Just hide the features, don’t strip them out

Nicole Simon on the loss of ‘expert’ mode:

What happened to proper tools in the expert mode and ‘simplified interfaces’ as defaults? I am all for dumbing down interfaces for helping people get a grasp on them (think duplos in little kids hands versus legos) but why on earth do we have left out the expert modes? The lego mindstorm stuff which actually some people know how to use and work with because they are not toddlers anymore?

Google’s new compose window goes along the same lines. “People are confused how to do mail, so we want to ‘subtlety encourage them’ to writer shorter mails.” How about “let them learn how to use it”? “We are removing options because users are confused” – fine, that is the duplo mode. Where is my mindstorm setup?! In this line it absolutely fits that they are kicking out Greader in favor for “but you have a timeline, isn’t that the same?”. *gnnnng*

Personally I’m a great believer in not removing functionality from an upgrade. I’d be more than happy for companies to provide a ‘basic’ view on their tools, but please keep the ‘expert’ mode close by.