Windows Vista: Bad usability and navigation?
Let me begin by stating that I have not used Windows Vista, and I have not seen it in person. All my assumptions are based on the screen shots of vista and on the design of Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP.Now let me begin with a little background information.
There is a concept called Fitts’ Law. Basically it translates extremely well to computer GUI interfaces (graphical user interface, basically, using a mouse to click on icons etc). In simple terms, Fitts’ law shows that the difficulty to point a mouse pointer at a target is directly related to the distance the mouse pointer must first travel and the size of the target. Seems pretty obvious, I know. There is a mathematical formula to gauge this movement, but I’m not getting into that. Truth be told, you don’t need to be able to use the formula to make better designs with Fitts’ law in mind. Understanding how it works is more than enough.
You may have also noticed that when using a Windows, Macintosh, or a Linux machine, the mouse pointer cannot move outside of the boundaries of the screen. Go ahead and try, you’ll never get that last sliver of the pointer to leave the screen. Now together, Fitts’ Law and the inability to extend the pointer beyond the screen creates an excellent phenomenon. Essentially, the edges of the screen have infinite area.
Something that Apple Computer (now just Apple Inc.) did way back in the beginning of their GUI interface design, was patent the placement of the menu bar on the very top edge of the screen. This lends a HUGE usability advantage to Mac users. It is far easier to target a menu when it has infinite height.
Windows doesn’t have this advantage. But it don’t count it out yet. Windows places the “Close” button in the upper most right-hand corner of the screen. A user can close applications so quickly with the mouse by simply throwing it upwards and to the right. It has infinite width and height. It is much faster to do that than it is to aim right at the center of a little “X”.
Which brings me to the reason for this post. The button design in Windows Media Player 11 is slightly different from that of version 10. The button’s are done using the new Vista style. They are attached to the very top of the screen, but not the right hand side. There is a seven pixel gap.
Users (such as myself) continually fail to close the application because their brains are trained to heave the mouse to the top-right rapidly without regard. The button is less usable than it’s older version, despite being wider (which I believe Microsoft widened for this very reason).
This style of button is present on all Vista windows and programs, as far as I have seen. This is a huge loss of usability to the Windows Vista interface. I can’t and don’t understand why Microsoft would make critical design error, especially since they had already did something good. Of all the features that they’re “copying” from Mac OS X, you’d think they’d try not to give anything up.
azz0r said,
January 23, 2007 @ 3:37 am
You might want to consider using Vista before you judge its usability based on a backported closed button.
http://forums.wuggawoo.co.uk/images/attachments/39751169548650.jpg
That image renders your article void. Try using the OS before writing a piece on it in future.
kevin said,
January 23, 2007 @ 7:16 am
azz0r,
I agree with you entirely, and that’s why I started the entire article saying that I had used Vista. However, I find it interesting that the screen shot you sent me does indeed have that 7 pixel gap I was referring to. The screen shot also says it doesn’t make a difference, but it does, as mathematically proven by Fitts’ law. And it would certainly affect someone like me who is used to ability to send the mouse to the corner so quickly without needing to aim it.
I appreciate your comments.
Anonymous said,
January 23, 2007 @ 4:33 pm
“Fitts’ law shows that the difficulty to point a mouse pointer at a target is directly related to the distance the mouse pointer must first travel and the size of the target”
Right, now explain to us how having a single menu on top of the screen *miles* away from your current focus location adds anything to the ease of use of the Mac UI? This is just a legacy from 512×512 pixels screens. On a 30″ Cinema display this is the most annoying thing I can think of, right next to the single-button mouse.
On the other hand, it’s nice to see that Mac users have lost nothing of their attitude, despide the fact that the installed base is still stagnant at 2-3%. If the Mac was so good it would get more customers.
Anonymous said,
January 23, 2007 @ 4:49 pm
I should also add that your entire article is pointless: maximized windows on Vista can be closed by clicking on the upper right pixel of the screen, despite the gap that you see on that particular theme.
azz0r said,
January 23, 2007 @ 5:53 pm
Eh how does my picture support your comment?
There is no 7 pixel gap in the titlebar of firefox or any window in Vista.
kevin said,
January 23, 2007 @ 10:44 pm
In response to Anonymous,
“now explain to us how having a single menu on top of the screen *miles* away from your current focus location adds anything to the ease of use of the Mac UI?”
As you mentioned in your post, the ease is directly related to the distance the point must travel, AND the size of the target. By having the Mac menu bar on the very top of the screen, they have infinite height since the mouse cannot travel outside the border. So although you still have to aim the mouse horizontally, you cannot move it too far upwards.
In response to azz0r,
I can see the 7px gap to the right of the close button, however Anonymous said that the area to the right of that is still clickable anyway. In which case, there is no loss of usability here.
On a side note, I can’t wait to get Vista.
Anonymous said,
February 2, 2007 @ 10:39 pm
In response to Anonymous
“Right, now explain to us how having a single menu on top of the screen *miles* away from your current focus location adds anything to the ease of use of the Mac UI? This is just a legacy from 512×512 pixels screens. On a 30″ Cinema display this is the most annoying thing I can think of, right next to the single-button mouse.”
If you know anything about macs you know that you hardly ever use the menu anyway. We use something called a dock. In fact, I don’t think that I’ve used that menu in the past two and a half years.