Today at the An Event Apart Chicago conference, Liz Danzico wondered aloud what “seamless” means. You hear it bandied about often—especially in the form of a “seamless user experience.”
So, in 10 words or less, explain what “seamless” means in the context of the often-promised “seamless user experience.”
huphtur
on 28 Aug 070 effort.
Jeff Greco
on 28 Aug 07Simple, logical, well thought out – nothing arbitrary, it ‘just works.’
Sam Gerstenzang
on 28 Aug 07A point-a to point-b interaction that doesn’t make you think.
Cameron Incoll
on 28 Aug 07Uninterrupted flow.
Kevin Milden
on 28 Aug 07A perfect transition.
Andrew
on 28 Aug 07steaming pile of marketing bullsh!t that smells like hot garbage
Gareth
on 28 Aug 07Seamless is when I can move from one distinct thing to another and not notice the change.
divya
on 28 Aug 07The dictionary defines “seamless” as “smoothly continuous or uniform in quality; combined in an inconspicuous way” (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/seamless)
In that sense, a “seamless user experience” is something that does not interfere with the user’s goals and remains in the background.
Nivi
on 28 Aug 07“Don’t make me think.” – Steve Krug
Christopher Tassava
on 28 Aug 07Productivity facilitated by technology that’s otherwise invisible.
Christopher Sisk
on 28 Aug 07A user experience with no obvious obstructions to the goal.
neal s
on 28 Aug 07Free from unwarranted disruption.
Richard Leighton Dixon
on 28 Aug 07No extraordinary mental gymnastics required to complete a task.
Oxa Koba
on 28 Aug 07Experiencing content and tasks uninterrupted by awareness of underlying technology.
Steve Brewer
on 28 Aug 07Users do what they want without every wondering “how”.
Percy
on 28 Aug 07Having no seam (context = clothes). Meaningless drivel in marketing.
Eric Franklin
on 28 Aug 07seamless = Users can accomplish the desired task without being sidetracked (AKA “it just works”).
Brian
on 28 Aug 07Never re-enter data. One-step navigation to the next task. Self-documenting.
Shane
on 28 Aug 07Moving between or across different forms (formats) with no noticeable change in awareness or perception.
Wolf
on 28 Aug 07Seamless user experience is =
ux enabling the user to perform tasks without interruption, in a smooth, flowing way
Jeremy
on 28 Aug 07Seams are those things that trip up and interrupt a person’s experience (with web software) in a way that draws attention to the artifice of the thing (i.e. the software and not my task in my head space/flow). The funny thing is seams aren’t always bad.
Look back at 37signals’ own “Defensive Design for the Web.” Those tips are about dealing proactively with some of the seams. They aren’t strictly negative things to be avoided, but rather opportunity areas to expect, anticipate, and turned into something positive. Seams are bound to be part of the experience because nobody is perfect. Better to embrace them.
Consider it a little of Brecht’s influence in the theater of the web.
Daniel
on 28 Aug 07I find it somewhat amusing that the marketing term “seamless”, just as well could be interpreted the very opposite:
Tasks that should be connected are not tied together. Instead of well designed clothes we force you to wear toga.Gerrit
on 28 Aug 07A seamless user experience for me is when I go from point A to point B on a website/application without having any noticable obstructions in the way. This doesn’t mean there can be nothing in between though. It’s always a good idea to shove in some extra content on the transition (people might actually be interested in it and click through).
Siqi Chen
on 28 Aug 07A seamless user experience is spelling “exercise” correctly.
riki
on 28 Aug 0710 words or less guys :)
disabled users can drive and watch movie while surfing site
Jamesy
on 28 Aug 07bound·ary·less
Brad Shuttleworth
on 28 Aug 07Seamless design hides implementation issues from the user’s activity flow.
Sounds better in about 15 – 20 words, actually ;)
Morgan Roderick
on 28 Aug 07Steve Krug: Don’t Make Me Think
Ward
on 28 Aug 07And I always thought it meant they wanted the user to be so comfortable that they’d surf the site naked (sans seams). Sorry, this is what happens when one posts a comment at 5:30 in the morning.
Nagu
on 28 Aug 07Users perceive one single system without realizing that the system is made up of multiple components underneath and interacts with multiple systems to provide a smooth experience.
Joshua
on 28 Aug 07Smoothly integrate into my established workflow.
Bart Stevens
on 28 Aug 07Seamless: You wake up, your kids jump in bed (or visa versa), you check your email; see a client needs to meet with you urgently in NYC. You drive to the airport, a ticket is waiting for you. Arriving at JFK, a taxi is waiting for you, takes you to the meeting. For lunch a reservation is made (based on the prefs of your clients need and your). On the way back home, a flower delivery service hands over some roses, so when you arrive late at home, your wife still loves you.
The funny thing is that I have only a “one-man” shop … (semantics is the magic word)
All, enjoy life (kids, included at 6AM…)
Bart
Anonymous Coward
on 28 Aug 07Typo in title = Exercise, not Excercise.
Marc Duchesne
on 28 Aug 07Smooth/painless/intuitive/invisible/no-RTFM/friendly whatever user interaction (10 words ;-)
James Daniels
on 28 Aug 07No surprises.
Lajwaram Bedranaike Silverman
on 28 Aug 07Seamless: A T-Shirt made with a tubular manufacturing process which allows the body to be stitched as a whole unit, and without seams. Seamless
soxiam
on 28 Aug 07A myth.
chris
on 28 Aug 07seamless is doing something exactly how I want it to be done. Flows well, very straight forward. Makes difficult cumbersome tasks ridiculously easy.
capa
on 28 Aug 07seamless user experience : I’m not fighting the software, that is, I’m not cleaning up after it to get what I wanted in the first place.
Dude
on 28 Aug 07A SMOOTH transition. Invisible. Not there. A Blank Screen!
Paul
on 28 Aug 07I remember my first PC app – Lotus Symphony. Pushed as an integrated wordprocessor, spreadsheet and graphing program. Great disappointment, not only were there seams, but voids between the very separate programs.
With seamless I mean that there are no “cracks in the wallpaper” it is an integrated experience, without me getting slowed down or stuck anywhere.
d
on 28 Aug 07seamless = when the action is over before you even noticed it.
Andres
on 28 Aug 07Elegance.
Maximum returns, on minimal energy expended.
Gordon Brander
on 28 Aug 07@ Jeremy:
A really interesting take on it Jeremy. I wonder if sometimes seams could be “used” to guide the user into a workflow more suited to the tool (web app).
Textile markup might be an example.. for a first-time user Textile is far from a “seamless experience” in formatting (“I’m used to all those fiddly buttons in Word”), but by embracing Textile’s practicality for the web you could end up with a simpler solution (ala Writeboard). shrug Maybe someone else could think of a better example.
harper
on 28 Aug 07seamless = thinking about the problem and not the tool
Doug Rohde
on 28 Aug 07seamless: That which does not disrupt “flow”
Dave Andersen
on 28 Aug 07“Wow, that worked just the way I thought it should.”
FredS
on 28 Aug 07A Threadless ripoff.
chap
on 28 Aug 07The next step is always intuitively obvious.
warren
on 28 Aug 07the term is clearly ill-defined so asking for a single 10 word “definition” is ridiculous.
one sense of it is when all the minor details have been taken care of.
Pretentious Dimwit
on 28 Aug 07End-to-end user-driven transparent enterprise bullshit solution 2.0.
Consider it a little of Brecht’s influence in the theater of the web.
Marcus
on 28 Aug 07Seamless: easy on the user; hard on the developer
Justin
on 28 Aug 07No shortcuts. No workarounds. The tool is the shortcut.
Seamstress
on 28 Aug 07No Roadblocks
Daniel Higginbotham
on 28 Aug 07Designed so the user doesn’t notice context changes
Jody
on 28 Aug 07An experience in which I don’t think about the experience.
Mike
on 28 Aug 07Seamless:
Uninterrupted by unwanted, impertinent, or unimportant information.
gordon
on 28 Aug 07no unnecessary awareness of underlying delivery mechanisms
Kevan
on 28 Aug 07…like opening a door that doesn’t stick, slam or creak.
Morgan
on 28 Aug 07Site aspects integrate well. Users follow green path intuitively. Distractionless.
Ryan
on 28 Aug 07Seamless: Without thought.
Matt J.
on 28 Aug 07No Seams.
seam = interface feedback lag
seam = user thought lag
Jennifer Davis
on 28 Aug 07A seam is a ridge or a place where two fabrics (or other materials) are joined together. Seamless is another word for saying totally without joints or ridges. If one application works “seamlessly” with the next, the user wouldn’t know they have jumped from one to the other. People are using new process and the like with a smooth transition.
Alan Underwood
on 28 Aug 07Seams are when I try to perform an action (such as double-click to open a file) in one application (Adobe Photoshop) and can’t do the same action in another application of the same suite or type (Adobe Illustrator). Aside: This still isn’t fixed in CS3…
Seamless means fully integrated.
kev
on 28 Aug 07A transition from one to another, and yet, not.
Jack Shedd
on 28 Aug 07Seamless:
Moving from one context to the next without problems.
Jack Shedd
on 28 Aug 07Example:
When I open a Photoshop document in Illustrator, it just opens. Looks exactly as it did in Photoshop. Works exactly as it did in Photoshop. Only everything is now mapped to Illustrator’s context, and behaves as would be expected if I created it in Illustrator in the first place.
Eric Willems
on 28 Aug 07“Learn one. Use all.”
Killian
on 28 Aug 07Seemless usually = BullSh*t Marketing Jargon
Jason
on 28 Aug 07seamless user experience =
the {computer/application/web site} responds to the user as that user expects, consistently.
td
on 29 Aug 07In Zen Buddhist terms, seamless is returning to the one.
samo
on 29 Aug 07Seamless user experience:
The user doesn’t even notice you charge his CC while using your application.
Muthu Ramadoss
on 29 Aug 07Enjoying the experience in its full form without any unwanted distractions or limitations.
Dave Gray
on 29 Aug 07Seamless to me means “don’t break the spell.”
catherine
on 30 Aug 07I say what I want; it does the work.
brad
on 30 Aug 07start. done.
mx
on 30 Aug 07You. What you want to do. Nothing in between.
Kevin
on 30 Aug 07Just works.
David Sidlinger
on 30 Aug 07Nothing to snag your attention on
Chris
on 30 Aug 07Antimodal.
rafael j
on 30 Aug 07Doesn’t show any stitches. Integral.
Jennifer Gniadecki
on 31 Aug 07Information the user came for, delivered in a clear manner.
Brannick
on 31 Aug 07seamless = flowing fluidly without interruption or blockage.
Brannick
on 31 Aug 07like the way I could post my comment without having to jump through a load of hoops: registrations etc, which the effort involved would have made me give up and not bother…
1) I thought of the answer 2) I wrote the answer 3) the site posted the answer and a link to my blog
That is seamless!
Mario
on 31 Aug 07Maybe just natural?
Anonymous Coward
on 31 Aug 07Here is an interesting view: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/08/seamless.html
quality vs quantity?
Andrew de Andrade
on 31 Aug 07Seamless is only defineable by defining what isn’t seamless.
Anything that is seamless will be percieved as one entity -one experience. If a user is aware of an effort to make something seamless, then it cannot be seamless, can it?
Vincenze
on 31 Aug 07An experience that is a true extension of life, uninhibited by inferior interfaces such as keyboards, urls and comment boxes.
Dan
on 31 Aug 07seamless = not having to start over again when you move from one channel to the next.
CJ
on 31 Aug 07Seamless not always synonymous with good. I hate things that are so seamless that I don’t know where I am in the process. I like to move to the “Next Step” ...However…
Seamless= NOT really a smooth transition as much as NO transition
pat
on 31 Aug 07you get out of the user’s way
coldclimate
on 31 Aug 07Seemless: “It just works, without hangups or work around”.
Cash is seemless, my paypal account is not.
Don
on 31 Aug 07The ability to move from seam to seam without interruption.
John Koetsier
on 31 Aug 07Perhaps then you haven’t actually moved.
Todd Tolson
on 01 Sep 07I would say that seamless is a user-friendly experience that is both intuitive and obvious.
Tim Molendijk
on 01 Sep 07@Kevan 28 Aug 07
“…like opening a door that doesn’t stick, slam or creak.”
Nice metaphor. I’d like to blow it up a bit by suggesting that seamless is not just about the door not sticking, slamming or creaking, but also about the door actually opening without first having to unlock it or find the handle.
Troels Wittrup
on 02 Sep 07Reducing richness in UI components to their lowest common denominator.
Jon Cobler
on 03 Sep 07Seemless:
In and Out, Padagonia, Apple Computer
Not only does the stuff on the shelves make sense, the shelves makes sense too…
Eric
on 03 Sep 07Low mental friction for user. High integration for the system(s).
Martin Dower
on 03 Sep 07Dull, flat & lifeless. Interesting seams give you edge. BOO!
This discussion is closed.