Why the Apple Menu Fitts!
by Alex Horstmann | 12 Apr 2007 | Permalink |
Macarati, User Experience
The following point was part of a comment posted in response to my last article:
the single menu at the top of the screen is more confusing than helpful,
I’d like to comment on this as it is a common “issue” that Mac-o-phobes quote when trying to compare Windows and Mac OS. The arguement that the Windows placement of the menu bar is more usable than Apples implementation is just not true! Fitts’ Law states that the time to acquire a target is a function of the distance to and size of the target. This means that the Apple menu acquisition should be about five times faster than Windows menu acquisition, and this has been proven in user tests.
Fitts’ Law also tells us that the windows task bar will constantly and unnecessarily get in people’s way, and this too has been confirmed by user testing. The targets that are quickest and easiest to access are the four corners of the screen, because of their pinning action.
As leasing usability engineer Bruce “Tog” Tognazzini says:
The Apple menu bar is a lot faster than menu bars in Windows. Why? Because, since the menu bar lies on a screen edge, it has an infinite height. As a result, Mac users can just throw their mice toward the top of the screen with the assurance that it will never penetrate and disappear.
Indeed, Apple found that their implementation was so usable that they patented it and that is why Microsoft had to use the inferior solution of having the menu on the window. This is why test after test has shown that Microsofts menu system is considerably slower that Apples. Microsoft has had to compensate by allowing users to run applications in full screen mode, as Tog says:
Microsoft applications are beginning to offer the possibility, in full-screen mode, of a menu bar at the top of the display. Try this out in Word or Excel. It is much faster. Microsofts general cluelessness has never been so amply displayed, however, as it is in Microsoft Visual Studio, which has a menu bar at the top of the screen with a one-pixel barrier between the screentop and the menu. Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.I’ve shown that Apples menu system is more usable that Microsofts, but why is there such a swell of dislike for it amongst the non-Macarati? I think that the answer lies in the “learned system” principle. People are so used to the Microsoft implementation that anything else seems wrong, even if it’s a better menu system. As users we are extremely forgiving of faults in software usability. Unlike any other form of design, when it comes to usability hindrances in software we are willing to accept them and learn convoluted detours around these issues. This reminds me of Jeff Atwoods article Is Software Development Like Manufacturing?
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