Imagine you’re a user. You get a piece of brand new software. You want it on your notebook. What kind of installation process you’d expect?
None. You want to do nothing and application should work. OK, you can type something like www.google.com, but that’s all.
And for desktop application? Not much more really. Just click big install button and see “installation complete” message.
How different the reality is. My friend tried lately go through initial setup of Windows XP on his new toy. Tens of updates, hundreds megabytes in downloaded files and numerous restarts. At the very moment I’m respawning my Windows machine as well and I share his frustration.
Don’t go that way. Make your installer as simple as possible. If you necessarily need user to accept license, show it and let the rest be made automatically. Put somewhere “advanced installation” button for geeks who want to know where each byte on their hard disk is placed, but make the standard path in the simplest possible way. At least 9 times out of 10 simple track will be chosen.
If your app is web-based you’re even more fortunate. Avoid forcing users to receive their emails if it’s not necessary to use the service. If it’s not possible make the process (you already know) as simple as you can. Let people play with your application, not with its setup process.
Installation is a necessary pain in the ass for user who wants to use the application. This time it’s not about chasing the rabbit but about catching it.
Whole usability issues series.
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