Generally, programs that are easy and intuitive to use require huge amounts of code to get it to work.
Just to take one example, the endless scrolling down of the page works really smoothly both here on Quora and on facebook. And - I'd say - a good use of the feature (which is easily abused).
Most people probably give it no thought but I expect it's the result of thousands or tens of thousands of hours of developer work, to get it just right. Both in terms of the user interface and the smooth working of the code - bearing in mind how it has to continually serve new content to you as you scroll down the page - which to start with you don't even have on your computer so has to be fetched over the internet from their databases.
The UX of Infinite Scroll: The Good, the Bad, and the Maybe
The simpler and easier it is to use, the less code a typical user will think it requires - but chances are it actually needs more code for the simpler looking program (within reason). It is dead easy to churn out a complex hard to use program or web page with hundreds of features. Making it easy to use and simple is the biggest challenge for both website developers and programmers.
Because - it has to fit around what humans find easy to interact with. Which is very different from what is easy to program (usually). Our pattern recognition and ability to think at a high level, and our reasoning (even people who don't think they reason) is superb - but yet we can't even multiply together two three digit numbers in our heads, or remember precisely something we saw just two seconds ago. Where by "remember precisely" I mean e.g. what position it was on the screen, whether you clicked on it or pressed a key, or just moved your mouse over it, what exact word you saw on the screen, where, etc. Ask a typical user and they can't remember any of those things, yet they have no problem working within these very vague hazy constraints as it might seem if you weren't also a human yourself.
If you expect the user to remember a complex sequence of steps, or instructions - well they will soon get very tired of your user interface. But a flowing format which a computer program would find almost impossible to navigate is just what humans love and find so easy and intuitive to use that they don't even notice how complex it really is.
I work in a very different area but have often spent many long hours programming and debugging something that I know probably almost none of my users will probably even notice is there :). But in one way or another I think will make the programs easier to use, or the UI easier on the eye and more intuitive.
Just to take one example, the endless scrolling down of the page works really smoothly both here on Quora and on facebook. And - I'd say - a good use of the feature (which is easily abused).
Most people probably give it no thought but I expect it's the result of thousands or tens of thousands of hours of developer work, to get it just right. Both in terms of the user interface and the smooth working of the code - bearing in mind how it has to continually serve new content to you as you scroll down the page - which to start with you don't even have on your computer so has to be fetched over the internet from their databases.
The UX of Infinite Scroll: The Good, the Bad, and the Maybe
The simpler and easier it is to use, the less code a typical user will think it requires - but chances are it actually needs more code for the simpler looking program (within reason). It is dead easy to churn out a complex hard to use program or web page with hundreds of features. Making it easy to use and simple is the biggest challenge for both website developers and programmers.
Because - it has to fit around what humans find easy to interact with. Which is very different from what is easy to program (usually). Our pattern recognition and ability to think at a high level, and our reasoning (even people who don't think they reason) is superb - but yet we can't even multiply together two three digit numbers in our heads, or remember precisely something we saw just two seconds ago. Where by "remember precisely" I mean e.g. what position it was on the screen, whether you clicked on it or pressed a key, or just moved your mouse over it, what exact word you saw on the screen, where, etc. Ask a typical user and they can't remember any of those things, yet they have no problem working within these very vague hazy constraints as it might seem if you weren't also a human yourself.
If you expect the user to remember a complex sequence of steps, or instructions - well they will soon get very tired of your user interface. But a flowing format which a computer program would find almost impossible to navigate is just what humans love and find so easy and intuitive to use that they don't even notice how complex it really is.
I work in a very different area but have often spent many long hours programming and debugging something that I know probably almost none of my users will probably even notice is there :). But in one way or another I think will make the programs easier to use, or the UI easier on the eye and more intuitive.
About the Author
Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
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