User customization of a word processor

The purpose of the study was to identify the customization changes users typically make to their word processor. Ninetytwo percent of the participants customized their software in some way. Participants who used the software most heavily also did the most customization (p < .05). Most of the customization was done to facilitate the participants' work practices. The most common changes involved providing easier access to custom or often-used functionality. Button Bars seemed to provide an easy and effective means for participants to customize access to the functionality they wanted. Few participants customized the visual appearance of the interface. K e y w o r d s Adaptability, adaptable, customization, customize, tailor INTRODUCTION It is common for commercial software to allow user customization. Users are allowed to add ruler bars, change menus, add custom macros and applications to menus and button bars, and rearrange elements on the screen. The theory is that customization makes users more productive because they can tailor the software to their work practice. However, do users really make use of customization options? What kinds of customization do users want to do? D o U s e r s C u s t o m i z e ? R Jsson [8] did extensive research on users of a text-editor. She found that programmers made extensive use of customization features (reassigning keys and writing macros) but secretaries did not. She also found that the amount of experience with the editor and text-editors in general was a good predictor of the amount of customization done. Permission to make digital/hard copies of all or part of this material for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage, the copyfight notice, the title of the publication and its date appear, and notice is given that copyright is by permission of the ACM, Inc. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires specific permission and/or fee. CHI 96 Vancouver, BC Canada © 1996 ACM 0-89791-777-4/96/04. $3.50 U h l A l b e r t Intel Corporation 734 E Utah Valley Dr American Fork, UT 84003 +1 801 763 2242 uhl_albert@ccm.ut . intel . com C. D e n n i s A l l e n Customer Satisfaction by Design 810 Skylake Dr Woodland Hills, UT 84653 +1 801 423 1599 cdennisa@aol . com Mackay [5] found that users did not take advantage of the customization features of software as often or successfully as they could, and she identified some of the triggers and barriers to customization. The three most commonly cited reasons for customizing software were that users: 1) noticed their own repeated patterns and wanted to customize to match those patterns, 2) wanted to fix or stop something that was annoying or slow, and 3) wanted to retrofit new versions of software to make them work as they did in the previous version. The most often mentioned barriers to customizing software were lack of time followed by how difficult the software was to customize. Oppermann and Simm [7] studied the use of customization features in word-processing, spreadsheet, database, and drawing applications. About one-half of the users stated that they had tried some of the customization options. They made changes to preference settings (e.g. changed display measurements from inches to cm) and created styles. A few users recorded macros and made modifications to the menus when these options were available. They indicated that customization options made their work easier and saved time. However, many users said that they simply made changes out of curiosity or for fun. S u c c e s s f u l C u s t o m i z a t i o n Customization is a key element of many types of applications. Trigg, Moran and Halasz [9] described the importance of customization in the design of an information structuring application called NoteCards. HyperCard [10] was one of the first commercial products designed to make it easy for users to create customized applications. Jones [1] found that customization was one of four major recurring themes among users of different styles of e-mail systems. MacLean, Carter, L0vstrand, and Moran [6] were able to establish a successful "tailoring culture" within an organization. They first developed a software system that was easy to customize. Then, they "seeded" the novice users' systems with sample custom tools built by expert peers. They also provided ways to share customization files through email. Providing simple tools and a support system of experts