It’s all about the user experience
Noticed over on: Photo Matt - Why features don’t matter anymore.
Great article about how its the user experience that matters. I think just wayyy to many apps/websites don’t grasp this concept. The K.I.S.S. principle has been around for a long time, but now it just seems a headlong crazy rush to jam as many cool features in as you can.
Why? Apple has proved with the iPod that it isn’t about the features, its about simple and easy to use. For most people the iPod is what they need, small, light, easy to use interface to play music. What more should a portable music player do?
Even though I don’t/have used OS X, I understand how it appears to be built around making the user experience nice and simple.
I am a big fan of Palm, for one simple reason: SPEED. To do anything on the Palm platform, it is generally very quick to do. Why? Because the UI is simple and basic with no frills to slow you down. I can look up/add/modify an appointment, todo or memo with such ease that I anytime a Pocket PC user tells me how much better their PDA is, I just ask them: Do you want to have a race to see who can add a new apointment the quickest? They never take me up on it. :-)
Have you been to Amazon.com lately? I had to smile when I noticed that their interface now appears to be a lot more refined (simpler :-)) than it used to be.
Linux - Why isn’t everyone using it? Its free. Has just about the same features as everything under Windows. Sure some of its to do with not having the same apps as Windows. But have you ever tried to use it as a normal user who just wants to get simple tasks done? While it has the most impressive feature set ever, the user interface on most linux applications leaves a lot to be desired. Sure there are some geat apps out there that are easy to use, though they appear to be in the minority.
Don’t forget MS Windows - some things are simple, others are wayyy too hard to do.
I guess it comes down to that task of trying to make the app/site simple to use while having a way to expose the features that your more advanced users want/need.