Ionrock Dot Org

Today I took some time to read this. It is an article arguing the benefits of using OS X. Specifically, his point is that many hackers are switching to OS X and they are doing so because OS X they care about usability. I am not an user interface expert by any stretch of the imagination but I do have a theory of sorts regarding designers commenting on usability. There is an obvious link between usability and design, yet there is not a link between design and usability. Designers know how to make things look good, hot, cool, hip, as well as other emotional adjectives. Usability experts understand what makes something easier to operate or use correctly. Emotions can blind the most objective of eyes. In other words, I truly believe much of the "usability" in OS X is embedded in its beauty. I do want to point out that it can be more fun to play with the less convenient tool when it is much cooler. The fashion industry is proof of this. OS X is designed very well and is by far the most beautiful desktop I have ever seen. With that said, I can't say that all the slick graphics make for a usable environment. At the same time, it could very well be the most usable operating system ever. My point here is that usability seems to be a hip designer term right now. Too many sites comment on how a design is usable without any explanation of why. There is no argument as to what makes a design or interface helpful for the user to complete a task. A quick look through most descriptions on freshmeat or sourceforge will find project descriptions such as "This project is to create a _BLANK_ that is usable and robust...." I think usability can't really be measured so easily. It is not always how fast a user can work or how easy it is to hit the desired button. It can be something associated with the tasks and how one piece fits in with the rest of an evironment. Usability could be how accessible the application is or how it can be used in a creative way. I am confident that the interface is the not the only aspect that needs to be usable. No one thought Google was a great search engine because it only used one form. It returned good results and allowed for imaginative uses. Usability is not a measure of how the designer sees the effectiveness according to the designers scale. It is looking at how the software or tool is used in relationship to the users life.

For those that read my blog, I am being pretty hypocritical yet again. Oh well. Check out the Umevan.