After my last post on the new firefox browser button, some might have thought: Ok, the button is bigger so it's easier to see, but can that be enough to improve the usability of the browser interface?
Well, there is a physical model which establishes the time to acquire a target as a function of the distance to the target and the size of the target. This model, called Fitts' Law* was first published by Paul Fitts in 1954. The model initially referred to the act of touching a target**, with the advent of graphical user interfaces it has been adapted to pointing and clicking with a mouse.
So, the rational behind the new firefox browser button is this: the position of the button will remain the same (distance to target) so let's increase it's size. With this solution, not only the button is more visible, but according to Fitts' Law, the time to acquire the target should decrease.
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* see the book: Universal Principles of Design by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden and Jill Butler, page 82
** See the article: The information capacity of the human motor system in controlling the amplitude of movement, by Paul Fitts in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, (1954) vol.47, issue 6, pages 381-391.
Showing posts with label firefox 3. Show all posts
Showing posts with label firefox 3. Show all posts
Applied Usability Research
Those who have already installed Firefox 3.0 could have been as surprised as me with the new design of the Back and forward buttons. The new back button is round and about twice the size of the forward button. Although quite stylish, this design breaks with the conventional layout which web users have grown accustomed to.
This change is in fact a brilliant response to a recurrent usability research result: "When users are navigating, the back button is of the most used browser feature"**.
What was Netscape's solution? Make it bigger than the forward button! Simple! Functional! and visually appealing!
** For more information see:
Catledge L, Pitkow, J. - Characterizing browsing strategies in the World-Wide Web. (http://www.pitkow.com/docs/1995-WWW3-Characterizing.pdf
Stanton, N. A. & Baber, C. - The Myth of Navigating in Hypertext: How a "Bandwagon" Has Lost Its Course!
This change is in fact a brilliant response to a recurrent usability research result: "When users are navigating, the back button is of the most used browser feature"**.What was Netscape's solution? Make it bigger than the forward button! Simple! Functional! and visually appealing!
** For more information see:
Catledge L, Pitkow, J. - Characterizing browsing strategies in the World-Wide Web. (http://www.pitkow.com/docs/1995-WWW3-Characterizing.pdf
Stanton, N. A. & Baber, C. - The Myth of Navigating in Hypertext: How a "Bandwagon" Has Lost Its Course!
