{"id":63,"date":"2009-06-05T16:10:28","date_gmt":"2009-06-05T23:10:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kai.mactane.org\/blog\/?p=63"},"modified":"2009-06-05T16:11:22","modified_gmt":"2009-06-05T23:11:22","slug":"if-i-leave-the-tutorial-can-i-get-back-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kagan.mactane.org\/blog\/2009\/06\/05\/if-i-leave-the-tutorial-can-i-get-back-in\/","title":{"rendered":"If I Leave the Tutorial, Can I Get Back In?"},"content":{"rendered":"

While reading c|Net’s preview of the upcoming Palm Prē<\/a>, I came across: “When you fire up the smartphone for the first time, there’s a brief animated tutorial to familiarize you with the various gestures” the Prē uses. And having a first-time orientation is a pretty common UX decision, especially for products that are trying to introduce new features or concepts.<\/p>\n

But what I’d really like is to try the thing out on my own for a while, and then<\/em> read the instructions if I get into trouble. That impulse to explore is part of why I’m so good with technology in the first place; it’s a shame to have to put it aside when I try out a new device.<\/p>\n

And really, the only reason to put it aside at all is because I worry that, when I break out of the first-time tutorial, I’ll have no way to get back into<\/em> it if I want to later on.<\/p>\n

Actually, ignoring the instructions is a fairly common male use-mode: lots of guys would rather have their shoulder dislocated than admit that they couldn’t magically, psychically divine the best way to work a mechanical or electronic device the first time they saw it. While I feel disinclined to cater to that particular aspect of machismo, I think we could use a solution that would allow people with a drive to explore (like me) to indulge that drive. It would also have the happy side-effect of assisting the Tim Taylors<\/a> of the world, if they decide to avail themselves of it.<\/p>\n

But the problem isn’t one of letting the user bail out of the first-time tutorial; it’s one of assuring the user that they’ll be able to get back in<\/em> if they decide they want to later. So a simple button saying “Exit Tutorial” is not<\/em> enough.<\/p>\n

Messaging saying “Exit Tutorial (you will be able to come back later, if you wish)” isn’t much better. For one, it’s as clunky as a Mack truck wearing snowshoes inside the house. (Or as a bizarre mixed metaphor.) For two, in a situation like the Palm Prē, where screen real estate is at a premium, you may not be able to fit that many words into the UI at all.<\/p>\n

Really, it’s a special case of the general problem: How do you assure the user that a given action will be reversible?<\/strong> That’s a feature that’s becoming more crucial all the time, and yet it’s something that our current UI metaphors don’t really have any vocabulary for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While reading c|Net’s preview of the upcoming Palm Prē, I came across: “When you fire up the smartphone for the first time, there’s a brief animated tutorial to familiarize you with the various gestures” the Prē uses. And having a first-time orientation is a pretty common UX decision, especially for products that are trying to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[16,18,20,56,8,9],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kagan.mactane.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kagan.mactane.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kagan.mactane.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kagan.mactane.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kagan.mactane.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kagan.mactane.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64,"href":"https:\/\/kagan.mactane.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions\/64"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kagan.mactane.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kagan.mactane.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kagan.mactane.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}