Are people stupid or is MS afraid

[Loco5150]

Two simple things:

Swipe down to close app from multitasking view and swipe with two fingers to clear all notifications.

These are both great functions IMO. Easy, fast and touch friendly. Swipe down to close app is amazing with one hand too!

The question for me is; why the stupid buttons also? Is MS trying to please everyone and keeping things like that around, or are people so stupid that they dont get how to do things by swiping? It really, cant be that... Simple short tutorial on first boot or when first time opening that part would take of it... Right?

 

[12Danny123]

Two simple things:

Swipe down to close app from multitasking view and swipe with two fingers to clear all notifications.

These are both great functions IMO. Easy, fast and touch friendly. Swipe down to close app is amazing with one hand too!

The question for me is; why the stupid buttons also? Is MS trying to please everyone and keeping things like that around, or are people so stupid that they dont get how to do things by swiping? It really, cant be that... Simple short tutorial on first boot or when first time opening that part would take of it... Right?

Well to be honest there are people who prefer pushing the X on the multitasking menu. So they left it there

 

[pdelvo]

Users are in general very bad at finding invisible things.

 

[Ashish Gupta888]

I would say, that's user friendly way of multitasking. People may not realize the swipe-down feature at first attempt. They would find and explore it after few tries

 

[LeopardSurd]

Without any tutorial after at the first use of a phone or after a major update that adds new features, the user (an „average Joe”) will not find those function from the beginning.
E.g. I didn't know i can swipe-right with 2 fingers to delete all the notifications. But being a WPCentral reader, I just acknowledged it.



They should add a short tutorial, like those on Android after enabling for the first time a phone.

 

[T Moore]

Just because, in your opinion, swiping is a better way?
People are not stupid and this is the way that is most intuitive. Swiping, tapping, big deal.
Rant at Microsoft just because they didn't do it your way?

 

[latempete]

I have a 75 year old aunt who is now using my old 1020. She loves it but only knows how to push the shutter button, make a call, read and send texts and SOMETIMES listen to visual voicemail. Oh she can use the weather app.

She never even closes anything. I don't think she knows you can! She may learn. Should she try to remember swipes??

Also I have a sister who came from an iPhone who I got into a 925. She could care less about anything except making calls, sending texts and taking pics. I have showed her all the navigation and special features. She doesn't care. She is very smart too. She is a VP at a company that makes some device that amplifies signals to retransmit from satellites. She would have me or someone else set up the phone and never watch a tutorial. She believes things should be obvious.

I agree. How many would skip or not pay attention to a tutorial? Or just forget? If the phone isn't intuitive, a lot of regular people won't use it. Especially those still to come to smart phones.

It's one OS for everyone. As such, it has to be built FOR everyone. Not just power users. There is no WP 8.1 Pro.

Btw, I prefer the button on the notifications page. It's one quick touch. Sometimes I use the x's to close apps. Maybe you haven't used a 1520. It's a 2 hand phone.

 

[chezm]

Agreed, tutorial would be a benefit.

 

[a5cent]

She never even closes anything. I don't think she knows you can!

And that is exactly as it should be. You shouldn't have to care!

I'm all for a tutorial, which should tell you it doesn't matter whether apps are open or closed. The OS will close them for you if it is necessary. Anything more is just burdening the average Joe with useless information that will confuse more then help (it leads to questions like: when should I close an app? why would I want to do that? what if I don't close an app that I should? why can't the OS do it for me... oh yeah... it does).

Tutorial time is better spent on other issues, like notifications, and how to micromanage which apps will log notifications to the action centre and which won't, and what the difference is between what you see in the action centre and on live tiles.

 

[Pranjal Rai]

True, I think swiping down is a better way than tapping that horrible x. They should remove the x. Then it would look better. But about the notification centre, I think, let it be both the tap and swipe. I didn't know about the swipe until I read about it on wpcentral. So, a tutorial would suffice.

 

[Pranjal Rai]

Just because, in your opinion, swiping is a better way?
People are not stupid and this is the way that is most intuitive. Swiping, tapping, big deal.
Rant at Microsoft just because they didn't do it your way?

Yes.

 

[Kram Sacul]

I think there are more important things to complain about then the Xs in the task switcher. They actually serve a purpose.

 

[gwinegarden]

True, I think swiping down is a better way than tapping that horrible x. They should remove the x. Then it would look better. ��

The X came first. If it, suddenly, disappeared a lot of people would be confused.

 

[Pranjal Rai]

The X came first. If it, suddenly, disappeared a lot of people would be confused.

True, but imho Microsoft needs to get rid of it sooner or later. Just my 2 cents.
Edit: You should check out the multitasking in iOS. No x or anything like that. Just a simple flick upwards. Sleek, just the way I like it.

 

[spaulagain]

The X helps with discoverability. Gestures are great and much more efficient than cluttering the UI with more elements. BUT they lack one key ingredient for usability, discoverability. In this case, the Xs follow existing UI patterns (tabs in IE), so they are fine where they are and help with discoverability.

 

[Pranjal Rai]

The X helps with discoverability. Gestures are great and much more efficient than cluttering the UI with more elements. BUT they lack one key ingredient for usability, discoverability. In this case, the Xs follow existing UI patterns (tabs in IE), so they are fine where they are and help with discoverability.

Ummm..... That's what the tutorial would be for. To help users get to know the basic gestures and stuff.

 

[tgp]

The red X is also traditional Windows for exiting. Anyone who sees that knows what it does.

 

[Chris Sandiford]

Two finger swiping has only changed since the last 8.1 update. It used to clear a group, where one finger would clear a single notification. Now two clears all which echos the button.
Why the change?

 

[Loco5150]

Just because, in your opinion, swiping is a better way?
People are not stupid and this is the way that is most intuitive. Swiping, tapping, big deal.
Rant at Microsoft just because they didn't do it your way?

Well you missed the whole point. This wasnt a rant, it was a question. If you have a vision, stick to it. It will not be a good thing trying to please everyone, it will not end up well.

True, but imho Microsoft needs to get rid of it sooner or later. Just my 2 cents.
Edit: You should check out the multitasking in iOS. No x or anything like that. Just a simple flick upwards. Sleek, just the way I like it.

Excactly this.... Most of my friends have iOS devices, NOT ONE has said they dont know how to close the apps.

My personal opinion also is that the X goes away sooner or later on touch devices. As it went away on the RT. Now in WP Microsoft just seems to be scared, maybe for a good reason. The marketshare is nothing and the battle seems very difficult at the moment, but still pleasing everyone will not work either.

Or hell, if MS:s vision is hat the X will stick around, then take that route. What MS will end up doing here is confusing people more because things arent unified through the OS.

EDIT: If the fear really would be that people dont figure these things out, how about a small popup window when you first time enter the action centre or the multitasking view?

I doubt the real reason is that they are just afraid after what happened with Windows 8 and the modern start screen.

 

[Pranjal Rai]

EDIT: If the fear really would be that people dont figure these things out, how about a small popup window when you first time enter the action centre or the multitasking view?

This.