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How Many Clicks Does it Take?

Monday, August 24, 2009 4:13:52 AM

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How many clicks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of good usability?

Growing parallel to the video game industry, Internet users are aware of the incremental innovations that have become defining characteristics of gaming platforms, most notably in controllers, the interface by which you manipulate the on screen action. Initially more buttons meant more control. Atari gave us one, then we got D-pads, shoulder buttons, auto-fire, triggers, etc.. At some point between Playstation's 16 buttons w/ dual joysticks, and Jaguar's 18-26 buttons (depending on how you Do The Math), people got confused. Parents stopped playing with kids and casual gamers fell off the map; innovation turned into isolation.

Nintendo led a return to basics with Gamecube's large A button and colorful/ergonomic style; but there was another idea lurking on the drawing board. Back in the NES days, it wasn't uncommon to see people swing controllers in a boss fight, tilt their body as they drive, or jerk the pad up when they made Mario jump, particularly parents and casual players long forgotten. It was Nintendo's innovative concept of allowing what came naturally to be a form of control that helped springboard them from third place to first with the introduction of Wii's simple 10 [action] button controller. Removing complexity lowered barriers to entry and the market grew.

Opera has done similar things for browsing. No, I'm not talking about Mouse Gestures. About two years ago Opera introduced a feature that got my parents to switch browsers: Opera 9.2 added support for automatic searching from the address bar when users enter more than one word. How many times in the past have people opened a tab, clicked that address bar and started typing only to get a 404 error?

"Oops, ...error?"
"You gotta search from the Google box, Dad."
"The what?"


By capturing the actions that came naturally to users, Opera decreased confusion and the time it takes to get to the information you seek by a few more clicks. You see, there are more ways to make browsing faster than refining the way pages render. The fewer clicks needed to find what you seek, the better the experience, and if you can minimize confusion along the way, even better. Opera makes browsing as simple as one, two, three.

To save a few more clicks and answer the age old question: It's approximately 400.

1000 tweets looks like thisGood Packing

Comments

.edDotEd Monday, August 24, 2009 4:15:30 AM

Please 'favorite this post' by clicking the star icon in the post!

Thanks!

Unregistered user Monday, August 24, 2009 7:49:20 AM

EZE writes: Wow, that's amazing.

Nikkodarkhitsugaya Monday, August 24, 2009 8:10:10 AM

Hey! I totally agree with you. I really like mouse gesture... I hate going to the top left of the screen just to click back. Lol

I've added your post as a favorite. here is my post: http://my.opera.com/darkhitsugaya/blog/show.dml/4256024. Do add it if you also like mine. Thanks a bunch!

Minamymina99 Monday, August 24, 2009 10:34:21 AM

That's nice, I've just faved you up

Alexodius PrimeAleksOD Monday, August 24, 2009 12:54:19 PM

Favorit.ed up

Nice post, by the way smile

Greg Smithgregsmithsays Monday, August 24, 2009 1:01:22 PM

Nice, liked how you built up to mouse gestures !

- I've voted you a favorite for sure...
If you have the time please have a look at mine, I'd love a reciprocal vote if you like it - http://my.opera.com/gregsmithsays/blog/be-more-seem-less-opera-portal-in-a-nutshell

Admin Soppeng Pos OnlineQflee Monday, August 24, 2009 1:05:21 PM

You have got my favorite now smile

Unregistered user Monday, August 24, 2009 3:11:10 PM

Kevin Blanchard writes: I don't know how to favorite this, but it's an excellent essay.

Matt Coxcoxy Monday, August 24, 2009 3:30:07 PM

Originally posted by anonymous:

I don't know how to favorite this, but it's an excellent essay.


You can't favourite stuff if you're not registered. You should sign up. wink

Is there a mouse gesture to favourite your blog post? p

AntonCaptainSeagull Monday, August 24, 2009 5:28:17 PM

I counted three different times in child hood, I also made sure that a single tongue swipe be counted as a lick and not actually putting the tootsie pop in the mouth. twice I came up with 226 once was like 300 or somewheres about.

Gyrobo Monday, August 24, 2009 7:46:13 PM

When you wrote about video game consoles, I thought for sure you were building up to the Wii's Internet Channel.

Mouse gestures are amazing, I must agree. They've made browsing quite a holistic experience for me.

.edDotEd Monday, August 24, 2009 9:20:43 PM

Haha so many comments about mouse gestures, but that wasn't the innovation I was referring to! Crazy.

Gyrobo Monday, August 24, 2009 10:56:14 PM

You've gotta give people what they love.

And they love mouse gestures. And pizza. Bring pizza.

.edDotEd Tuesday, August 25, 2009 12:11:05 AM

hahaha:up:

Gyrobo Tuesday, August 25, 2009 1:47:11 AM

But as per the innovation you discussed, I'll present a complementary question: how many users have accidentally typed an URL into a browser's search box?

Charles SchlossChas4 Tuesday, August 25, 2009 3:19:04 AM

Favorit.ed

I have tried counting a few times

great post

Elżbieta bietka Tuesday, August 25, 2009 6:40:16 AM

Your remarks about innovation, isolation, lowering of barriers, decreasing confusion are apt and telling. Thanks for focusing on a social aspect of innovation, i.e. relations between generations.

Greg Smithgregsmithsays Tuesday, August 25, 2009 12:06:51 PM

All the best !

Feel free to visit the Participants Group
Opera Online Writers Internship Competition Group >>
http://my.opera.com/operainterns2009/blog/
or the Participants Forum >>
http://my.opera.com/operainterns2009/forums/

kind regards,
greg

Greg Smithgregsmithsays Tuesday, August 25, 2009 12:28:42 PM

All the best !

Feel free to visit the Participants Group
Opera Online Writers Internship Competition Group >>
http://my.opera.com/operainterns2009/blog/
or the Participants Forum >>
http://my.opera.com/operainterns2009/forums/

kind regards,
greg

Greg Smithgregsmithsays Wednesday, August 26, 2009 8:36:28 AM

You might already be a member of [/URL]2009 Participants Group
BUT...
...now we have a ONLINE WRITERS RESOURCE group

http://my.opera.com/community/groups/?search=online+resource+group+initiative

Feel free to join and share your favorite Tips & Tweaks

Greg Smithgregsmithsays Thursday, August 27, 2009 10:37:20 AM

Sorry mate ... no intent (strange that it reposted like that ?)

My apology is both humble and contrite

Doted - accept my Favorite as a wee apology
and good luck

Eddie LopezEddie_Lopez Wednesday, September 2, 2009 6:48:28 PM

Great post. This reminds me of my post back in 2006 on the matter (see issue number 4):
http://storage9.myopera.com/Eddie_Lopez/Opera_Improvements/Ten_Opera_Improvements.html

...of course, for those counting, number 6 in that list is N/A and number 10 has been implemented, I just never updated the file.

Eddie LopezEddie_Lopez Wednesday, September 2, 2009 6:51:59 PM

My last post sure did sound kinda jerk-like. I didn't mean it as such. I was in the middle of enjoying this post and I just got side tracked wondering about that list I made.

Good luck in round 2!

.edDotEd Friday, September 11, 2009 3:04:45 AM

haha, i know you mean the best Eddie - you've always been a strong influence in MyOpera when it comes to usability discussion.

thanks for the encouragement!

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