OK, you’ve done your homework and your application is filled with different usability features. The design is clean, all controls are set properly, tab order and keyboard shortcuts are double-checked. And when you look at the way fresh users approach the application you’re confused.
They don’t use all that stuff.
They don’t because they don’t know how. You haven’t taught them. While they work with the app they’ll step through learning curve – they’ll learn more and more how to exploit better the softer they use. Your task is to make learning curve possibly narrow.
Some things will come with time. If button placement is consistent I’ll expect the same function buttons (like save, cancel, delete) always in the same place. Some things you have to teach. Show which keyboard shortcut leads to which function. As an example quite a good work is done in new MS Office which displays letters on each button after shortcut was used to change tab.
You can throw in some advices like “you can easier do this using that” but my opinion is “tip of the day” method doesn’t work well. You should rather put them somewhere on the screen but in a way they don’t hit the eyes and don’t waste precious working space. This is done nicely in Google Reader where last Google Reader Team Blog post is displayed at the end of the home screen.
There are many ways to improve learning curve. All you need to do is to remember to help your users to learn your world-changing app.
Whole usability issues series.
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