top | item 16167971

(no title)

olliewagner | 8 years ago

Imagining using this 3-page design makes me feel uncomfortable at step 2 and 3. What if I didn't know what the "test" notification was supposed to look like and wanted to make sure the system took my input correctly? What if it's such a dire emergency that the operator forgets (perhaps from experiencing intense anxiety) which one was selected? I think a stronger approach would be to flatten the design to one page. You could then visually confirm that you've chosen a test/real alert, which alert was chosen, and then see what those options actually produce. In addition, because of the seriousness of sending an alert, I think it would be better to make the "Yes, Send Now" button harder to engage — maybe a slide to send, press and hold to send, or simply give a confirmation dialog after clicking it would help.

discuss

order

softwareqrafter|8 years ago

You should probably also keep in mind that this isn't a consumer app. Who ever uses this will have seen the entire process before and tested it in a training environment. The redesign seems mostly to focus on making sure stuff isn't done by accident.

ceejayoz|8 years ago

I've seen video of police shootouts where the cops - presumably trained on such a thing, plus daily exposure to tense situations - miss repeatedly from just a couple feet away, trip and fall, and otherwise screw up.

Training is not a replacement for good design. It helps, but I'd expect someone genuinely thinking they're about to be nuked to act differently than someone participating in a drill about it.

olliewagner|8 years ago

I would imagine that the operators of the current UI were trained on it as well. What the OP posted is certainly an improvement, but could be made bulletproof by showing each choice in context alongside a button that you can't accidentally trigger.