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193
Yes, people need multiple windows.
For example, a web developer will be looking at 2 windows all the time - a text editor and a browser.
Another more general example, people like to chat with friends using something like AIM or Skype or even facebook, all while watching videos on youtube. That would require 2 browser windows opened simultaneously.
This ...
103
There is an old article I got from the ACM library on Human-Computer-Interaction that provides some useful feedback.
(The ACM library is not very intuitive, but Microsoft have a PDF version of it)
An initial study attempted to demonstrate that users are significantly more productive and more satisfied when carrying out complex, multiple window tasks ...
64
I've always viewed it as a matter of "state" tracking. When I use a computer, I am doing a task, not using a program. This task may be something as simple as check email, and only requires one window open. Or it could be complex, such as design a section of a code project.
In the more complicated case, the task is independent of any individual program. I ...
33
I work in a video game studio. Everyone, from programmers to artists, uses two to three screens with multiple applications and/or windows:
programmers have a window with the source code, a window with the debugging information (registers, stack trace, debugging messages) and a window with the game running.
level designers have a window with the assets ...
31
Yes, people do really want to look at multiple windows/monitors/screens at once. For various reasons.
Working on a screen while monitoring something else,
security personnel monitoring multiple devices/networks/places,
stock trading,
flying an airplane (I guess a pilot needs the information available always, not through clicking and restoring ...
10
Usually justifications for having hidden content come from a misplaced desire to reduce scrolling or to (rightly) let the user see all of the questions without getting distracted by the answer text.
There is a better way to do this: a list of questions at the top with anchor links within the page to the question and answer.
download bmml source ...
9
For content consumption, it may not be that important since the user is going to be focused on the content they are consuming. This is why such an interface works well on content consumption devices like tablets. For actually getting work done however, it is frequently critical to have multiple windows open in parallel. Looking at my desktop right now, I ...
7
I would hope that it is not controversial to say that multiple on-screen windows are extremely important or even essential for many computer tasks. For web-browsing tasks as well, especially with how many tasks can now be performed via a web browser, there are certainly many cases where seeing multiple browser windows at once is important to the user.
But ...
7
I am always amazed at people who think their way of using a computer is the only way there is. Having several windows side by side can be useful and productive. And in some user cases, it's not only "nice", it's vital.
proofreading a translation: Source on one side, translation on the other. Working with one window at a time is unworkable.
Programming: ...
7
You are facing a problem that Google has already solved and extensively tested, so copy them. In essence it is:
Use a query language that is appropriate for your audience - Lucene is a decent choice for this. Query languages are faster for advanced users to use, and is what most search engines allow.
Offer an "Advanced search" link/tab/button that shows ...
5
What is the context in which the version number is important?
I have only looked for the version number when I'm troubleshooting or updating the software. Under that circumstance, the version number should be incredibly easy to find or it'll compound my effort in trying to complete an inherently frustrating task.
Having said that, the version number in ...
5
The conventional placement of a software version number is in the About message box. You reach it through the menu Help > About and have a window that can look very different between applications, but here is one example:
5
Simply put, the human brain is more effective when it can visualise (in spacial reference terms) the presence of different states while working.
This does not mean that the user will be physically looking at both states simultaneously, but needs to be aware of them.
The question is, where to draw the line of what a "state" is defined as. Can "state" be ...
5
Whenever you show people some new information, you have to think about what you are trying to achieve and what that user will do with the information. Only show them if they are relevant to an action that a user may take, or if you have some evidence that it will positively affect user behaviour more than it will distract.
In the case of page views, there ...
5
Even if a case could be made that people only use one window at a time, they do switch windows, and one of the quickest/easiest ways to switch windows (or modes) is to click on another window, which is only possible if the other window is (at least partially) visible. The overlapping-mouse-selectable-windows model is so useful, versatile and easy to learn ...
5
You can categorize this under "menu bloat" ;)
Help is an expected menu entry and rather than adding another menu (or using the application's menu, as they should) a lot of apps have over-used this position. In their defense, it's a menu users turn to when they have questions. I assume IA's are simply trying to capture people browsing for app information.
...
3
There are lots of tasks which require two simultaneous views (e.g. typesetting sheet music from a scanned PDF, debugging a software etc.). If the two views are not contained in one single application, or it does not support view docking, it is necessary to have multiple windows next to each other.
3
The social network myspace allowed customization of nearly every part of the profile page. Users could build their own profile pages with the help of html and css. This led to many pretty awful designs, because many users seemed to be overstrained by so much freedom. In the end the customization features are supposed to have caused the crisis of myspace. ...
3
A perfect example of a site like this is Vizify. They're a profile site that focuses on having the user create a beautiful profile page with information from all of their other profiles, and still allows them a fair amount of customization.
I think Vizify does this really well, and if you focus on the content the user publishes being personal, I think the ...
2
Information stagnation, low visitor count and user boredom is the death knell to any website, public or private, as it fails to achieve any useful objective.
An intranet does not work alone. Success depends on people talking to each other (one of the side benefits of an intranet is it targets people in the same organisation who talk to each other): Have you ...
2
Considering all you have posted so far, I'd say
Yes and no.
The user is the most important part there, no the information itself, if they are not happy, they will be sloppy and will make more mistakes. Keep the simple copy paste, but start a process of identification and parsing of the information, think what is the best way to detect those blocks of ...
2
First question to ask is "Why did the users prefer to go back to the old style when the new process just made it easier to categorize the information?". I think there might be more to it than just the fact they "don't like change".
For example, in the new process, did the text area provide them the same rich text editor options that Word offers? In other ...
2
As it is, your FAQ page fits easily on the smallest of screens, and your questions are already very well separated from the answers visually. Certainly, don't make me have to click to see the answer, just display them. If you ever have say, ten or more questions on each page, then maybe list them all at the top and anchor them like Charles suggested.
2
The company Filament Group suggests an interesting solution for displaying complex tables:
The markup of the table is the same for all the devices.
The author sets the importance of each column by applying CSS classes to the table headings: essential, optional, or persist.
The webpage shows only some of the columns of the table depending on: the user's ...
2
I think the article is overlooking one crucial aspect: Microsoft does not force you into using the Metro environment. Aside from the start screen, which I find much more useful than the old start menu, a typical Windows user will not interact or otherwise, will not do anything productive within the metro environment mainly because:
1) Metro is not aimed at ...
2
My answer might be a little offtopic, but I was a little confused about Nielsen statement with windows in Windows 8. Because you can see multiple windows at once, even browser tabs!
Nielsen tested Windows RT (Runtime) which is a melted down version for tablets or laptops without Intel and lacks of some features. This Win RT won't run developer tools like ...
2
Can blame the Information Architect if you want to ;)
Here is Chrome's help menu. Search bar for searching help topics, reporting issue and a button which takes you to the help page.
That being said, it is a general pattern to include update and installation information in the help menu (look at PS and Aptana menus). Google does background updates and ...
1
Why not try something like Mashable has?
they use this "graph" to show how the article spreads in social media
it is fancy, looks nice
You could use something similar which shows the popularity of your article but not the exact number of visitors.
Anyways the question is, what kind of website do you have? Does the number of views would have an added ...
1
If having multiple windows / screens at once wasn't important, this software wouldn't exist: http://mizage.com/divvy/
Someone, somewhere, wanted this thing to exist, to the point that they coded it. In plain old "web browsing mode" (like I'm doing now!), I have a twitter stream on one side and my web browser in the other.
Besides, we're ignoring an ...
1
There are so many good answers ... I'm late ... well, anyway, I'll try to sprout an idea.
It can be in the line of doing it gradually.
I was thinking of something like @Obelia's "intelligent paste".
MS Word has a powerful scripting language that allowed me to do very interesting things, enterprise kind of things, several times.
In this case I visualize ...
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