The User Interface: Is It Beginner Friendly?
You know, I’ve been messing around with so many different tools lately, trying to get a handle on this new side hustle, and honestly, the biggest headache is always the user interface. It’s like some developers design stuff just for themselves, assuming everyone already speaks their cryptic language.
I started with this one app for managing my social media posts. The title of this post is basically my journal entry from day one. I remember staring at the screen for a good twenty minutes, just trying to figure out where to even start a new post. It was a mess of tiny icons and menus within menus. I felt completely lost.
My goal was simple: schedule a few posts for the week. That’s it. But the practice turned into a frustrating scavenger hunt. First, I had to find the ‘Content Hub.’ Sounds fancy, right? Turns out it was buried under a generic-looking tab labeled ‘Operations.’
Once I clicked ‘Operations,’ a sidebar popped up with like ten options. None of them explicitly said ‘Create Post.’ There was ‘Assets,’ ‘Analytics,’ ‘Campaigns,’ and then ‘Workflow.’ I took a gamble on ‘Workflow’ thinking, maybe that’s where the action happens. Nope. That was for approvals and team collaboration stuff—way too complex for just me.
I went back out, slammed the ‘Assets’ tab, thinking maybe I needed to upload the images first. That was closer. I could upload stuff, but it didn’t let me actually draft a post there. It just became a giant photo dump.
This whole process took me almost an hour just to locate the correct button, which, by the way, was hidden under ‘Campaigns’ and then an obscure little plus-sign icon in the top right corner. Why wasn’t it just a big, fat ‘NEW POST’ button right on the main dashboard?
I quickly realized this UI was absolutely not beginner friendly. It was built for power users or someone who went through a three-day training course. For someone just dipping their toes in, it was a massive barrier to entry.
So, I scrapped that and moved to another platform. This second one was marketed as ‘streamlined and intuitive.’ Famous last words, right?
When I logged in, the dashboard was clean. Almost too clean. It was mostly white space. I thought, okay, this looks promising. But then I looked for features. I wanted to link my accounts—Facebook, Instagram, the usual suspects.
I searched for ‘Settings’ or ‘Integrations.’ Nothing obvious. I checked the top bar. Just my profile picture and a search bar. I clicked my profile picture. Bingo. A dropdown appeared. But instead of ‘Settings,’ it had ‘Preferences,’ ‘Billing,’ and ‘API Access.’ I picked ‘Preferences.’ That showed me font size and language. Useless.
The solution? It turns out the link accounts button was a tiny, faint grey icon of a chain link, stuck way down in the bottom left corner, practically blending into the background. I only found it because I scrolled down too far by accident.
My simple practice record here is this:
- If I can’t figure out the primary function in under 5 minutes, the UI is failing.
- Obscure icons are the enemy of adoption. Use clear, simple text labels.
- Don’t assume a new user knows your jargon (‘Assets’ vs ‘Images’).
The ideal beginner-friendly interface, I discovered, is one that guides you with clear labels and keeps complex, secondary functions buried until you need them. The tool I finally settled on had a massive, impossible-to-miss green button that said ‘START HERE: CONNECT SOCIAL ACCOUNTS,’ and once that was done, another massive button appeared saying, ‘CREATE YOUR FIRST POST.’ It reduced my setup time from an hour and a half to about seven minutes. That’s the difference right there.
If you build a product, please give it to someone who has never seen it before and watch them use it. If they struggle, you need to simplify. My whole practice log this week has been about simplifying the tools, not the task.