How to ensure good user interaction when designing software

No matter what software it is you’re developing, it’s important at all times, to keep user interaction at the forefront of your thoughts. You can have the best software in the world, capable of doing everything people need it to do and more. But, if people struggle to use that software, then they’re not going to use it and all your hard work is for nothing.

So to help you understand the importance of user interaction for software design, we’re going to have a look at what ways software developers can make sure that user interaction is at the forefront of their thoughts. Let’s get to it.

Tutorials

If you’re making software that people are going to be using for making or editing things, like VEGAS Movie Studio, then a key part of the development is having a solid tutorial. Because tutorials can be make or break for some software developers.

Having something that is both in depth and easy to follow allows the users to adapt to new software. It helps them find out how they cannot just use it, but make the most of its features for what they need. But if that software is complex and the instructions are not clear on how to operate it, people will soon stop using it for a competitor that has better user interaction experience.

Tutorials don’t have to be too heavy though. You can always use them to introduce the basics, and direct users to a help section where they will find more detailed tutorials for the more advanced features they would like to use. That way, you’re not overwhelming every user by taking them over every feature available from the off, just the ones they need to get going.

Navigation

Just like Tutorials, Navigation is just as important for user interaction. If people struggle to navigate to the places they need to go with ease, then again, it could deter them from wanting to use the software and force them to go to an alternative. For good user interaction, the user needs to navigate from page to page very fluently, as they do on Sportsbookreview.

A good way of ensuring good user interaction in terms of navigation is having structured menus. You want it to keep it simple to navigate, by having header sections that will open sub menus for everything that comes under that area. It’s like when using simple programs like Word or Google Docs, you have all the headings like File, Edit, View, etc. and each one drops down further options to allow you to access further features.

Another way of ensuring ease of navigation, is having a search feature. This allows people, if they do struggle to find something they’re looking for, to find it more easily by having the option to search for what they need, and an engine providing the results that link closest to the keywords. However, if the search feature is poor and doesn’t offer up what is needed, it again causes poor user interaction that will put people off using the software.

Access

Access may seem like a strange one to include in the list, but hear me out. Your user will obviously have access to the software once they’ve purchased it up, but there are a few things related to access that may influence them when deciding on what software to use.

First up, licencing. You’ve got to think of the type of licencing involved when they purchase your software. Some developers offer up licences that have to be renewed on a regular basis, whether that be yearly, bi-yearly or whatever. This may restrict how much access you have to software, and control what you can do with the content you produce using it.

But if a competitor designing similar software offers a lifetime license allowing full use of the product and full control over the content made, then restrictive access may put people off, even if the software itself is better.

The second area of access comes down to where that person can access the software. If again, licencing restricts it to a single installation on a set profile or workstation (unless said workstations get upgraded), then this may put people off. But, if they can access the software from anywhere, like an internet-based application such as Google Drive, then it helps with better user interaction by being less restrictive.

Final thoughts on User Interaction

We’ve gone over a few of the ways you can ensure positive experiences in terms of User Interaction when it comes to designing software. Hopefully these help if you’re thinking of or currently are designing your own software packages. But they’re not the only ways in which you can ensure this, just a few key points that hopefully highlight the importance this area plays in software development. If you have some tips of your own, feel free to let us know in the comments below.