How I hate it when the interface takes a lot of time, but it could be different…

UI was supposed to facilitate the user’s work with the program, but it’s not always good.

Why in 2023, the year when artificial intelligence is at its peak, we still can’t command what needs to be done in words, in human language? It’s worth admitting that naive thoughts from the past about pushing a button and whatever the user needs will magically happen are tempting.

I like UI, I like icons. If there aren’t many elements, it can speed things up a lot, and so can hotkeys. But with the wrong approach it will only produce lists within lists and icons piling up make things worse.

Criticizing? – Suggestion

My opinion is to combine everything into one. Lists, icons and search should be one. And depending on the user’s needs, depending on the context, the interface should give out the one that is needed in the given situation.

The advantages of this approach.

- Speed.

- Reducing the cognitive load (Complexity).

Now in order to learn how to do something in a program you have to get knowledge (google for example) of what to click -> Repeat the process in practice -> Remember this process so that you do not have to repeat everything from the first point.

With a competent development approach, in the case of the command line, you can just type a query like in Google search engine and select the desired item satisfying the request. The question will be how well the developer will set the keywords to the team, will it be a specific terminology or simple words used in everyday life. In any case, even if the user needs to google how to get the desired result, you only need to type in the desired commands (copy-paste, as we like), and not bother with the interfaces.

Examples of implementation

I’m thrilled to see how listary has come close to this idea. Not only is there a file search with hotkeys to make sure it’s quick, but you can also use keywords to select context menu options.

Example of searching data for the keyword "Tutorials" in Listray

Also in Google Excel/Word online you can search for interface elements.

And they also use a lot of icons to the left of the text. And based on their own views on the style of sleep like all the icons in a single color in black. I think the guys from Google did a great job on their products. My respect!

Summary

Thanks to the additional search field with the same functionality as the interface elements and combining them into a single whole, you can make a truly powerful tool that will increase the speed of interaction with the program, get rid of cluttering the program screen and perhaps even get rid of learning to use the program, in some cases.

What’s your opinion on that?

Thank you for your attention! ☺

How to improve user experience with interfaces