Often when typing on my mobile phone, I would subconsciously type in the Chinese characters I wanted first, and then I would realize that the current input method was English, so I had to delete these letters - switch back to Chinese input - and re-enter.

This is a classic example of "switching leads to repeated operations".

The concept of switching in the field of Internet products can be understood as: you can continue operations after moving from one page to another. Usually users switch to different methods to achieve the same purpose. Taking the input method as an example, users usually use the default settings directly and only try to switch when they find that the purpose cannot be achieved. This process often leads to repeated operations.

With different needs, switching is born in different usage scenarios. This article attempts to find some solutions to help users reduce repeated operations by describing some switching cases that occur when users perform tasks (including before starting, during, and after completing the task).

1. Before the task begins

Take QQ mailbox switching as an example. When the Internet speed is not fast, the mailbox will prompt you to switch to the basic version before entering.

But when the network speed is normal, this switch is very "low-key" in the interface and only appears on the homepage of the mailbox. I have always liked this process very much. The basic version is basically text and loads faster. When the network speed is unstable, users switch to the basic version to read and process emails faster. Under normal network conditions, users can read emails smoothly, so there is no need to switch.

This processing method can be used in scenarios where the task starts and the demand ends, just like taking a taxi. No matter how many choices you have before, you will arrive at the destination directly once you get on the bus. Of course, if the car breaks down and you have to change cars midway, it is another matter. Already...

By switching before the task begins, the likelihood of the user repeating the operation is low.

2. The task is in progress

This scenario requires the most switching, such as game level selection, information arrangement, view switching, etc. In fact, by taking one more step into consideration for users, you can avoid a lot of repeated operations. Take the level selection interface of a game as an example. It is displayed in the order of passing levels, which means that every time the user needs to turn down the page to get to the latest level.

If there are many levels, it is conceivable that the user needs to perform repeated page turning operations every time.

Here are two methods to avoid repeated operations during tasks:

( 1 ) Nodes that lock user space memory

When users are looking for documents or things, they always find them again through where they are. This is the spatial memory model established by users. Locking nodes allows users to complete tasks faster while maintaining spatial memory. For example, browser back and forward buttons are generally placed in the upper left corner by default, making it easier for users to return to a familiar environment.

The historical websites that pop up when going back are equivalent to nodes, helping users return to their destination more quickly.

Taking the game level selection as an example, displaying the levels in order maintains the user's spatial memory, but if the latest completed level is used as a node, the user does not need to repeat the scrolling action again and again.

The video display interface of Xunlei Kankan HD is handled very well, and the switching between poster form and list form can remember the user's browsing position. For example, as shown in the picture below, I saw the line "Big Brother Loves Beauty" in the list view. When I switched to poster view, it still started with "Big Brother Loves Beauty".

( 2 ) Reduce switching operations and eliminate elements that cause repeated operations.
Once upon a time, I was frustrated by the prompts that always popped up when renaming word, jpeg and other files. I had to carefully avoid the suffix and re-enter it. Well, maybe you can I laughed and said that in fact, you can "hide the extensions of known files" in the control panel, but if you don't tell me about such a hidden function, I will never know.

In Win7 system, the suffix no longer appears in the file name by default, and the file will no longer be unavailable when renaming, thus eliminating this element that causes users to repeat operations.