February 8, 2001
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Are Users Stupid?
No, but they tend to be lazy. While I’m all for creating web sites that are easier to navigate and simple to understand, I’m opposed to sacrificing functionality and æsthetic sophistication for the sake of lazy users who refuse to read for direction or scan for visual clues to follow. On some level, every user needs to be trained, and be willing to be trained, in order to use independently designed interfaces or web sites. Designing homogeneous web sites that are navigationally indistinguishable for one another is not the solution. This just encourages lazy, assumptive behaviour. If the navigation through the presented information fails, I agree that it’s probably not because the user is stupid, it’s because of the design. But I argue that good design can be complex and usable at the same time. Unfortunately, it’s also true that simple design can be rendered completely unusable if the user is lazy.
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