Instructions, they are there for a reason, yet most of us (well at least men anyways) disregard them as a waste of time.  We could not possibly need them, we know exactly what to do.  If that is the case, then why are so many things done incorrectly?  Example, the fine men’s washing facilities (otherwise known as the men’s room, lavatory, bathroom, etc) in our building has something installed incorrectly, obviously the person responsible for installing it did not follow the simple instructions that were imprinted onto the item (I mean, it was right there and he / she did not even look at it).  On the toilet paper holder, it clearly states, install this side down.  Normally, one would not be able to read this unless they were under the toilet paper holder.  No sir, not this one, right there for the whole world to see are the instructions:  “Install this side down” pointing right up for the  whole world to see.  So why is it that instructions as simple as this were overlooked?

It got me thinking, if someone cannot follow those simple little instructions, then how do they deal with going to a new web site and figuring out what in the world they are supposed to do?  Most (if not all) web sites have a how this works or take a tour or something along those lines to explain how the site works and what the key features of it are.  Some sites do a very good job with this, Plurk comes to mind, but even with their clever way of presenting the instructions, I wonder how many people actually look at it?  For me, if it is not painstakingly obvious what I am supposed to do on the site, I might take a moment or two to look around for the instructions and if I find them, take another moment or two to look them over.  If it still does not jump out at me, I am mostly likely incline to leave the site, never to return (unless of course I get brow beaten by my friends that I have to go back because it is the coolest site, or if it takes off like wild fire and I feel that I “have” to use it).

So in the case of a web site, it really comes down to design.  Make sure that you design your site with your audience in mind, put yourself in their shoes and make sure that you try and cover every possible scenario of where a person may not understand how to use it, and make it such that they will understand.  If that does not do the trick, make sure your instructions are simple and quick to read, but get the point across on how to use the site.  Even then, you may have that occasional user that reads “install this side down” and still installs it with that side up .