Less instructions

Matt Weston, 26 Oct

HOT or NOT (my favorite site, if I was single) doesn’t have any instructions. You know what to do.

Meanwhile, Ecademy (not my favorite site) has lots of instructions. They’ve even started workshops to explain what to do and how to use it at £25/ seat. The email I received this week implies they’ve sold 800 seats so far. That’s some going, but wouldn’t it be better to make a site that’s easier to use? Isn’t the goal of design to make something that needs less instructions, not more?

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Reader comments
6 comments so far, add yours below

Sophie Douglass says:
Apologies for being pedantic but don’t you mean fewer instructions, not less?
by Sophie Douglass on 26 Oct

Matt Weston says:
Don’t you spell your surname with one “s”, not two?

My memory of the correct usage of “fewer” and “less” is that “fewer” refers to things that are countable (like fewer books) and that “less” refers to things that aren’t (like less music). As I wasn’t referring to a countable number of instructions, I used “less” instead of “fewer”. But I admit to a lack of space in my head for these rules, and really just prefer one word to the other.
by Matt Weston on 26 Oct

Chantal Walton says:
Better for whom? From Ecademy’s point of view, by having useless instructions and poor design, they’ve allegedly upped their income by £20K!
by Chantal Walton on 27 Oct

Matt Drought says:
I agree about the confusion Matt. Several times I have resolved to do more with Ecademy, only to become frustrated with the site. (I need fewer and less such frustrations!)
by Matt Drought on 28 Oct

Rachel says:
This reminds me of that old gag:-

Q: How do you hide something from a bloke?
A: Put it in a file labelled ‘instructions.’

But seriously, folks…. With regard to Chantal’s comment - I think that the £20k on the training seminar is a drop in the ocean compared to the lost subs from users who try Ecademy out, find it too bewildering, and leave.

Personally I think that Ecademy could make its site much easier by gradually increasing the number of options available to users as they demonstrate their capability to handle those options. Eg a beginner gets the ability to search and email other members. Once they’ve done that 4 or 5 times, suddenly the ability to post blog entries appears, with an email introducing it and explaining the benefits. This would cut down on the bewilderment factor and make users stay for longer as they wait to be introduced to new, exciting features.

In fact, I think most software could ’self train’ in this manner. It would make all of our lives much easier.
by Rachel on 4 Nov

Neil Watson says:
Oh no Rachel. Never let the software decide what you want to do - that’s even more frustrating. Microsoft’s attempts to decide the options you want to use on menus, forgets that the menu is there for you to find the things you don’t use very often.

For me, Ecademy is useful as a business related social site - very few people ever make enough business to warrant the fee - but they do a great job on the fact that some people do!
by Neil Watson on 1 Jan