|
Broadband
changes the rules of design, but not because it frees you
from limitations on file size. Joshua Fruhlinger explores
future Web and application interfaces
It
should come as little surprise that as users expect more from
their online experience, bandwidth-cheating technologies like
Flash and MP3 have taken off. We all want the data pipe to
get fatter as our ideas for new Web technologies get loftier.
In my six years of Web development, I’ve spent considerable
time explaining to clients and managers that certain things
just aren’t possible under current bandwidth limitations.
To persuade clients to approve design changes, I’ve made
them watch in pain as their sites downloaded over a 56K modem.
Similarly, I’ve forced designers to kill beautiful site
designs because they took forever to download.
Unfortunately, technology limitations often make our decisions
for us. But if Web designers were given fat connection pipes
today, few would know how to use them well. They might throw
bigger graphics and larger files on their sites, and most
would fail to convert the new freedom into an enhanced user
experience. In fact, significant numbers of developers would
most likely complicate their sites with useless bells and
whistles to the point of user frustration and eventual site
failure.
Sober
up
The term broadband, if used correctly, shouldn’t become
obsolete, because the potential for a faster connection will
always light the way like a beacon of Web developer freedom.
Today we regard the ‘broadband age’ as a magical,
near-future, cyberpunk era in which websites will load immediately
and the Internet will resemble a flashy DVD-ROM running in
a local disk drive. However, when that day arrives, there
will no doubt be something better, a newly imagined future
paradigm of immersive interactivity. Whether we label it megaband
or some other catchy buzzword, developers will continue to
long for the future.
But what do you know about complex application development?
Photoshop and Dreamweaver are confined by the often comfortable
limitations of HTML. But how will you fare in an online development
profession that looks and acts more like software design than
Web design?
As Internet connection speeds increase, users’ expectations
of what they can accomplish on the Internet will increase
exponentially. When the Web took off in the mid-’90s,
users had such limited expectations that search engines and
virtual shopping carts wowed them. Now, users take these items
for granted. They expect to be able to do their banking, shopping,
and research all on their Web browser.
In the near future, as users start expecting more from the
Internet, user tasks will become more complex and interfaces
will need to become programs of their own, predicting users’
wants, reacting to usage patterns, and making adjustments
along the way. Drilling down through a Web directory like
Yahoo is much simpler than managing a portfolio, and current
accompanying interfaces reflect that. Although the jump in
user-experience complexity from a Web directory to a financial
tool is pretty large, we will have some even bigger leaps
to make as technology and connection speeds race forward.
So while you tempt your clients with promises of super-fast,
customer-capturing experiences, consider what it will take
to develop a compelling experience in such a complex environment.
Where
are we now?
It’s a common belief that as network speeds increase,
websites will start looking more like desktop applications,
especially in terms of their functionality and interface design.
The idea is that the line between local and remote applications
will become so thin that it won’t matter to the user.
Assuming that a future desktop computer will be continually
connected to the Internet via a high-speed connection, the
user won’t know the difference between an online and
a local application. Local applications will grab data from
online databases, and local computers will run applications
on distant systems. Some applications will use processor sharing.
The most well-known current example of processor sharing is
the SETI@home project. Other applications will update databases
and application modules in the background from distant server
farms. This new technology will make your job much more involved
as you strive to offer a usable environment.
As a developer you run on two major fuels: client needs and
user needs. Clients want you to develop sites that increase
sales, gather demographic data, and improve branding. Users
want to complete tasks as easily as possible. The expectations
of both clients and their users will grow as bandwidth increases.
This means that you’ll have to architect a more complex
interface while maintaining an optimal user experience.
Where
are we going?
To anticipate the details of this new, intricate user experience
we must look at current high-end desktop applications like
Photoshop, Cubase, or PowerPoint. These applications feature
complex and usable interface structures, contextual menu systems,
and conditional environments based on numerous factors that
are constantly updated by user activity. Future Web interfaces
will depend entirely upon user behaviour and will be directed
by preference files, fuzzy logic, and algorithms that predict
how the user works.
With faster connection speeds, you’ll be less concerned
about load times and overall website size. Over the past five
years, sites scripted in languages like Flash and Shockwave
have increased in size. This growth has been directly proportional
to the increase in average connection speeds. As concerns
over load time diminish, so will the differences between websites
and local applications.
Today’s more complex websites include financial tools
and e-commerce sites. Users can register their information
and store it in a remotely hosted database that is recalled
each time they log in. Aside from personal information, which
is displayed in dynamic areas of the page, the interface and
functionality of these Web sites remain constant regardless
of the user profile. In other words, user A sees pretty much
the same thing as user B. User A can also do pretty much the
same things as user B. At best, user options are limited based
on their profile, but they still see all of the options or
are sent to an entirely different site based on a larger user-profile
grouping.
Current local applications let users customise their interfaces,
including the location of toolbars and expert or novice modes.
Some applications let users add or remove items that appear
in a drop menu, or create and customise a toolbar that includes
their favourite commands. Other applications have an expert
or novice toggle that optimises the experience for regular
users. Expect online applications to begin incorporating similar
features beyond the basic personalisation features that are
currently available.
Tactile
response
Letting users know that their commands have been entered and
their tasks are complete is one of the most important aspects
of an optimal user experience. A simple click sound or dialog
box telling users that they have successfully completed what
they came to do goes miles toward improving user confidence
and trust.
Users need to know that a command has been entered and that
the requested process has either begun or is complete. We
have ways of doing that now, but there is little consistency
in the messages we display to users. Some slower sites tell
users that a page is loading and ask them to wait. Others
tell users that an order has been received and that an e-mail
confirmation will follow shortly. These measures are meant
to assuage concerns over slow load times and the wait between
command entry and response. While the page sits idle and the
browser icon rotates, your users’ confidence in the efficacy
of a command diminishes.
As the wait time decreases with faster connections, user confidence
in online applications will increase. When customers enter
orders for an item from an e-commerce site today, they must
trudge through several screens, each with a database query
and load time of its own. There’s even more downtime
while customers wait for receipts and e-mail confirmation,
often many minutes of lagtime after completing the transaction.
Imagine a future in which receipts are generated immediately
upon purchase; shopper confidence will soar.
Even better, imagine that a user purchases a piece of software
and can use it immediately. No waiting for a package to arrive
in the mail and no shipping charges. While some companies
offer software downloads along with software purchases, these
services are limited by user connection speeds and file size.
As those concerns become less important, more users will forget
about the pretty packaging.
Good
problems
Clearly, the benefits of a world in which load times are no
longer a concern and computers resemble today’s mainframes
far outweigh the concerns over creating hugely complex user
experiences. But as a Web developer, your job will begin to
look more like that of a software developer. If you get used
to thinking that way now, your users will thank you in the
future.
—
www.webtechniques.com
|
