Only tech geeks dream of being endlessly offered various versions, options, and settings. Many a system programmer will probably drool with delight over each successive roll-down options menu and detailed settings card that allow them to perfectly rearrange and fine-tune the application to their own vision. But within the general population, they only represent a tiny target audience, and – with all due respect – a rather peculiar one. A mainstream user’s interests and tendencies are the polar opposite of theirs: he desires as few options and settings as possible, and each successive level of options that appears in front of him will only bring worry and increase panic levels. Alas, the former group often makes applications for the latter while being oblivious of the crucial difference in the perception of the world between themselves and the others.
What will delight a typical user is an interface made up of a single button, and settings comprising of a single switch.
However, sometimes it is simply necessary to squeeze more settings into our application, as those may be essential for a certain user group; they might offer more options that some portion of users – possibly small but important – simply cannot do without. However, there is constant risk that for the rest (the majority!) of users, more complicated settings will spoil their user experience and make their lives harder. What is the solution?
The best strategy so far seems to be to use a double standard and offer something different to each group. In other words, to offer two parallel sets of options and settings at the same time: one as simple as possible for the mainstream user who has no desire to make complicated adjustments, for whom the complicated is just a complication, and who wants their user interface as simple as possible – and the other one detailed, vast, complex, for the smaller group of experts who in fact require this. The sleight of hand is to hide this whole “overcomplicated” part behind an inconspicuous door opened by a magical button bearing the inscription Advanced or Expert Only settings. This solution benefits all involved: the mainstream user gets his simplistic, clear, intuitive interface, perhaps with just one switch (without being one bit alarmed by the discreet button saying Control panel for certified nuclear engineers), while the expert user gets her detailed settings, and we, the designers, have splendid manoeuvring space to balance out the offerings for the two groups.
The Advanced Settings switch is one of UX design’s best inventions.
Of course, we are not only talking about settings in web and computer applications. We can use the same approach everywhere that any interaction with the user is required – in web forms, b2b ordering application, publication systems, etc. We should always try and make the steps through such a form or sequence of pages as simple, clear, and easy as possible. And only if we come to the conclusion that certain more advanced parameters really must be made accessible to a certain minority user group, we should enclose them in the requisite Expert Only section and discreetly shield them out of sight for mainstream users; or, alternatively, create two entire parallel flows for the given task: a main one for the typical user, and another one, more complicated and detailed for the expert user who might be interested, or, to put it more generally, for a minority of users with specifics needs.
