Workshop: 10. Too Much of A Good Thing? Identifying and Resolving Bloat in the User Interface

Leah Kaufman, Microsoft; Brad Weed, Microsoft

The steady increase in the number of functions in software applications has led to consistent criticism of feature and interface bloat. The sheer number of features challenges interaction designers to make interfaces that communicate the software's potential as well as its visible functions. It charges users with figuring out which of the myriad of features will actually accomplish the tasks they want to do.

This workshop explores three distinct aspects of feature and interface bloat:

• In what way(s) have features increased? How have interfaces changed to accommodate this?
• How have these changes affected users? How does bloat enhance and/or detract from user's work?
• How do we truly resolve this issue: optimize for many features, trim down to essentials or some compromise of the two positions?

Through examples, discussions, formal debate, shared experience with interface design and use, we will try to reach a clear understanding of bloat and finally, a set of recommendations for addressing it. A collaborative paper based on the workshop's discussion and findings will be submitted for publication.

Those interested in this workshop should submit a 1-2 page paper describing their ideas on this problem, specifically, the advantages and disadvantages of expansive software vs. software with a limited set of commonly used features. Please state your position on the issue, based on empirical evidence if possible.

Contact
Leah Kaufman
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052-6399 USA
Microsoft Corporation
Tel: +1 425 703 2245
Email: leahk@microsoft.com