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Chris White        

Hall of Fame:  The 2007 Microsoft Office Word “Ribbon” UI

·         Options which are currently selected are highlighted, providing visibility into system status

·         The presentation makes a very large number of options visible, providing discoverability of a deep feature set, and follows platform standards for meanings of all button symbols.

·         Accelerators, normally hidden, allow quick keyboard access for expert users.  By pressing ‘Alt’, the user is provided with a cue map which shows what accelerators correspond to what objects.  This allows the user to discover the deep accelerator functionality w/out cluttering the normally seen UI.  The accelerator structure is 2 layers deep (tab, then command) and pressing the first level causes the 2^nd level to show.  (Shown below)

Hall of Shame:  The door at my workplace … The door doesn’t open when pushed, but doesn’t give any indication of why.  (Violation of ‘System status’ rule).  I’ve watched dozens of people walk up to the door and initially fail to open it. They’re missing the button on the left in the picture below.

 

 

 

Not surprising, given its position and size…

User’s regularly read the ‘Pull’ label they can see that is intended to be read from the other side, causing a 2^nd error condition.  (Violation of “Error Prevention”).  The door handle itself doesn’t give good indication of which way the door should open, (violation of “Recognition rather than recall) so they added a sign.  But they added it in a way that continues to confuse people.