The Dark Side Of #Usability
►http://www.usabilitypost.com/2011/01/10/dark-side-of-usability
The findings are very interesting and go against the general trend of simply accepting usability of user interfaces as something completely beneficial to the user. Indeed, the opposite thing happened. People using the more difficult interfaces tended to perform better, were less fazed by distractions and were found more likely to transfer their skills to new interfaces or tasks. People using the user-friendly interfaces tended to rely on them too much, and so were never fully able to grasp the problem and come up with working strategies for tackling it. Even though the user-friendly interface was meant to relieve them of trivial tasks, they instead relied on the computer as a crutch, stumbling around on their way to an eventual solution with the help of the interface.