Are We All In the Same "Bloat"?

"Bloat", a term that has existed in the technical community for many years, has recently received attention in the popular press. The term has a negative connotation implying that human, or system performance is diminished in some way when "bloat" exists. Yet "bloat" is seldom clearly defined and is often a catch-all phrase to suggest that software is filled with unnecessary features. However, to date there are no studies that explore how users actually experience complex functionality-filled software applications and most importantly, the extent to which they experience them in similar/different ways. The significance of understanding users' experience is in the implications this understanding has for design. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, we carried out a study to gain a better understanding of the experiences of 53 members of the general population who use a popular word processor, Microsoft Word, Office 97. As a result we are ab...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2000
• Where: GRAPHICSINTERFACE
• Authors: Joanna McGrenere, Gale Moore
• Keywords: Experiences, GRAPHICSINTERFACE 2000, GRAPHICSINTERFACE 2007, Negative Connotation, Subjective Dimension