Example 2

Figure 3 shows the dialog box from cc:Mail for Windows V2 that was displayed when a new message was started, and then the message window was closed. The dialog box was displayed to confirm whether the user really wanted to close the window and lose anything entered in the message so far. The problems with this dialog box may be obvious. The phrasing of the question was confusing, as it was the reverse of the common confirmation found in other applications, "Do you want to save your changes? Yes or No". Users expected that Yes would be the safe choice, and save their changes. But in reality Yes "canceled" the changes, or discarded them. In addition, there was no way to use this dialog box to save the changes at all. The only "choice" the user was given was to lose the changes or not close the window. Clicking No simply dismissed the dialog box and left the message window open. Usability testing revealed that this dialog box was difficult to use by novices as well as experts who had been using cc:Mail for years.

Figure 3. Before: Closing a New Message in Progress (or a Modified Existing Message)

The redesigned dialog box is shown in Figure 4. With this new dialog box, the message can be saved "as is" in the Drafts folder for later completion (a "feature" added as part of this usability fix). The message can be sent if it is already addressed. Or the message can be closed and discarded. Clicking OK is a "safe" choice by default.

Figure 4. After: Closing a New Message in Progress

Similarly, if an existing message is modified (a message that the user has received, as opposed to a new message), and then closed, the dialog box shown in Figure 3 was also displayed in V2. The revised dialog box is shown in Figure 5. Again, this time the user was given useful choices, instead of just the ability to discard the changes. The modified message can be converted into a reply or a forward, or discarded.

Figure 5. After: Closing a Modified Existing Message)

These changes did not require adding any new features to the application. cc:Mail already contained the functionality to save a draft or allow the user to forward or reply to a message. These features were just never before offered to the user upon closing a message window. It had not been anticipated that users would use the action of closing a window as a "fall back plan" or shortcut for completing a message. Note that the fact that a user can modify an existing message at all was not changed, as it was far to extensive and entrenched in the model. Rather, very simple UI design and implementation provided the user with useful choices when and where they needed them. Users tended not to recognize this as a change in usability testing, but were now able to answer their e-mail without having to think about what "cancel changes" would do.

Beginning of Document | Top of This Page (Example 2)

Example 1 | Example 3 | Example 4 | Example 5

Conclusions