06.28.2005

Simplification

Do you navigate like a girl?

While working on a project for AOL (circa 2000), we commissioned a study to help us understand our users' online habits. One subset of the findings related to gender differences with respect to online navigation. Whether on a website or using an application, the study revealed that women tend to navigate by browsing through menus while men were more likely to use features and tools that would allow them to navigate with the fewest possible steps. We called them precision navigators.

Apparently, I navigate like a guy.

No matter what the application, I customize the UI to make it fit my workflow and figure out the keyboard shortcuts to decrease the amount of trackpad/mousepad activity. Now, this isn't about laziness. It's about efficiency. And about Fitts' Law. The fact is, typical online activities rarely require us to navigate in a tidy, linear fashion that lend themselves well to mouse/trackpad targeting.

So, do yourself a favor, man or woman, use your keyboard more and be a precision navigator. If you're a designer/artist, you can start with these downloadable keyboard shortcut cards for Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator CS, Macromedia Freehand, Cinema 4D and 3D Studio Max from Computer Arts UK. Here's a more comprehensive list (PDF) of InDesign keyboard shortcuts extracted from Adobe's InDesign Help guide. Download file

Add to del.icio.us | Add to ma.gnolia

Other Simplification entries: