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sznio • today at 8:08 AM • 2 replies • view on HN

how do you go from

> the users don't focus on this menu much

to

> therefore we need to make this menu as large as possible

shouldn't the conclusion have been "the start menu is so great the user doesn't even need to focus on using it". it feels like desperately trying to make the data fit the predefined conclusion, despite the data screaming and kicking.


Replies

abanana • today at 11:49 AM

Yes, I'm glad somebody's pointed that out. I read that post, "Users only click on the start menu 0.1% of the time...", and thought, well yes, what do you think the start menu's for? The user will use it to load something from time to time, then spend all their time in that application.

I've seen similar before - people not understanding that certain things are at their most successful if they're unobtrusive.

account42 • today at 10:02 AM

That's really the big problem with the telemetry-driven designs today - the same raw data can be interpreted in whatever way you want so designers still end up doing what they feel like but can shut down any counter arguments (including complaints from real users) with "the data says otherwise".