

Developer Defends His "Interesting" iPhone App UI - bdotdub
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gruber/2635257578/#comment72157605998802545

======
sanj
I feel for Steve Pratt. Full disclosure: I've met him, in passing, at various
handheld events over the years, but he wouldn't know me from Adam.

What I've found, and what he's caught in, is that data-entry applications for
very specific problems, tend to get ugly. And that's ok, because the users are
very, very savvy. If you look at the software his company builds, you'll find
that 90% of it is for savvy, specialized users.

I spent hours agonizing over how 'ugly' an early iteration of a handheld app
was after the users came back and said to make certain buttons and text
bigger. Multisize buttons!? Different font sizes on the screen!? Crazy! And
BAD!

But Fitts Law says (paraphrased) that big buttons are easier to hit. So make
that button that everyone needs to hit 20 times an hour BIG. Even if it is
ugly.

Some text you want to be able to see from a device lying on your desk. Some
you don't care about until you need to squint at it. So size it differently.

I've come to believe that's all good.

What isn't defensible is the parts of this app that are just plain sloppy. The
size of buttons not being the same, but being off by a few pixels. Spacing
being wonky. Fonts for the sake of fonts.

------
axod
"Make something people want"

not

"Make something that looks nice"

Seems like he thought pretty carefuly about the use cases of customers, and
tried to make things as simple as possible. Sometimes making things simple
leads to a more cluttered UI I guess.

For something you use every day you don't really want more than a couple of
screens. You want everything there... ready to be used.

~~~
boucher
This is really a misunderstanding of "looking nice" and usability. This app
doesn't look nice, but if it was an incredibly usable app with an ugly
background color and ugly custom buttons, that would be somewhat
understandable (I say somewhat only because Apple gives you beautiful looking
graphics for free).

The problem is that this design is not _usable_. Design isn't how something
looks, it is fundamentally how it works. The developer complains that these
are really hard UI problems, and while I agree that UI is always difficult,
Apple has already solved most of these issues in much more intuitive ways.

For example, the frequent trips section is redundant and confusing. If this
app is really supposed to be "top down design" than this doesn't fit, because
I've already been asked to enter mileage details and destination, but the
frequent trips section already has all this information! Plus, the same screen
shouldn't be used for inputting and editing this kind of information. One is
something you do frequently, the other rarely -- they don't deserve the same
placement in the UI. The Maps application on the phone uses bookmarks as data
entry mechanisms, which is far more intuitive and lets you have a separate
screen for managing them.

~~~
axod
I agree it doesn't look nice, but it looks usable to me. I don't think it's
really useful for people to laugh and point on a website about it.

It sounds like they have people using it, so they should listen to those
users, and their suggestions, instead of people like you and me who haven't
actually used the app.

~~~
jfarmer
Really? I deduct some of my miles, so I guess I'm in the target market, and
until he explained what that app did I had _no_ clue by looking at it.

I can't imagine paying for it.

~~~
axod
I don't think deducting _some_ miles is the target market. It looks like the
average user would be using it every day, a few times maybe.

I get your point though, you have to appeal to potential users as well, can't
only rely on word of mouth etc.

------
henning
Waiting for Godwin's law to take its inevitable course in this train wreck.

Flickr comments aren't much better than YouTube's for constructive criticism,
it so happens - put up a classic, award-winning photo with your name attached
to it and prosumer asswipes will tell you how the lighting and focus are all
off.

------
bprater
He handles it surprisingly well. A good lesson for all of us that have crap
hurled our way.

~~~
boucher
He handles it incredibly poorly. All of his comments throughout the thread
are, "I'm right, you're wrong, this is a good UI." Sure, he admits there may
be room for improvement, but he also blatantly disregards useful advice from
potential customers (and recognized experts in the field), and in many cases
directly insults them.

~~~
mechanical_fish
I wish I remember where I read that every good customer service relationship
has two roles: The Complainer, and the Apologist. The secret to happiness is
this: If your customer assumes one role, _you must assume the other_.

If your customer calls in anger and yells at you about Problem X, he's the
Complainer. The proper response is to become the Apologist: "Gosh, I'm so
sorry about X. I am filled with shame. It's entirely our fault that our
product is filled with bugs; we should have embraced testing sooner and hired
a better design team. I wish my parents had raised me better. Please don't hit
me. We'll struggle to do better in the future, despite our haplessness. Here,
have a free upgrade and a free support call."

If your customer calls and meekly reports that, oh, the software is great, and
it's a real bargain, and he hates to even mention it, but Feature X really
doesn't work... he's adopting the Apologist role. So you must become the
Complainer: "WHAT? Feature X doesn't work! That is _terrible_! I can't believe
we shipped a product with such an awful flaw! I'm going to fire the entire
testing staff! Here, have a free upgrade and a free support call while I go
shout at whomever is responsible for this travesty."

When people don't understand this rule, the situation often turns grim. Two
Apologists risk descending into apathy: "Oh, this isn't really a problem,
but..." "Well, yeah, that's not correct, but if it isn't really a problem..."
"Gosh, though, it sure would be nice if you would fix it." "Well, okay,
maybe... next week, sometime? Or maybe next month?"

A pair of Complainers risks an escalating argument that starts with insults
and ends with lawsuits and violence.

(For a fun illustration of this, consider Monty Python's "dirty fork" sketch,
in which the workers at a restaurant keep _switching roles_ , from Apologist
to Complainer to Extreme Apologist to Extreme Complainer to Suicidal Apologist
to Homicidal Complainer, in dramatic and hilarious fashion, and the customer
is completely confused. The sketch works because you get the sense, along with
the customer, that the whole situation is _somehow the customer's fault_ \--
if he could just figure out which role to play, and adopt it, the situation
would defuse. But the game is rigged: every time the customer picks a role the
restaurant staff perversely adopts _the same role_ and the situation
escalates.)

~~~
maw
Apologist usually refers to somebody who makes apologia, not apologies.

~~~
mechanical_fish
Upmodded.

I throw myself before the mercy of the court. The mistake is entirely mine. I
am unworthy to live. Please accept a free s/apologist/apologizer/ and I'll try
to do better in the future.

(Seriously, I _had_ "apologizer" in there, but then my brain threw out
"apologist" and it _looked_ and _sounded_ so much better. Pity about the
meaning, though.)

UPDATE: From _Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary_ :

Apologizer, n. One who makes an apology; an apologist.

Apologist, n. [Cf. F. apologiste.] One who makes an apology; one who speaks or
writes in defense of a faith, a cause, or an institution; especially, one who
argues in defense of Christianity.

I'll squint at that pair of definitions and say: I regret my choice of words,
but not enough to go back and fix it.

~~~
cawel
_I throw myself before the mercy of the court. The mistake is entirely mine. I
am unworthy to live._

WHAT? That is terrible! I'm really sorry and we'll fix that word-swapping bug
first thing tomorrow. Here, have a free upgrade and a free support call.

------
hbien
How would you handle all of these people cracking jokes about your app?
There's some thoughtful criticism in there, but mostly it's just one "UI
Expert" posting up a screenshot of the app for other people to make fun of it.

~~~
jnovek
If you're not interested in the criticism offered, a good strategy is to
politely thank everyone for their comments, possibly briefly explaining why
you made the decisions you did.

An even better strategy is to completely ignore them. Especially if the
complainers aren't and never will be your users.

~~~
mechanical_fish
+1 for that.

The proper strategy, referencing my own post above, is to adopt the role of
Apologist. Say that you're sorry that people reacted poorly to this beta of
your app. Say that you'll take the criticism to heart. Make some joke about
how you should have shown the app to your art-school friend before launching
it.

Then, shut up. Don't escalate. Don't feed the mob.

Then, make some fairly basic changes in the graphics. Change the color and the
fonts and fix the alignments. It'll take an hour at most, it'll probably make
the app look better, and it will suggest that you're trying to listen to your
customers and do the right thing.

Obviously, if you want to _win over_ a guy like Gruber (a design fanatic who
spent several _months_ agonizing over the font and color choices for his
website) you'll have to do more extensive design work. But that's not the
primary goal. The primary goal is to defuse the situation and avoid seeming
hostile or egocentric.

~~~
gruseom
_But that's not the primary goal. The primary goal is to defuse the situation
and avoid seeming hostile or egocentric._

That makes a lot of sense and is really helpful. Hostile and egocentric (or at
least defensive) are pretty much how he did come across. Plus incongruent
(saying how amused he was when he obviously wasn't, and so on).

There's a huge culture gap between the supercilious Apple snobs, whose
haughtiness is a composite of everything bad ever said about Mac users, and
the earnest outsider trying to justify himself and not realizing that he's
only making things worse. For example, he mentions his years of experience and
how many people use his data-entry apps, things that carry credibility in his
culture but are just the sort of uncool things that are disdained in theirs.
The whole thread is full of these crossed signals.

------
bootload
_"... It does, however, have the advantage for iPhone owners that starting
July 11, they'll be able to use it to record their deductible (or
reimbursable) trip mileage. ..."_

Go ugly, fast.

You might not win any design awards but you might be in business long enough
to correct the problems. I'd seen this on flickr this week. Mac zealots tend
to be a pretty mean bunch. Wonder how they go with this tone of criticism?

------
edw519
In a debate, as soon as you offer your resume, you lose.

~~~
j2d2
Though he attempts to say otherwise, I think this is the same as appealing to
authority.

 _I'm not saying this to brag, or to "pull rank" on anyone. I'm saying it to
point out that maybe, just maybe, we know SOMEthing about software design and
development after 20 years in the business, including 10 years of designing
for a handheld platform._

OK, fair. He probably does know a thing or two, but he could just stick to the
point. Appeals to authority always show an emotional side the argument simply
doesn't need and is probably hindered by.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_authority>

~~~
mechanical_fish
What's particularly foolish is that he's appealing to an authority that _most
iPhone fans find completely ridiculous_ : The app design standards of existing
handheld platforms.

Most iPhone fanatics love their phone because it's branded as _a completely
new approach to the design of a handheld platform_ : A real browser, an
intelligent approach to voicemail, a first-class music and video player, etc.
Whether or not each and every one of these things is _truly_ unique and
revolutionary is beside the point: That's the brand, that's the message. In
that environment, appealing to your ten years of handheld experience is like
advertising your COBOL skills.

~~~
wmeredith
I concur. The road along which all Apple developers travel is littered with
the corpses of great programs with bad interface design. This is due to a
windows or pc mentality of "if it's just functional enough people won't care
what it looks like." There's nothing wrong with this mentality, in and of
itself. However most Apple users, by definition, have already discounted that
this statement could apply to them by choosing Apple as their preferred method
of computing.

------
sdurkin
Don't whine, fix it.

By that I mean, propose specific suggestions for improvement. There's not a
single constructive comment offered by the author.

------
nir
Well done, Steve Pratt.

Sad to see the way the discussion around software is moving into Gawker-like
territory of empty cynicism and juvenile cliques. It seems owning a Mac now
qualifies a person as a UI expert and if you know what's a URL you're a
certified geek.

Screw that. Software is not "art" in the pretentious-hipster version and not
about cheap "opinions". It's about building stuff. Can we have Bubble 2.0
burst already, please?

