Ah, the ubiquitous "grandma" user. This is the type of user idiots like to spout out when talking about things like tablets and Macs, e.g. "So easy, grandma could use it."
We all know what these folks are really saying is, "So easy a knuckle-dragging mouth breather with a 1st-grade education could use it".
Right.
Before continuing, I personally believe the best way to help a computer illiterate person is really simple: Don’t help them. Let them destroy their operating system. Let them get viruses. Let them do stupid things. Why? Because it’s the only way they’ll learn. If you fix every little boo-boo a computer illiterate person does to their computer, they will never learn how a computer works.
If there is someone that has either tricked or guilt tripped (as is suckered) you into fixing every little mistake they make with a PC, stop helping. You’ve sat down and instructed them how to do stuff. You’ve shown them how to use Google. You’ve sent PDF documentation. You’ve printed documentation. Heck, you’ve written down stuff on Post-It Notes and stuck it to their monitor. They never learn. And why should they when you always fix the problem? Stop helping; it’s the only way.
If one were to design a "grandma" UI, it would look and act exactly like a mainframe terminal
There’s only one way to design a "grandma" UI, and that’s to have something so ultra-restrictive that it would be next to impossible for the user to screw it up.
The only way to do this is if you designed a mainframe-like interface, and this is what it would look like on power-up:
No mouse? That’s right, no mouse. Key commands only, mainframe-style.
The above is the only type of desktop UI "grandma" could actually use without breaking. If you can’t find A, B, C or D on your keyboard, just turn it off and read books instead.
"Geez, that’s a little extreme, don’t you think?"
Fair enough.
Were I do design a graphical grandma UI, which I’ll call GGUI, in WinXP I would do it like this:
The above is, if you can believe it, a fully loaded WinXP desktop and not a mockup.
Here’s a video of it:
"Ack! IE!"
Wrong! It’s actually Google Chrome with an IE icon.
In fact, with the exception of the Shutdown icon, everything on the desktop launches the browser. Absolutely nothing is stored locally. Whatever "grandma" does, she does it on the web and never touches the hard drive. No "My Documents", no "Recycle Bin". None of that. All web.
And although I didn’t do this, I would also specifically disable right-click, lock the icons on the desktop so they could not be deleted no matter what, and have to desktop reload from a backup on each boot. If grandma moves an icon, it’s reset to default position on reboot.
There’s probably other things I missed, but you have to literally think of every single possible way someone could mess up a desktop and accommodate for it.
If you’re wondering what the SkyDrive icon is there for, that’s so grandma can edit documents with Word Web App, because grandma knows what "Word" is. Email is Hotmail. The reason I choose the Windows Live suite of apps is because they look better than what Google offers, and again, grandma knows what "Word" is.
No multitasking?
It’s there but hidden, not that grandma would use it anyway. Grandma doesn’t even know what browser tabs are, much less understand how to use two programs (gasp!) at the same time (double gasp!)
No peripherals?
None other than the basics.
Can grandma use a USB stick? No. All ports are blocked off. Can grandma print? No. Can she change the desktop to use a wallpaper image? No. No, no, no, no and no. What you see is all you can use and that’s it.
"Dude, that’s still really extreme…"
Well, that’s how you accommodate for a grandma user were you to go about it.
And yes, this is why tablets are ‘good for grandma’, because they’re designed to be stupidly easy – but even on a tablet there are still ways for a user to mess it up.
It’s like I said, instead of going through all the above hassle, you’re better off just letting the user break their computer as many times as needed until they get some sense knocked into them.
To answer the question in the title of this article, no, it is not possible to design a GGUI. Grandma will find a way to get the computer in a FUBAR state. She of course will say she "was doing nothing when it happened", which of course is a lie. Yes, grandma knows how to lie. Very well.
It’s like I said, the way someone learns a computer is by breaking it. You obviously cannot magically imbue someone with experience in computers. Experience is something gained over time. If you’ve done all you can but that grandma-type user absolutely positively will not learn, stop helping. Then they’ll learn.
That or find someone else to mooch off of as their ‘computer guy’.
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