Is drag and drop (for say photo uploads) a good idea? Aren't users frustrated by all the steps you have to take? Do most people even know how to do it?
Drag & drop is absolutely an expected behavior to support. It's like asking "Should we support keyboard shortcuts?".
While the feature may not be used by the majority of users, the ones that do use it really rely on it.
Drag-and-Drop is a lot easier and I prefer it over "Browse-Locate-Upload" Function whenever it comes to attaching files to email, creating albums or upload files to drop-box.
With Drag-and-Drop, you use your favorite image browser and locate the file more easily then using a small "Locate File Dialogue Box" which often doesn't show preview and locating a folder requires multiple clicks. Most of the time when you want to upload a file, you have the file located already (either in image viewer or windows/mac explorer) and thus there is no effort to locate the file.
Now when you compare Dragging-Dropping (single action requiring one click) Vs Browse-Locate(multiple-clicks)-Upload, you know which is the right way to go.
Yes it is.
You shouldn't rely on your drag and drop functionality as the only way to upload files. I agree it is an 'advanced' features which many users don't know. Many users are clumsy with there mouse, so dragging a file across the screen can be hard, especially on trackpads! But in many cases, this method is a way faster.
You ask 'Aren't users frustrated by all the steps'? You could reverse the question: Aren't users frustrated by the steps needed to upload files via the normal method?
A huge advantage of drag en drop is the ability to drop files on locations where there is no visible uploader, but the context (like an online file explorer) indicate it should be possible. This save you the trouble of navigation to a menu to find the upload feature. Note that the (web)application where you are dropping the files need to facilitate the feature the right way, for example accepting uploads to be dropped anywhere in your window instead of on a specific area.
I use them both, depending on the context.
Yes, people do use them now. But the 4th point you specified is correct one. There is a risk of dragging and dropping to the wrong place.
If guidelines are specified properly, the mess may be reduced.
Mark,
It's a question of user's mental model. If I give you a ball, it's likely that you'll want to throw it.. or if have a button you are likely to press it.
A simple example for drag and drop is priorty order of a list. Forgetting about the software, the mental model of the users in most cases would be to take what you want and move it up or down. The design simply reflects that, and because it works as expected, it leads to a positive experience.
The frustration would come from a few reasons:
Perhaps it has to do with when you learned to use a computer? I learned with command line interfaces. So for me, the majority of the cool things you can do with a mouse all collapse on to: Right-Click and choose from Menu, because that is how I recall commands: items from a list of possibilities. It never occurs to me to drag, I always select, right-click to Copy or Cut, go where I want the files to go, right-click to Paste...
I just now read in a book that said something about "dragging files to the Recycle Bin" and I thought, My Gosh! That is possible, but in 20 years I have never thought to do it! Wow. But I use Shift-Del and Shift-Ins to Cut - Undo - Paste somewhere else all the time. It is way fast! Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V are error-prone.
Yes they do use drag and drop. Infact, i think when a user gets a new app, they would try to see if drag and drop works for them in an appropriate scenario, i know i would, because it is one of the oldest and best-est trick in the book. People are so much accustomed to drag and drop and i dont really think a person who has experience using a computer(which is like everybody today) will make much mistakes during drag and drop, maybe once in a while or so.
