New software updates from Adobe and Apple appeared this morning with surprisingly different user experiences. Let’s compare them. And yes, this won’t be good for Adobe.

List  Adobe’s list has two columns: one for the disclosure triangles and another for the components. The right column is named “Available Updates”, presumably because updates that are not available aren’t included in the list (though applications are, even though they’re not updates). Notice how much simpler the column “Name” feels in Apple’s design.

Adobe’s design assumes (and probably requires) that components are listed in a hierarchy with the Adobe applications shown at the top level of the list and components displayed as children of their respective applications. In the screenshot above, the application Adobe Device Central CS3 is listed with one component, Flash® Lite™ 3 Update for Device Central CS3.

Adobe should rethink its decision to present components in a hierarchy like this, since doing so adds considerable complexity for little benefit: the column on the left is virtually useless (and why is it so wide and resizable?) unless there are so many components to install that you need to hide some of them to make sense of the others, and including the applications in the list makes it harder to determine how many components there are to install. In the screenshot, it looks like there are two things to install, but there’s only one.

Adobe’s list includes a horizontal scrollbar enabled for some reason, though it shouldn’t be. The list shouldn’t include a horizontal scrollbar at all.

Component Names  Adobe’s component names seem designed for marketers, not users. Take the name shown above, Flash® Lite™ 3 Update for Device Central CS3. The hierarchical list design already displays the component beneath its application, so there’s no need for the component name to include the application name. (Those marketers are a bit sloppy too. The application is named Adobe Device Central CS3, but when appended to the component name it’s shortened to Device Central CS3.) Also, the marks ® and ™ are not required in this context.

How would that component name look simplified like this?

Much nicer. Shorter names are good for users. Apple’s component names are admirably compact.

Component Details  Notice that the Apple window shows a description, while the Adobe window doesn’t. That’s because Apple selected the first component automatically, and Adobe didn’t.

Selecting the component in Adobe’s window reveals this description:

“The Flash Lite 3 Update for Device Central enables testing of Flash® List™ 3 content in Device Central, provides important bug fixes, and includes new and updates device profiles.”

Ignore for the moment that the name Flash® Lite™ 3 Update for Device Central CS3 has changed again to Flash Lite 3 Update for Device Central. What’s interesting here is what Adobe doesn’t tell you about that component, including the component’s version, file size, and whether the installation will require you to restart afterwards. What it does tell you isn’t particularly enlightening—for instance, which important bug fixes, and which device profiles?

Adobe’s most egregious design flaw is that you can’t select individual components to install. You can delete all and you can install all, but you can’t do anything with a single component. This is convenient for Adobe because it simplifies the number of component combinations, no doubt making testing easier, but it’s unacceptably inconvenient for the user.

In fact, it makes a joke of listing components individually at all. What Adobe’s design is telling you is that Adobe software is indivisible. If you’re an Adobe customer, you have Adobe software, not individual applications or products. When that update arrives to fix that pesky Photoshop bug that’s been plaguing you for months, you have no choice but to install those other updates that arrived at the same time.

Buttons  Adobe displays four buttons, each of which begs a different question. Remind Me Later raises the question, “how much later?”, and is this equivalent to simply closing the window? Preferences is useful, but why isn’t it a menu item as well? Delete All is just plain scary—remember, that hierarchical list displays the components and the applications, so theoretically this could delete the applications too. Apple’s says “ignore” rather than “delete”, which dodges the issue nicely.

And Install Now is unsettling. How many components will be installed if you press that button? In this screenshot, it’s not too hard to conclude that just the one component will be installed, but if there are enough components to cause the list to scroll, some components won’t be visible. Also, why “Install Now“? Why not just “Install”? If I close the window without pressing that button, will these components somehow be automatically installed later? (And if the point was to contrast with Remind Me Later, these two buttons should have been positioned more closely together.)

Window  Adobe’s window is non-resizable and wide/landscape; Apple’s is resizeable and tall/portrait. List-focused windows like these should certainly be resizable—it’s just carelessness on Adobe’s part that theirs is not. And the portrait orientation is a clear win over landscape, giving the window a natural-looking page-like appearance and helping to keep line lengths short. Perhaps Adobe chose landscape to accommodate those long component names or to compensate for the abnormally wide left column in the list, but whatever the reason, it makes the window harder to read.

Aesthetics. The large icon in Apple’s window adds welcome flair and with the rest of the header grounds the window visually. Adobe displays a short weak sentence at the top of the window.

Apple’s window eliminates the “Description:” label for the lower area since it’s obvious from the context, and moves Preferences to a probably seldom-used menu item. Apple’s list rows use alternating background colors.

And finally, Polish. Apple lets you “Select All” items in the list, but Adobe doesn’t even include an Edit menu. Apple lets you copy the component description to the clipboard, Adobe doesn’t. You can minimize or close Apple’s window from the keyboard, but Adobe neglected to include menu items for these. You can zoom Apple’s window, but not Adobe’s. Apple includes a dynamic notice at the bottom of the window to remind you when the components you’ve selected will require a restart. Apple included a Help menu.

Taken individually, these small details might seem unimportant, but collectively they are the user experience. As a result, when Adobe’s installer appears you likely frown and think, not that damn thing again…

But when Apple’s Software Update appears, you probably brighten and think cool!

Thursday, December 20th, 2007, 12:06 pm    Trackback.