Tuesday 28 January 2014

Apps that destroy users work

This is elementary. No software should let the user switch apps or scenes and throw away all the changes the user has made. But Jolla apps do this. SHIT!
I typed a note into a Sailfish OS Evernote application called Bluewhale (check the source if you're into code). Then I fiddled around the touch screen to find out how to save and return to the notebook view. Bluewhale let me do that and trash all the text I just had painstakingly inserted to the note. It did not save it automatically, it did not warn me or ask whether I want to save changes. Nothing. Nada. That's what I ended up with. Merde! (pardon my Latin...)

So  P L E A S E   -  even if you're developing for the "unlike" mobile ecosystem - do not think that the laws of usability do not apply (see the note below from)! An architect cannot afford to defy the laws of physics - it will result in a collapse. Likewise, as software developers, you cannot look down upon user needs and behavior. You will find yourself on a crash course towards an iceberg of frustrated users that might just sink the whole boat.

Adapted without permission from Nielsen, Jakob (1992) "The Usability Engineering Lifecycle". Via Google Scholar. 

Otherwise, I'm a happy Jolla passenger still. The device is fast, pretty and generally easy to use.

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