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Comment by ploxiln | Hacker News Reader

I don't think this is "zero empathy for the end-user", I think this is desperation. As companies and "product managers" get more statistical data on real-world clicks and usage and do more usability studies, they see that 90% of users don't know how to do anything. And they get desperate to "fix" that.

They go for drastic re-designs, get rid of all the text because "nobody" reads it, hide all the features because they "confuse" and "intimidate" users and "nobody" uses them, and end up with something that requires a young professional software developer like me some real sleuthing to figure out, on behalf of friends and family.

Then, when 95% of users don't know how to do anything, they get more desperate, and the result is even worse...

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UI usage statistics are often biased (power user deactivate tracking). A/B testing and watching real end users using your product is better.

>power user deactivate tracking

Is that a thing ? I can't speak in general but I know that for the large mobile app I am working on, we are slowly migrating to our own solution and I highly doubt that users could deactivate it.

It's about blocking google analytics (or whatever else).

I think it's ment in the sense that power users are by far the most likely people to disable telemetry or "Send usage data to help improve this software" functions, if such a setting is offered.

Especially if the option is buried somewhere deep in the settings menu. Also the most likely users to have adblockers, though that's getting more and more common.

If it's a web app, you can't do that.

Depends. If you use a third-party, client side telemetrics provider it's probably on blocklists. If you track usage yourself on the server or integrated into your JS, then yes, you'll probably get good data.

if your user tracking is served from a 3rd-party domain, you won't see me or my family members in your stats. ublock, ghostery, requestpolicy. aggressive settings.

Most users don't change any settings. Which is why you want sane defaults. I first realised this (very much to my chagrin) when screen-resolution settings were first reported via JS. It was obvious (from the low and poor values selected) that the vast majority of users, under Windows, never right-clicked their desktop and tweaked display settings (800x600 @60Hz on CRTs, or worse, being the most common values).

The only users who (in significant number) change settings are power users. A small minority in any regard, but also the ones who then are more likely to defeat various tracking and feedback systems -- disabling feedback or preemptively blocking sites and systems which profile system performance, including Google Analytics, New Relic, etc.

Yes, if you can instrument within your tool (Web page, app) for response, great, but that's More Work For You, so it's far too easy to fall back on standard services. Which your best users are most likely to block....

I'm inclined to declare ploxiln's Law of Negative Usability Cascades.

This dynamic does seem to strongly reflect how marginal UIs get progressively worse.

Don't design for idiots.

Oh: and there's some truth in the observation that 90% users don't know how to do anything. People are far less rational and sensate than we typically believe.

P.T. Barnum had something to say on that.

Things about users don't know anything makes me really frustrated, they just need to learn something to use new application, even changes of color can be confusing. I usually ended up with most common design my target user use.

My bank did a redesign 3-4 years ago, replacing labels with icons. To do anything, even now, I keep clicking the stupid icons until I land on the proper page.

What if the answer is that humans weren't meant to use computer interfaces, and that this is the slow realization of that fact. What if the rampant increase in computation power and software has outpaced the human mind's ability to adapt (limited) and evolve (takes millions of years, considering these types of attributes don't usually select before breeding age), and this is the end for humans and the beginning for machines?

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