{"id":2830,"date":"2009-10-08T11:49:19","date_gmt":"2009-10-08T15:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/?p=2830"},"modified":"2009-10-08T21:49:44","modified_gmt":"2009-10-09T01:49:44","slug":"options-without-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2009\/10\/08\/options-without-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Options Without Meaning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I was testing out an anti-virus program the other day when I noticed a scan option which\u2026 gave me pause. Upon closer examination, I realized just how poorly designed this option was (from a UI perspective).<\/p>\n<p>First off, it was a slider control \u2013 a rather unusual choice, but not totally unexpected. Remember that a slider control is good for something that has a <em>range<\/em> of possible options \u2013 like volume, power consumption, process priority, playback position (of audio or video), etc.<\/p>\n<p>The default setting was in the middle and was labeled \u201cAutomatic Scan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto\" title=\"automatic scan\" src=\"http:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2009\/10\/automaticscan.png\" border=\"0\" alt=\"automatic scan\" width=\"303\" height=\"54\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I had a hunch that this slider controlled how fast or slow the scan would be (whether it ran at a high priority and scanned quickly, but your computer was basically unusable while it was running, or whether it ran at a very low priority and took forever, but you could keep using your computer without much impact) \u2013 but this was only a hunch based on experience I have from using a lot of anti-virus programs. There was no contextual help or explanation of this option, other than the words \u201cAutomatic Scan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So, I decided to see what other options there were. I slid the control to the right, only to find that it went right to the end \u2013 there was no \u201cin between.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2009\/10\/fastscan.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto\" title=\"fast scan\" src=\"http:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2009\/10\/fastscan_thumb.png\" border=\"0\" alt=\"fast scan\" width=\"303\" height=\"46\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>When I saw this, I had to stop and ask myself, \u201cwhat exactly is a <em>fast scan<\/em>, anyway?\u201d On the surface, it seems like it might be obvious, but in fact it\u2019s not \u2013 a fast scan might be:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A scan that runs at high-priority, pre-empting all other tasks on your computer to get the scan done quicker; or,<\/li>\n<li>A less in-depth scan (i.e., a \u201cquick\u201d scan) that completes quickly, but doesn\u2019t scan as much as a \u201cfull\u201d scan does.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Unfortunately, there is no indication which this is \u2013 it\u2019s just labeled \u201cFast scan\u201d and that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n<p>Out of curiosity, I slid the slider to the other end of the scale, where it promptly went all the way to the left side. So, basically this is a slider used to select from 1 of 3 options \u2013 hardly the best use for a slider control, don\u2019t you think?<\/p>\n<p>Of course, the option I got when I went to the other side was even worse:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2009\/10\/slowscan.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto\" title=\"slow scan\" src=\"http:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2009\/10\/slowscan_thumb.png\" border=\"0\" alt=\"slow scan\" width=\"306\" height=\"49\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>OK now <em>honestly<\/em>, who in their right mind would choose the \u201cslow scan\u201d option?\u00a0 \u201c<em>Why, yes, I\u2019d LOVE to slow down this already lengthy scan process even more \u2013 my time isn\u2019t valuable AT ALL!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Once again, there\u2019s no indication as to what a \u201cslow\u201d scan means, or how it is different from any of the other options. And being named \u201cslow scan\u201d makes it extraordinarily unlikely that anyone in their right mind is ever going to use this option (why would they?).<\/p>\n<p>The scan options for this anti-virus program (I won\u2019t say which one, though you can probably figure it out) are a classic case of poor UI design.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A slider control is a bad choice for something that has just 3 discrete states. A drop-down box would have worked just as well (and would have left room for some more descriptive labels) \u2013 even 3 radio buttons (which are arguably the <em>right<\/em> control for choosing between discrete options) could have been squeezed into the same space given to this control.<\/li>\n<li>The labels used for the options are ambiguous and give no hint as to their actual effect. It is possible to interpret the slow\/fast scan labels in two different ways, both of which are opposites of one another.<\/li>\n<li>It\u2019s not clear from the labels whether fast scan\/slow scan differentiate between <em>priority levels<\/em> (i.e., same scan, just running at different execution priority levels) or between <em>scan types<\/em> (i.e., quick surface scan vs. longer in-depth scan).<\/li>\n<li>Regardless of what the options actually <em>do<\/em>, the options themselves are largely unnecessary. There\u2019s no real need to change the priority or type of scan \u2013 after all, most users won\u2019t be running the scan manually, they\u2019ll let the anti-virus program scan their computer automatically at some scheduled time when they\u2019re not around. And even if they do run a scan manually, they don\u2019t need these kinds of options, because the scan itself has a \u201cpause\u201d button that can be used if you need to do something else with your computer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When designing user interfaces, it\u2019s tempting to give the user an option to control everything. However, it is always worth taking a moment to evaluate any new option and try to see if it is <em>really<\/em> necessary. Unnecessary controls just clutter up a UI and detract from its ease of use by bewildering users with choices they aren\u2019t equipped to understand, let alone make informed decisions about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bad UI design rears its ugly head when you least expect it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"webmentions_disabled_pings":false,"webmentions_disabled":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[199,201],"tags":[171],"class_list":["post-2830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-opinion","category-software-technology","tag-ui-design","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pimUj-JE","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4679,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2015\/03\/26\/windows-10-technical-preview-thoughts-so-far\/","url_meta":{"origin":2830,"position":0},"title":"Windows 10 Technical Preview &#8211; Thoughts So Far","author":"Keith Survell","date":"March 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I decided to finally take a look at the technical preview for Windows 10 and give my thoughts on it so far. First off, it was surprisingly easy to get a hold of - unlike past Windows versions, you didn't need to sign up for any special developer program or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;My Opinion&quot;","block_context":{"text":"My Opinion","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/personal\/my-opinion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2015\/03\/windows-10-login.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2015\/03\/windows-10-login.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2015\/03\/windows-10-login.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2015\/03\/windows-10-login.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2015\/03\/windows-10-login.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4720,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2015\/09\/01\/windows-10-finally\/","url_meta":{"origin":2830,"position":1},"title":"Windows 10: FINALLY","author":"Keith Survell","date":"September 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I'd been playing around with the Windows 10 Preview on my virtual machine and I liked what I was seeing, so as soon as the \"reserve your copy of Windows 10\" thing popped up on my computer I filled in my name so I would be able to upgrade when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;My Opinion&quot;","block_context":{"text":"My Opinion","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/personal\/my-opinion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2015\/08\/windows-10-desktop.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2015\/08\/windows-10-desktop.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2015\/08\/windows-10-desktop.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2015\/08\/windows-10-desktop.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2015\/08\/windows-10-desktop.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4088,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2012\/09\/25\/why-i-love-my-apple-tv\/","url_meta":{"origin":2830,"position":2},"title":"The Quest for the Perfect Media Player &#8211; or, Why I Love my Apple TV","author":"Keith Survell","date":"September 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ve long struggled to find the perfect media device for my home \u2013 something that can bring together the vast collection of digital media that I have saved mainly on my desktop computer. 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