Interaction

Kelly and I had the opportunity to attend UI 13, put on by Jared Spool's group User Interface Engineering. It was a great conference, full of interesting ideas to share and try. While it is still in my mind, I thought I would share a few of the lessons I learned this week.

In no particular order...

To have a successful design, you have to connect to a clear strategy. (learned from Peter Merholz)

Strategy is about "fit" (learned from Peter Merholz)

"User-centered design NEVER worked." (Jared Spool) [This one deserves some explanation -- Jared's explanation -- Many great designs weren't user-centered. Many user-centered design processes have created less than successful products. There is no evidence that user-centered design ever improved market acceptance. Jared stated that for each of the success stories they examined there were a myriad of reasons that the projects were successful, so could not be attributed to user-centered design alone. If you think you have an example of user-centered design *alone* improving market acceptance, twitter it to Jared. I can't believe they don't exist, but trust him when he says his group found no examples.]

The most successful teams generally do not have a formal methodology. Instead, they tended to have a toolbox of "techniques" and "tricks" that can be applied as appropriate to the situation at hand. (learned from Jared Spool)

"Lowering the barrier of entry" should not be equated with "one form or many"

When considering registration/sign-up with clients, there is a spectre floating about the room, the "Lower the barrier of entry in order to prevent drop-offs" spectre. This is a very good thing. Just ten years ago, I remember being told in no uncertain terms that we had to "force" users to give us as much information as possible. What is interesting to me now though, is that this "how to lower the barrier of entry" question has started to become synonymous with "should we do one long form or multiple short forms".

Don't Lose Sight of the Single Most Important Principle

Before I give my answer to that question, I would like to take a moment to remind folks that the single best way to lower the barrier of entry is to -- ask only for the absolute minimum amount of information you need. Honestly, every other form consideration is secondary to that single guiding principle.

Think you already are? Try looking again. Or have a relative or neighbor look with you. None of my relatives create websites. They are very helpful for seeing sites with fresh eyes..

Common Reasons Folks Use Form Processes

Now, back to one form versus multiple.... Let's start by looking at the thinking behind using multiple short forms rather than one longer form.