I don't like pop ups, tooltips, mouseover menus, and information popups used in the design of software and websites.
On Windows 95 and 98 I used a program called TweakUI to disable tooltips throughout the operating system, but I miss it when using Windows 7. So I don't think I have ever really liked tooltips or mouseovers, but having used iOS for a couple years now I feel even stronger about this. I feel that tooltips or anything that automatically pops up in a little window or changes the interface when you move your mouse over it is distracting to the user interface and gets in the way of the user interacting with the computer. I think if software and websites were designed completely without mouse rollover effects and tooltip popups that the user's experience with computers would benefit greatly.
What Is A Tooltip Or Mouseover?
First of all I'll define what I mean by a tooltip or mouseover so you know what I am talking about. I am referring to any time you move your mouse over an object on screen and anything on the screen other than the mouse cursor changes. A simple mouseover effect on a menu or button can be useful and not too intrusive, but it is the simplest type of mouseover. A link on a website being underlined when you move your mouse over it is another example that isn't too annoying. A tooltip such as used often in Microsoft Windows supposedly to provide you help with what you will be clicking on is a bit annoying. A little window popup of information when you move over a link or other object is even more annoying. Special OS features like a small window of an application showing when you move your mouse over it on the taskbar is also a mouseover. All of these I refer to as mouseovers and while it may seem extreme I think all of these should be eliminated from user interface design.
1. The Interface Actions Should Be Simple And Clear
We simply don't need extra information coming up on a mouseover because the interface should clearly show where the user should click the mouse to provide actions or more information. We can now design interfaces that are more simple and clear so that people understand where they need to click. They can see the menu, the buttons, the links, and any other information that they need to click. Rollovers might look fancy but at this stage in human computer interaction and software design if a user does not know where to click simply by looking at the screen then the design of the software is very poor.
2. Users No Longer Need A Guide
When computers were text based like DOS we didn't have tooltips. Then the graphical user interface was created and became extremely popular especially with Windows 95. When the graphical user interface was created it provided so much for designers and developers of software. There was no limit to what they could do. They could provide all kinds of features, more information, and special effects. I suppose they thought we needed to provide people help for what they were clicking on or what they might want to do. However, now that users have been using computers for at least fifteen years we no longer need to be held by the hand. People know where they need to click to access menus or get more information.
3. Popups Get In The Way Of What You Are Doing
This is the real problem with any kind of mouseover. Remember when you would browse the internet in 1998 and all these windows would pop up with advertisements? It was extremely annoying and became a real problem. It got in the way of what the user was actually trying to do. While they aren't quite as annoying, tooltips and mouseovers have the same problem. Often the user is just moving their mouse around on the screen and something changes or pops up on different parts of the interface. This happens way too often in many operating systems, applications, and websites. It simply gets in the way of what the user is actually trying to do and the actions they are trying to initiate themselves.
4. The Visual Change In The Interface Is Distracting
Two of the common principles that I have read about technology, and life in general, over the last ten or more years is that things need to be simpler and less distracting. My first point above addresses the fact that mouseovers don't encourage simplicity, but mouseovers are also distracting. Just like everyone talks about multiple applications, instant messaging, and other multitasking as being distracting, interface changes within a single piece of software is distracting. All of the visual changes in the interface that happens when the user simply moves their mouse on screen very subtly distract the user from what they are doing. By the way, I also feel that the blinking cursor on screen should go for this same reason and I don't understand why we need it to blink.
5. Mouseovers Rarely Provide Really Useful Information
Besides being unneeded and annoying I find that mouseovers often don't provide much useful information anyway. Menu and button effects simply jazz up the interface but the user should already know to click there anyway. Even worse, buttons or links with tooltips and information popups could just be clicked on nearly as quickly to find out what they do or to find more information. I also don't really care to see a small little window of a video or a small screenshot of an application when I move my mouseover the taskbar. With all of these, the little bit of information given isn't worth it when it would take just as long to click on the object myself.
6. I'll Click It Myself If I Want To
The basic principle for my suggestion of possibly eliminating all mouseovers or popups is that clicking the mouse or the screen is simply better in all cases. The effort to click the mouse makes sure that the user is initiating the action and it is also not a time intensive action as it takes not much longer than moving your mouse over something. If I want to launch a menu I'll click on it. If I want to see more information on a link I'll click on it. If I want to switch applications I'll click it. We don't need things changing all over the screen trying to help us.
Conclusion
I think that the touch interface of iOS has brought many improvements. One of these has been the elimination of mouseovers since there is no mouse. Any changes of the interface are a direct result of the user touching the screen and initiating an action themselves. I believe this is a good design of software and that all operating systems, applications, and websites should adopt this behaviour. If the user always has to click or perform some other definite action to get something to happen the interface is less distracting, more simple and clear, and doesn't inadvertently get in the way of what the user is actually trying to do.
December 20th, 2010