The last feature in Usability Characteristics. An easy to learn site/product is one that supports both the initial orientation and continued learning throughout the complete lifetime of use.Most usability exercises applied to sites and products achieve an end result that assures low entry barrier, i.e., initially easy to learn. However, very few result in having the same ease of learning in a sustained usage. In other words, we need to exercise usability in anticipation of future directions of the product to see that it's not just easy to learn, but easy to master as well.
Few examples of products that are easy-to-learn:
- google sketchup
- solidworks
- yahoo! messenger
- adept tracker
- microsoft sql server 2005 express
- neopaint
- alice
- real software
Generally, easy to learn interfaces allow users to build on their prior knowledge. Also, it allows them to build on any interaction patterns they have learned through use in a predictable way. Consistency in user interfaces drives predictability. Software products that achieve and maintain consistency even across years of upgrade are the easiest to learn and master. For instance, keeping terminology unchanged, having design elements and controls in familiar location, maintaining similar behavior for similar functions, and so on. Users see what they expect to see. This philosophy lays the foundation for the process of user observation and task analysis, leading to superior usability and user experience from a learning angle.
Watch this space for more discussions and guidelines around usability.
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