User Testing 101

"Constraints are to websites as gear is to climbers"

This section of the reading talked a lot about how human error is inevitable, and instead of blaming the user, there should be a greater focus on designing systems that account for user error. Some examples of these systems include confirmation messages, undo features, and making contrasting design choices. This reminded me a lot of the gear climbers used to perform incredible feats. The gear allows a climber to go all out, knowing that if they fail, the gear will be there to catch them. This not only leads to less injuries while climbing, but also gives the climber a greater peace-of-mind and more enjoyable experience. Website constraints should act similarly. They should be obnoxious to the point that they impede the user in their journey, but they should be there to catch the user when they make a mistake, or might make one. For example, if a user is about to delete a file the system has flagged as important, there should be an error message (or multiple) that prevent the user from doing this, or at least make sure it's what they really want. Then, if the user deletes the file, it would be smart to give them a way to get the file back, either in a trash can folder or something adjacent. Overall, this is an important topic to remember in my career because when I design or develop applications, I need to be thinking about where things can go wrong with the system I'm developing. A quick way to find this out is by participating in user testing and seeing how real users interact with the system.

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