Vikram Goyal's Blog

Did you ask the users before implementing AJAX?

If you have read my previous entry on a 30 second guide to using AJAX, you know that it was a surprise to me that implementing AJAX is so simple (There were other lessons in that entry too, about how much hype driven AJAX really is and why there is a whole market for AJAX that should really be the DHTML and Javascript market, but hey, I am not the complaining kind).

So, would it come as a surprise to you that my good intention of using AJAXish behavior on an existing web application turned into a nightmare of gargantuan proportions, and it had nothing to do with knowing how to use AJAX?

It had all to do with knowing when to use AJAX.

To keep this entry simple, suffice to say, that I decided to implement a Google Suggest like capability for a search field in the said web application. I was happy with the result and so was my manager and we decided to show this to the users.

They hated it.

Not just hated it, but showed a varying range of emotions including paranoia, skepticism and general hatred towards the programming geeks (OK just kidding). Sample some of the responses (You need to know Google Suggest to understand these responses):

1. Why is this page not refreshing?

2. What is this drop down and why doesn't it go away?

3. Where is my result?

4. How do I select my result?

5. Why is this thing preselecting a partial result?

6. Aren't we paying you too much?

7. This coffee you served smells weird.

(They didn't actually say the last two, but I swear they meant to).

So, lesson learned.

Users are used to a certain way the web works. They expect a page refresh. Unless the whole web changes to resemble AJAXish behavior, they won't like this mixing and matching. Confusion will reign. Do I wait for the page to refresh or will this text box magically open up? Do I click this button or do I let it be clicked for me? In short, user experience will suffer.

I am not bad mouthing AJAX. It's a cool new slant at a new web (using, I emphasize, existing technology). But that's it. It's a cool new programming technology for the programming types. Unless the actual users initiate the need for change, or the users are involved from the start and shown the possibilities and accept the changes, use AJAX in moderation. Take one bitter pill a day.

Comments

• It seems the longer you've been around, the more you see this kind of thing recurring. I remember when the first word processors came out, people tried to use as many fonts as possible in their documents. It was horrible. Then came the early days of the web; people tried to use every colour, and of course, animation. It was horrible. OK, so now we can make web pages behave asynchronously, you will see the abuse everywhere.Like it or not; user's preferred flavor: plain.Once developers understand this, they magically discover their users are suddenly happy to adopt their cool new functionality.

  Posted by: cajo on June 28, 2006 at 07:09 AM

• > Confusion will reign. Do I wait for the page to refresh or will
  > this text box magically open up? Do I click this button or do I
  > let it be clicked for me? In short, user experience will suffer.

  The first issue is the example of developers' negligence. If a page has auto-refresh feature based on Javascript, developers have to verify that Javascript is enabled in browser. How many sites do that?

  The second example is simply bad UI. Good UI will show button if it has to be clicked, and will not show it if the pane content will update automatically. How? Simple. Just put button on a page with HTML and remove it with Javascript. If Javascript is not enabled button will stay.

  Posted by: michael_jouravlev on June 28, 2006 at 08:21 AM

• Ajax is always better than not. I, for one, welcome our new Javascript overlords. For instance, I use Ajax instead of a database. I

  Posted by: ilazarte on June 28, 2006 at 11:54 AM

• I saw an interesting presentation by Steve Benfield of ClearNova last fall where he made the point that in many cases, Ajax works best in applications not in pages. What he specifically meant was: have your page open a new browser window without any chrome and populate it with Ajax-enabled controls. In other words, change what the user sees and experiences so that they do not expect "browser behavior."
  I'm not sure I completely buy into the idea, but it might be applicable here.

  Posted by: gsporar on June 28, 2006 at 01:20 PM

• Jakob Nielsen http://www.useit.com/ has lots of examples about when improper AJAX and other web technologies can be bad for usability and how to avoid this (many times by not using that cool new technology). All web developers should visit it regularly and read all past articles.

  The main point is exactly what you saw: users expect a certain behaviour for web apps and web pages. If you change this behaviour usability suffers and users became frustated.

  I remember the time people loved web interfaces because they were so much simpler, easier to learn, than traditional GUI interfaces. Finding ways to emulare GUI interfaces in the web is just nonsense, no matter how it helps people sell frameworks, books and consulting. A few apps like Google Maps where AJAX really shine don't make it something everyone should be using everywhere.

  But I have a simple solution for this. Everytime a developer or manager tries to create a "beter" user interface without a strong use case and valid user demands, let him spend a month as a help desk techinician so he remembers how bad UI design can be a trouble for end users, and how cool technology doesn't generate good usability per se.

  Posted by: flozano on June 28, 2006 at 01:58 PM

• Good point. The last 10 years has trained 99% of internet users that the browser model is click - watch E spin - wait - response. And we all know what happens when we change how an existing application functions - users complain. Dang I should of seen this one coming.

  Posted by: phlogistic on June 29, 2006 at 05:46 PM

• 
  RE: Like it or not; user's preferred flavor: plain

  Any old timers here? (E.g. VAX Fortran) There is an acronym that nicely summarizes this: KISS.

  Keep It Simple Stupid.

  Bill
  

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