Comment by TeMPOraL
2 years ago
Oh my. This is the first time I've seen this kind of distinction between "users" and "operators" in context of a single system. I kind of always assumed that "operator" is just a synonym for "user" in industries/contexts that are dealing with tools instead of toys.
But this absolutely makes sense, and it is a succinct description for the complaints some of us frequently make about modern UI trends: bad interfaces are the ones that make us feel like "users", where we expect to be "operators".
I’ve seen such a distinction before, but I’ve been around telescopes and particle accelerators. Single system, but different roles in the same system with a different UI.
Oh snap, did I just pull back the curtain?
You put into words the things I've noticed UIs evolving away from.
It just feels like UIs of software 10,20, even 30 years ago were designed for "operators", people that actually worked with the software for hours at end, and so with a little bit of learning you could be dancing with keybindings and doing stuff as fast as CLI nerds.
Nowadays most seems to be optimized for first hour of use of new user and not much else, and the exceptions are software made "by operators, for operators", like for example KiCAD.
Downside is nowadays in office setting one has to operate 20+ different applications to get work done.
While as operator you would spend more like 80% of your time using the same interface and application.
I could spend my time to type 100WPM but I am not a typist - as a software dev it is quite enough to go with 40-60WPM because it is just small part of my work.
2 replies →
Indeed you did; half of my brain capacity is currently being used by a background process sifting through everything I remember ever thinking or learning that's associated with computers, to re-evaluate it in context of the difference between "users" and "operators".
Seriously. Until your comment, I thought the two terms to be synonyms.