That's the question UserX was pondering after taking a look at Windows Phone 7 models and user experience. Windows Phone 7 is the name of Microsoft's new operating sytem designed to compete with Apple's iOS, Google's Android,
(Disclosures: UserX lives in Canada and does not want to see RIM fail; on the other hand, only the strong companies should survive. UserX also owns an iPhone 4 and an iPad but always looks for the good in all technology no matter how evil the parent company.)
Microsoft doesn't actually make or sell phones that use Windows Phone 7, but they do define some strict requirements if someone else wants to make one. One of these requirements is that every phone must have a dedicated Back button.
UserX's first reaction to this news: Brilliant. Simply brilliant. How often has UserX been using his iPhone when all he wanted to do was go back to the last app he was using? With iOS, on an iPad, you can drag 4-5 fingers right-to-left to switch between apps, but having a button dedicated to cycling through the apps that were used previously, in chronological order... it's an impressive bit of usability. Even more useful on an iPhone when you're cradling the device in one hand.
So: It looks like usability gold. Sounds like gold. Feels like gold. Is it gold?
Sure, until developers get at it. Then it turns to coal. This is because individual applications can override the dedicated Back button's behavior.
One way to explain this to a user is to say that the dedicated Back button goes back to the last app, unless it doesn't.
This makes no sense. A happy user is a user that expects something to happen when he presses a button and then what happens is what he expected. If the dedicated Back button can be used for pretty much anything, you know developers will use it for pretty much anything. Microsoft may as well have named it the WTF button (and UserX does not mean "Where's the Forward button").
Let's dive into an example. So many to choose from, it's hard to pick. For brevity let's call the dedicated Back button the "d-Back".
Start with the obvious: a Web browser. It would be soooo tempting for a dev'ver to remap d-Back to the "go back to the last Web page" button. This might even sound useful at first. Except that you have completely changed the expectations of the button. A user is browsing, he clicks d-Back. He expects to go back to the last app. He doesn't; instead, the previous Web page is shown. "Fine," thinks the user, "that's not what was expected, but OK." He clicks d-Back a few more times. So.... how do you use d-Back to go back to the last app, as you thought in the first place? Hold down the Back button for two seconds? Press it twice? Stand on one foot while tapping?
The user is getting confused about what this button is for. Still he marches on. He updates his contacts and absent-mindedly press d-Back. He goes back to the previous app. He's happy. He downloads a game. While playing the game, he wants to go back to the his contacts. He thinks about pressing d-Back. It's a safe bet, since it's not a Web browser he's using. He goes ahead and presses d-Back.
The game pauses.
"Huh?" the user wonders. "I pressed d-Back". He presses it again. The game resumes. This sounds like it might be a convention. Certainly for many games, the Pause button becomes the Resume button; pressing it once pauses, pressing the same button again resumes. The user is willing to be flexible but is not yet sure.
He downloads another game. He presses d-Back. The game pauses again. He learns, unconsciously, that games use d-Back for pause. That's fine. He wants to resume the game. He presses d-Back again. Instead of resuming, the Windows Phone 7 displays the previous app.
Soon the user starts to distrust d-Back. Soon he will either learn which apps do what, or more likely, he will stop using d-Back unless he is absolutely sure what it will do. Swearing will occur in the meantime. This button goes from dedicated Back to utterly useless.
There are two solutions to this issue, and they both rest in Microsoft hands:
- Microsoft invents an API that reads the user's mind.
- Microsoft declares one behavior for the d-Back button and blocks any attempts at overrides.
UserX really wants solution #1 to become reality. This would be extremely when working at a computer. Until that day, UserX hopes for solution #2.
But why stop there? How about inventing a Back button for the real world? Attach a dedicated Back button to your arm. Did you go out to lunch? Need to get back to work? Click Back. Poof! You're back at your desk. Playing tennis and then run to the washroom? Finished? Click Back. Poof! You're back on the court in no time. Playing poker and bet heavily on three five's and lost? Click Back. Poof! Try it again, but this time be smarter. Just don't let Microsoft control the API, because if they do, you never know where you'll end up.
