Comparison Of Programs’ Options Usability

After comparing how applications expose their settings to users–typically through an options dialog–I thought I would remark on the pros and cons of the different approaches.  The comparison is in no way exhaustive, but I chose a variety of differently sized programs with varying popularity:

No Options Dialog

• Paint.NET – Interestingly enough, Paint.NET, a popular image editor and typically the alternative to Photoshop and/or The Gimp, has no direct options dialog.  Instead, all of Paint.NET’s options are embedded in the menus of the program.
• Notepad – Again, but this time more understandably, is the fact that Notepad also only has options in its menu system.
• This is either incredibly smart or incredibly confusing.  For a program the size of Notepad, this makes sense – keep it simple.  However, where are the options for Paint.NET?  Even if they can get away without an options dialog, should they?  The only real option dialog I can find is an Automatic Updates window, which you can only get to from going to “Help->Check for Updates”.  Sure, it is logically grouped, but a person would look for such an option in an options dialog before they would look for it under the Help menu.

Minimal options

• Chrome – Google usually trusts that less is more for users.  They simplify interfaces by making assumptions for users.  Chrome is yet another example.  Compared with both Firefox and IE, Chrome’s options dialog is minimal given its application and growing user base.  I would not say that the options for Chrome are ideally setup.  First, their tab titles are completely non-descriptive – who knows what you’re configuring under “basic”, “minor tweaks” or “under the hood”?  They seem to make catch-all tab titles given the typical user familiarity with a setting rather than the function of the setting as is common with other browsers.  Another curious property is that Chrome’s dialog actually has its own Windows taskbar item.  Whether or not this has any significant bearing remains a question, but it is another user-visible difference.
• Photoshop – Again, given the size and popularity of Photoshop, it is refreshing to see so few options.  Most of Photoshop’s configuration is specific to each tool rather than the application as a whole.  This helps keep designers paying attention to tool settings rather than application settings.

Normal Amount of Options

• Outlook 2007 – I hate to say that Outlook has an average amount of options, but for the scope and user base Outlook has, it’s options seem reasonable.  The striking thing about Outlook’s options is that you can launch other option dialogs from the main option dialog.  This is because Outlook treats email, your calendar, notes, etc… as separately configurable functions all within one application.  The consequences of this are sad though.  As a user, you may stumble around all the various options dialogs looking for the option you’re hoping exists.  Of course, the alternative is scary – as we’ll see soon with Word.  Consider having 10, 15 or even 20 tabs of options in one dialog.  That is what Outlook would be if all the options were in one window.
• Bullzip PDF Printer – This great virtual printer has one of the best options dialogs I’ve ever seen.  With context sensitive blocks of help text, it’s hard to go wrong configuring the printer.  Plus, there are just enough options to customize your document without having so many that you resort to online PDF printers.  When you click on various options in the dialog, the right side text block changes to show you helpful information about that specific option.  There is also general information text when you land on an options page.  I feel like someone is there talking me through the options.  Bravo!

Options Overload (or is it?)

• MS Word 2003 / 2007 – Word’s options dialog has so many tabs that I never know where to find 30-40 percent of the options I want to change.  Most of the confusion comes from AutoCorrect related settings.  Most other settings are clear enough that tab titles steer you in the right direction.  My biggest problem with Word?  I am the type of user who likes to install software and then, before I even use the software much (if any) I like to configure it (disabling auto-update or changing some folder paths and so on).  However, this would be mind-numbing to do with Word.  Instead, I find myself only changing options when I realize I need to change some behavior in Word.  I would rather create documents knowing how my actions will result in a document than hoping for the best.  Word 2007 shows some overall styling improvements, but shows no improvement in the amount of options.  If you look at the screenshot, they’ve “cleverly” hid about 4 pages worth of options in just the “Advanced” tab.
• Visual Studio 2008 & Eclipse – Do not even make me expand any of those option trees.  With more options than one could ever hope to know about, these programs are simply intimidating to configure!  To put it in perspective, when you read online tutorials or guides they usually tell you to change settings x and y and sort of give you the gist of how to find those options to change them.  For both of these programs, there is no messing around.  Instead, guides give you a decision tree to follow (that they have already spent the time creating) like:  XML -> Files -> XML Editor -> ….. and so on.  Overall, I don’t know how I feel about the tree style of options.  It makes sense to allow program extensions to easily fit into the options dialog without disturbing the overall style, but it leaves me wondering where to start looking for an option and it certainly is not appealing to the eye.  Even worse, most of these options do not have very helpful labels or explanations.  Granted they’re catering to a more savvy user, but not everyone is born knowing what “Current Presentation” (under General -> Appearance) refers to.

Lessons Learned:

1. Above all else, help your users understand your options – whether you have 5 options to possibly configure or hundreds.
   • This can be as simple as having clear labels for your options and/or using popularized terms that a majority of people will be familiar with.
   • Group options together into tabs/panels and even more specifically into groups within each tab/panel.
2. Have smart default values.
   • Give your users clues as to how options should probably be configured.  This is particularly useful for complex options, where users can greatly benefit from someone else already showing them how to set this option up.
   • Ask yourself: “Can I use this program out of the box?”  If not, you probably need to set better default values or eliminate certain options.  If you can not get around this, clearly state (on a download page for instance) that users should do “x, y and z” before using the program.
3. Minimize user choices
   • Here is a nice idea:  Let’s say your program has 15 must-have options and another 10 that various developers or business partners think should be in the program.  Weigh those extra options and maybe pick 3 or 4 of them to include in your program.  If you are doing thorough feedback and usage data collection (or at least making a good effort to), listen to user suggestions and see if any of those wish-list options are being asked for.  If so, it’s probably time to add them to the next version of your program.  If not, keep them on the wish-list for a later date.  The same can be said for options already in the program.  If you discover that certain options are hardly being used or have diminishing value in newer versions of your program, consider removing them all together – possibly making room for new options or simply cleaning up your interface and program.
4. Use standards.
   • Save and Cancel buttons – not just a Close button!  Changes don’t take effect until the user clicks “Save”.  Having an “Apply” button is optional and only adds a marginal amount of help.
   • Choose smart file paths!  If your program needs to save a file or have a directory for downloads (for instance), put them in the user’s usual file directory such as My Documents.  This helps users find files the first couple of times they use your program even if they haven’t looked in the options.  That is, if all else fails, users will probably see files if you put them in their My Documents folder.  Do not make a new directory like “C:\thebestappever\”.  Please, just do not.
   • Unfortunately, some programs automatically save an option as soon as you change it.  This may be okay for small programs with a small number of options, but if you have more than 10 or 15 options total, users may change many or all of them at the same time and then decide that they did something wrong and want to not save their changes.
   • If users must select a date/color/time/folder/etc… use standard form elements (like a calendar or color wheel).  Custom widgets are not only time consuming to create, but users will have to get used to them.
5. Don’t go image crazy.
   • Although icons and images may help in an options dialog, using too many icons simply distracts from the options and makes the window too large.  Unless you have space to spare, keep your images only to then necessary minimum.  Try to avoid cute, but unhelpful, icons–save those for some other part of your program if you must use them.