Wednesday, March 15, 2006
First Impressions
Some of the great user experience and design minds of our time have made a point of nailing the first impression. I recently read the following,
"Another aspect of the Mac OS x UI that I think has been tremendously infuenced by [Steve ] Jobs is the setup and first-run experience. I think Jobs is keenly aware of the importance of first impressions...I think Jobs looks at the first-run experience and thinks, it may only be one-thousandth of a user ’s overall experience with the machine,but it ’s the most important one-thousandth, because it ’s the first one-thousandth, and it sets their expectations and initial impression." -John Gruber
A complaint we had received was that users didn't know what to do when they first got to Gritwire. Today we changed our login/signup widget to be center stage, large font, and hopefully self-explanatory for whatever option you might be hoping to select: login, signup, or learn more.
New Feature: Anonymous Access
Another addition in this version is the ability to play around with the widgets in the background without requiring a signup first. We hope this anonymous access also helps make a good first impression by showing a potential user some of the tools they'll have in their new web toolbox.
As always, any thoughts or suggestions are welcome. Please especially think about your first impressions when looking at Gritwire. Also, how does or doesn't that match your continued experience?
"Another aspect of the Mac OS x UI that I think has been tremendously infuenced by [Steve ] Jobs is the setup and first-run experience. I think Jobs is keenly aware of the importance of first impressions...I think Jobs looks at the first-run experience and thinks, it may only be one-thousandth of a user ’s overall experience with the machine,but it ’s the most important one-thousandth, because it ’s the first one-thousandth, and it sets their expectations and initial impression." -John Gruber
A complaint we had received was that users didn't know what to do when they first got to Gritwire. Today we changed our login/signup widget to be center stage, large font, and hopefully self-explanatory for whatever option you might be hoping to select: login, signup, or learn more.
New Feature: Anonymous Access
Another addition in this version is the ability to play around with the widgets in the background without requiring a signup first. We hope this anonymous access also helps make a good first impression by showing a potential user some of the tools they'll have in their new web toolbox.
As always, any thoughts or suggestions are welcome. Please especially think about your first impressions when looking at Gritwire. Also, how does or doesn't that match your continued experience?
