I've been reflecting upon the following question these days:
Is it possible for us to have a well designed software with which the user won't need to be trained before using it for work?
While complex softwares always require training/certificate before anyone can use it properly, can we design a system that's super easy-to-use without sacrificing the powerfulness of its functionality?
Or more realistically, can we have a better design for large softwares so that new user can learn how to use it in a much shorter time (maybe 1 hour instead of two days)?
While softwares nowadays are mostly menu based. You have main drop down menu at top and navigation menu on the left side. Within each item on that menu, there's usually another layer of menu. No one really understand what "view" or "windows" or "edit" means.
I like OmniGraffle on Mac, it's just easier to understand and control, while at the same time I still don't feel very interested in Photoshop or Indesign or Illustrator.
To answer my own questions at the beginning, my own answer is YES, yes we can definitely simplify most of the complex softwares in the current market, and they can make people's work enjoyable instead of pain.
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One solution could be: instead of putting all the burden on users, let users and software developer meet in the middle! Conduct some user studies before building software and embed some real-time adaptive learning strategy in the software.
But sometimes, as nerdy as I can be, I actually like to use photoshop, and prefer simple text editor over IDE.
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