There are several small browser widgets I have been using recently that have made my life seem so much easier. I call them "convenience widgets" because they are small, lightweight, and make very specific cumbersome tasks much simpler.
I have started using Skype Out quite a bit this last year. This is a service from Skype that allows the customer to call any landline or cellphone from a computer. I paid $15 for a year of unlimited calls (seems like a great deal to me).
When making calls to businesses using Skype Out, my typical task flow is this:
1. search for a company's Web site on Google
2. open the site
3. click their "Contact" link
4. highlight the phone number
5. right click to copy the phone number
6. open Skype
7. paste in the phone number
8. initiate the call
It's a lot of steps for a pretty simple task. In particular, switching from the browser to Skype is a mode shift I do not like because it takes me away from the browser.
Last week I installed the Skype Web Toolbar. This toolbar highlights every phone number on a Web page. In addition, it adds a context menu to each phone number from which the user can quickly initiate a Skype Out call. This tool reduces the task flow to:
1. search for a company's Web site on Google
2. open the site
3. click their "Contact" link
4. initiate a call from the context menu
This is a big time saver and also it keeps the user from having to interact directly with the Skype application.
One problem with this design is that by highlighting phone numbers, the Skype toolbar alters the visual look of Web pages. An alternative would be to not highlight the phone numbers but add the Skype commands to the browser's context menu when a phone number is right clicked. The benefit would be that the page's visual design would not be interfered with. The tradeoff would be that this interaction would be less discoverable for users.
Taking the concept further, wireless companies could offer the same kind of interaction. When a phone number is seen on a Web page on the computer, the computer could initiate a call on the cellphone via Bluetooth. Any form of information could be added to the cellphone from the Web browser with a simple contextual menu: maps, calendar items, pictures, etc. This type of data sharing functionality would make for a pretty useful application.
I have started using Skype Out quite a bit this last year. This is a service from Skype that allows the customer to call any landline or cellphone from a computer. I paid $15 for a year of unlimited calls (seems like a great deal to me).
When making calls to businesses using Skype Out, my typical task flow is this:
1. search for a company's Web site on Google
2. open the site
3. click their "Contact" link
4. highlight the phone number
5. right click to copy the phone number
6. open Skype
7. paste in the phone number
8. initiate the call
It's a lot of steps for a pretty simple task. In particular, switching from the browser to Skype is a mode shift I do not like because it takes me away from the browser.
Last week I installed the Skype Web Toolbar. This toolbar highlights every phone number on a Web page. In addition, it adds a context menu to each phone number from which the user can quickly initiate a Skype Out call. This tool reduces the task flow to:1. search for a company's Web site on Google
2. open the site
3. click their "Contact" link
4. initiate a call from the context menu
This is a big time saver and also it keeps the user from having to interact directly with the Skype application.
One problem with this design is that by highlighting phone numbers, the Skype toolbar alters the visual look of Web pages. An alternative would be to not highlight the phone numbers but add the Skype commands to the browser's context menu when a phone number is right clicked. The benefit would be that the page's visual design would not be interfered with. The tradeoff would be that this interaction would be less discoverable for users.
Taking the concept further, wireless companies could offer the same kind of interaction. When a phone number is seen on a Web page on the computer, the computer could initiate a call on the cellphone via Bluetooth. Any form of information could be added to the cellphone from the Web browser with a simple contextual menu: maps, calendar items, pictures, etc. This type of data sharing functionality would make for a pretty useful application.
Labels: convenience widget, ue design
posted by Shawn Elson on Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Comments:
This is a very insightful analysis, and your pictures are great way to see how the alternatives you proposed would play out. I would love to have the technology you posit at the end - I hate having to retype phone numbers from a website into my phone, and it especially sucks to get to a web page on my Pocket PC phone and then have to highlight the phone number and copy-and-paste into the phone application. You have a great gift for making the unnecessarily complicated simple. :)
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