog today about my experiences with Outlook 2007, a product I do know a lot about. It is not my intention to stir up an "Outlook versus Notes" debate. My goal to simply provide Lotus Notes customers with some facts about Outlook 2007, which they can use when having discussions with people who insist that Outlook's UI is better than Notes.
The first thing most reviewers point out about Outlook 2007 is how the user interface (UI) for the inbox differs from the UI when creating a document. Below is the UI in Outlook 2007's In-box. There is no Ribbon, instead the pre-2007 menus and toolbars.
Here is the UI when composing a mail message. There is a Ribbon.
I don't think this is a huge deal, but it does provide a tangible example of inconsistency, something Microsoft loves to take issue with Lotus about. I expect Microsoft will fix this at some point, perhaps even for the gold-release.
My top concern about using Outlook, is that in the main screen, there are more than a dozen different "widgets" which users need to understand. Many of them seem to do similar things (open/close, drop down, flyout, etc), so why are so many different conventions used?
Taking a closer look.... Double arrows, plus/minus, and triangles?
Here are four different shapes all next to each other. What is the difference between a solid triangle and a triangle with a line over it? Don't they both cause drop down boxes to appear?
When composing a message I see the solid down triangle (under Account), the down triangle with a line over it (at the top), as well as new shape, an arrow pointing down and right. (next to Clipboard)
Why do the dots here mean drag to Resize?
While here they indicate to me that I can Move (not resize) the toolbar?
I love this screen. "Calendar, My Calendars, Calendar, Browse Calendar, Send a Calendar, Publish Calendar..." Do you think the developers get paid by the number of times they use the word calendar per inch? :-)
I am not pointing out these things in an effort to bash the Microsoft user experience. Honestly, for some things I think it is fine, while for others I personally find it very un-intuitive, and inconsistent. But it is obvious that there is a lot for users to learn/understand. My hope is that people will simply be fair, and not bash the Notes UI while claiming how great Microsoft's is without looking at the true situation. The above examples only took me five minutes to point out, and they are from a single product, Outlook. I hate to think what I would discover doing an in depth comparison of Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Messenger, Groove, InfoPath, OneNote, SharePoint, etc.
So with that said, I wanted to blog today about my experiences with Outlook 2007, a product I do know a lot about. It is not my intention to stir up an "Outlook versus Notes" debate. My goal to simply provide Lotus Notes customers with some facts about Outlook 2007, which they can use when having discussions with people who insist that Outlook's UI is better than Notes.
The first thing most reviewers point out about Outlook 2007 is how the user interface (UI) for the inbox differs from the UI when creating a document. Below is the UI in Outlook 2007's In-box. There is no Ribbon, instead the pre-2007 menus and toolbars.
Here is the UI when composing a mail message. There is a Ribbon.
I don't think this is a huge deal, but it does provide a tangible example of inconsistency, something Microsoft loves to take issue with Lotus about. I expect Microsoft will fix this at some point, perhaps even for the gold-release.
My top concern about using Outlook, is that in the main screen, there are more than a dozen different "widgets" which users need to understand. Many of them seem to do similar things (open/close, drop down, flyout, etc), so why are so many different conventions used?
Taking a closer look.... Double arrows, plus/minus, and triangles?
Here are four different shapes all next to each other. What is the difference between a solid triangle and a triangle with a line over it? Don't they both cause drop down boxes to appear?
When composing a message I see the solid down triangle (under Account), the down triangle with a line over it (at the top), as well as new shape, an arrow pointing down and right. (next to Clipboard)
Why do the dots here mean drag to Resize?
While here they indicate to me that I can Move (not resize) the toolbar?
I love this screen. "Calendar, My Calendars, Calendar, Browse Calendar, Send a Calendar, Publish Calendar..." Do you think the developers get paid by the number of times they use the word calendar per inch? :-)
I am not pointing out these things in an effort to bash the Microsoft user experience. Honestly, for some things I think it is fine, while for others I personally find it very un-intuitive, and inconsistent. But it is obvious that there is a lot for users to learn/understand. My hope is that people will simply be fair, and not bash the Notes UI while claiming how great Microsoft's is without looking at the true situation. The above examples only took me five minutes to point out, and they are from a single product, Outlook. I hate to think what I would discover doing an in depth comparison of Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Messenger, Groove, InfoPath, OneNote, SharePoint, etc.
Great post Alan, and a very fair analysis.
As a long-term Notes user/admin who recently had to use Outlook 2003 for a year or so, I would completely agree that the lack of consistency and the "un-intuitiveness" of Outlook is at least the equal of Notes if not significantly worse. And this is in a product that only does email/calendaring, nothing else.
I also feel that IBM/Lotus is always criticised for being non- "Windows-standard", yet there is very little in the screenshots that you show that is remotely "Windows-standard"... More "double-standard" I'd say...
Alan,
Good post.
I will provide a more detailed comment tomorrow.
What I did see, is you're not running the latest version of the Office Beta. Will share some screenshots of B2TR which gove some insight of some of the changes in the UI / ribbon for the better.
I still feels strange to have someone form Lotus (or IBm right now) discussing a UI ;-) I do see this a of of the hot topics at IBM in developing Hannover ;-)
And let's be honoust, designing a UI *is* as ghard as rocket science :-)
ribbon = big infobox
Did you hear of the following web site ?
This "super user" is pointing out Lotus notes defects from the "standard user" point of view...
I also think that Lotus should really get rid of most of the
mail template ridiculous error messages we are all used to. Wouldn't cost them such a big effort.
Lotus Notes Sucks
{ Link }
Anonymous page with acerbic criticisms of the Lotus Notes user interface.
Fred, yes we know all about that site. While a very limited number of the comments makes some sense, most of them are about Lotus Notes 4.6, a version that is 10 years old.
Alan,
Although later than promised I've written a bit more feedback. I did it on my blog. Not only to draw readers, but to be able to include some screenshots to illustrate thatb this is beta and improvement are made on a regular basis ...
Sorry forgot the most important part, the link :
{ Link }
Allen,
I would like to see you do something on Lotus Notes and the problems that are in it and the problems with Hannover Beta when it comes out. I am by no means an Outlook supporter but there seems to be no give and take. The Lotus Community seems hell bent on yelling about how evil and stupid Microsoft is but at the same time Lotus Does the same dumb things and none of you pick them up:
1. A UI that is just Tired looking
2. Button Bars that really don't make and sense.
3. Button bars that do the same things as other button bars.
4. No consistancy between the Clients (Notes/Dev/Admin)
5. The really crappy error messages that do nothing but confuse.
6. No real way to get users to DB that are all over the place.
7. No "Mail Client" for just mail users. Unless you count DWA and then you have to deal with the uneditable iNotes Crap that is just plain ugly.
8. Old and Tired and has not changed it's poor image in over 10 years.
I could go on and there are tons of things wrong with it that seems to be overlooked by the Lotus Zeolots. You all might want to start making Lotus Better before you decide to go after a Fresh Shinny Client that seems to be doing pretty well with the users....complicated. Sure but you think that Hannover and all that other stuff for the average user is going to be easy to understand?
-David
People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
Outlook is so much easier than Notes.
@9 Obviously I disagree, but the important thing is that so does our user testing. When doing studies of people performing a series of daily tasks with both Notes and Outlook, the results were almost a perfect tie. So while you personally may like Outlook more than Notes, your generic statement does not hold for everyone, especially since you do not bother to provide any details. Both products have some very good features, both have some the need improving, and both are missing some things. Users will most likely prefer the product they have more training on. Lotus has recognized the need to innovate the Notes user experience, and that is the focus on the next release, code named Hannover.
@8 David, I can tell you with 100% clarity that I am not hell bent on proving that Microsoft is evil, nor stupid. I'd ask that you please re-read this post, and hopefully see that what I am hell bent on is discussing how perception and reality are often far from each other.
As for your list, I certainly don't agree with all the points, nor do I even understand some of them, but that is your opinion and you are welcome to it. I don't want to "convince you otherwise", especially since I know you are well aware of the plans for Hannover, and that Lotus is listening.
I have read some good comments weighing in on both sides of a very polarised debate. I will an observation on these posts, and lay down a challenge.
Observation: It seems that by and large, those who favour the MS Outlook experience appear to be unable to post comments to a blog without the aid of an auto-spellchecker function. A little proof reading goes a long way (and helps you remember to include minor details like your links to your supporting material) - Don't make the "other side" look better for no good reason!!
The challenge:
I personally am obliged to use both products every single day for the features they offer, as a consultant to various government agencies that use these and other products for their email and collaboration solutions.
I challenge you to live with both products long enough to really get to know them and return to the debate at that time. Consider the "user" you are speaking for:
I leave you with my brief observations about both choices:
1. Microsoft Exchange/Outlook
End Users:
The current releases of this product really appeal to the user base that live with them. Email users like the ui. They like the annoying frills that are supported. They really don't care that it offers some counter-productive functions, and is the most widely exploited platform.
Administrators:
... get under paid to work much harder than the competition on systems that were originally designed with a much smaller scale in mind. Their Lotus counterparts command much better wages, and have an easier time supporting their mail platform.
2: Lotus Notes
IBM savaged its own product in the market place by forgetting to market the ongoing development and feature expansion of this product. There is a resultant stink about the brand now which will take years to dispell. It is a pity, because from an enterprise perspective, this is a solution that delivers most of the required functions in a single neat box for messaging, collaboration, remote user applications, web user applications and so on - You are not compelled to purchase endless third party add-ons to "try to get it to work", unlike the MS Exchange Administrators out there.
End Users:
... don't understand that this is more than email at their fingertips.
Administrators:
... did I mention already that a Domino CLP gets paid better than their MSCE counterparts? - but this doesnt make them more expensive, because typically you require more MSCE's on the payroll to get the job done - and more hardware and licencing to create an equivalent environment to the Domino platform.
The IDEAL solution would use terminology that dumb end users can get with no training (Try explaining Replication, NSF databases, and Full-Text indexing to an end user!!!) which provided back-end technology that was easy to administer, scaleable, and cost effective. Both camps could learn a lot from each other by accepting the challenge.
I accept my own criticism about proof-reading posts before committing them - Oops! :P
Nice post. I agree, both sides should learn from each other. There should be far more cooperation and less competition, but that is unfortunately not the way big business goes. I do my part, and try to show honest and open opinions on the topics I write about.
@12,
Good point. I think either side could improve in more knowledge about the competition. In Alan's favour, he goes the extra mile and is one of the few IBM bloggers who actually has not tested but worked with for example Office 2007 (Beta 1 ;-) )
To give you some insights to Microsoft's approach. Some of the people form the Microsoft product group who developes interoperability tools between the Microsoft platform and Lotus Notes / Domino actually work Lotus Notes Domino tools to experience the pro's and cons of the integration tools.
Personally I don't but do learn a lot from Alan's posts (and ofetn think hey we can do that to / better ;-)
I don't agree fully on your assessment of the Microosft environment with regards to users and admins and there's a lot of research information proving you wrong. Howver, this is your experience and I can not argue with that
"An error has occured in lotus notes"...can I have some more information please?
All i know is it is faster for me to process my 300 emails a day in Outlook and customize the UI than it will ever how lotus notes...
Hello Kieran. You'll need to provide more more information, before I can provide you more information. (that sounds funny). When are you getting the message "An error has occurred in Lotus Notes"?
Can you provide some details on what Outlook does differently that allows you to process your 300 emails a day faster than you think you can in Notes.
Hi Alan, I would like to know more information, all i know is that i get a dialog box every 5 mintues with that message and then it asks do i want to run the diagnostics, oh, and they crash.
As for the speed, I suppose its because I am use to that UI, I have mail rules, but notes has that, maybe because outlook doesnt crash on me.
Hi Kieran, obviously the normal operating condition for Notes is that it would not crash. What are you doing with the error reports, have you send them to your administrator to take a look? If the client is crashing, something is obviously wrong that you should have investigated by your support and fixed.