Adam Kalsey

This is the blog of Adam Kalsey. Unusual depth and complexity. Rich, full body with a hint of nutty earthiness.

User Experience

Alarm usability

17 Jul 2003

I have a new alarm clock. The old one was fine, but a little ugly, so we bought a sleek black clock radio. Yesterday I turned the volume of the radio down to a whisper and didn’t turn it back up before going to bed that night. This morning I awoke to a faint beeping sound and realized that I’d overslept. After a moment of wondering how I slept through the alarm and what that quiet little beeping was, I realized the beeping was the alarm.

The volume knob not only controls the radio’s volume, but the alarm’s volume as well. I’d turned the alarm down so low I could barely hear it. That’s not something I’d expect, and it’s not how the alarms I’ve used in the past have worked. This is probably the result of some engineer or manager deciding that the alarm volume should be configurable and that the existing UI should be used to configure it.

When you are creating a UI, stop looking for things to add to it. Don’t try and find more things to let the user configure. Every single configurable option is a choice the user has to make. It’s something that can be misconfigured and cause user confusion.

Often the option you are letting the user configure has a setting that is clearly best. Other times there is little difference at all to the settings. In those cases, pick an option and hard code it. Reduce the number of choices your users must make and your application will be better for it.

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