IS SIMPLICITY NEXT TO GODLINESS

My company recently developed a web-based system for a local government client.

The application involved people from a number of different external companies posting information directly into the client's internal data base. These same people were also providing similar information to other local governments, so they were unlikely to be using our system regularly. Under these circumstances, the users would never become truly familar with the operation of our system. It followed that it had to be easy to use.

The unusual thing about this project is that we had three different attempts at designing the system by three different designers before we felt that we had got it right:

- the first designer offered beautifully drawn screens, containg full colour pictures which the client really loved;


- the second design was very cleverly put together. It used only a couple of different pages, and it allowed an expereinced user to manoeuvre around the system quickly and access their data with minimal effort;


- the third design was incredibly simple. There were no pretty pictures, and very plain screen layouts.

Each one of the three was well thoguht out, and to a great extent reflected the personality of the designer. Any one of them might have been acceptable, but we ultimately opted for the third and most basic one. It was very simple, but it was entirely intuitive, and required no prior training on the users' part to be able to use it.

Of course, it cost us more to design the system three times, and it isn't something we make a practice of doing; but in the end we gave our client the best possible result.

It seems to me that there is a lesson to be learnt from this experience. When members of the public are going to use a web-based system, the critical thing is not the beauty of the page or the cleverness of the design. These are both valuable qualities, but ultimately it is simplicity, intuitive process flow and - above all - absolute ease of use which matter most.

I should make one other point: absolute simplicity does not mean that the system was easy to design. In fact, while all three designers were very experienced and highly competent, the one who developed the simple, intuitive design was the most experienced in the development of web-based systems. It was his prior experience in the field which enabled him to come up with such a great result.