Michael Braun's Blog

This weekend was filled with activities revolving around computers. That’s not entirely accurate, but it seems that as of late I have had a lot of opportunities helping other people (older relatives) try to figure out how to use their computers. It’s always an interesting task as I try to translate my higher computer knowledge down to their level. I don’t consider myself to have a super-high understanding of computers, but I do end up doing a lot of reading about computers and technology, and in general have a more nerdy understanding than some of my co-workers. Be that as it may, all this time spend with relatives has given me a different perspective on building technological devices.

1) Basic users don’t care about more features; in fact, the more features, the harder it is to explain. I bought my mom a new computer (iMac) a week ago or so. She took a week before she even turned it on. I’m not sure if that was out of fear that it would be complicated, a lack of time, or (most likely) a mixture of both. But when she finally did set it up and turn it on, it took 4-5 phone calls to me before she could even get past the login screen and check her e-mail. Thru this whole process, she frequently had troubles. She pressed the side buttons on her Mighty Mouse to all of a sudden have all open windows pop up before her eyes. Experienced Mac users know this is Expose, a very handy feature introduced in OS 10.3. For my mother, it was a confusing distraction. She felt the computer wasn’t under her control. She later opened up Dashboard, tried to configure a Widget, only to accidentally click the desktop and have them all disappear. This was confusing and irritating for her.

In short, she will never use these features packed into her operating system because they are not intuitive to her, and they make her feel like she is out of control.

2) If you can’t make the interface clean and simple, basic users will give up. I consider my dad to be a pretty tech-savvy guy, mostly because he had a lot of experience with early technology and that has left him willing to take chances and explore. There’s nothing better than that when trying to teach someone a computer. I gave my dad my old desktop (iMac G4) last January. Overall, I think that he has enjoyed using it a lot, though he never really got past using Word and Excel. When I showed him how to use GarageBand to turn his old records into CDs, he was very interested. He went out and spent $50 on the equipment so he could do it himself. The fact that he spent that kind of money on technology equipment blew me away. But when it came time to show him how to use GarageBand, he was lost. Even though I created a file he could open to immediately begin recording, he didn’t understand the interface. So when I would do something natural like open up a track to change the settings, he saw that as a confusing sidetrack. It wasn’t part of his understanding of the workflow that I had shown him (basically, select the track, hit record, and start the record). Even more confusing was going to System Preferences to adjust the input volume.

In short, though my dad was highly motivated, these more complex settings made him want to give up. I had to explain all the settings to him three more times before he finally felt comfortable doing it on his own. Without a clean and clear interface, basic users are apt to surrender especially if they try once and fail.

C) Even the simplest of equipment can be ruined for basic users when too many options are available in the same place. I went to Milwaukee this weekend to help my Uncle Bob set up a wireless router he bought. He is going to begin a new job, where he does a lot of work from home. He had his work laptop all setup and ready to go, but wanted help configuring his wireless router. When I plugged it in and got it ready to go, I knew that I had to keep the setup screen from him. Linksys routers place all their options all in the same setup panes, rather than trying to hide some options under an “Advanced Settings” button. There are so many possible options (and a good number I don’t understand) that I knew he would never be able to set it up himself, even with a manual. Thankfully, I knew how to do the basics, like change his network name, change the security on the network, and change the password to access the router settings. But without me there, he would never have found that out. That’s partly why, I suspect, you see so many unsecured wireless networks floating around. People can plug in the wireless router and get it going, but they then have no idea the number of settings they need to change, or how to change them.

Especially irritating with wireless network configuration is changing the name of the network and the security settings. The moment you change the name, you are kicked off the network and forced to rejoin. If you are used to this, it makes perfect sense. For basic users, it’s a point at which they may give up. The same thing happens when changing security. There are so many points of surrender for a basic user.

In short, a complicated device combined with complicated settings can be a surefire way to cause basic users to give up.

Now, I don’t have any specific recommendations for computer makers. I don’t know how to make an operating system more basic, because you don’t want to risk taking away features. The computer I type on now is very personalized, to the point that it is difficult to give it to someone else to use; there are too many things I have configured just for me (starting with the touch-sensitive track pad). But I think allowing users the option to see a simplified options screen can make computers much less intimidating. And having less intimidating computers can be very helpful as we help our parents (and others older than us) get more and more used to using technology.

I’m looking forward to having video chats with my mom, just as soon as she figures out how to open the chat program.