More Options to the User - Elements of Interface Design
This was really a sub point in my earlier post which dealt with the basics of Interface Designing in general. But then a good friend of mine, who also happens to be a fantastic software test developer, asked me this and so i decided that i should elaborate on the point in a more details manner. Here is the excerpt out of that post which directly deals with this post:
Q. How much of a choice should one provide the user with? A. The answer is optimum. If you give very few choices and options, you are providing the user with a under functioning UI. If you give too many choices then the chances are that the UI is going to turn out to be very cutlery. Something you do not want. But, more than that, there is another peril lurking in the dark. Say you have provided your user with 5 buttons and only 5 chances to hit any button, then there are 5^5 ways in which he can use those buttons. Imagine what will happen in all those cases. Think of how will handle all of them and what will happen if one were to increase that number even by 1. Prioritize your functions just like your data and information. The priority of your information depends on your users, the priority of your buttons depends on your information.Now, the question that was asked was quite simple: Is it a good idea to reduce the functionality you give to the user to make the application more User Friendly?