I had initially given this post the title “Easy & Simple CMS” as I was going to comment on how, given the complexity and sophistication of many web technologies, a CMS (Content Management System) interface would invariably fail at making such technologies completely accessible to the kind of computer user for whom CMS systems are targeted. However, after a moment’s reflection, I realized “easy and simple” when applied to computers in general touches on a topic near and dear to my heart: the marketing and selling of computers and software to the general public overstates capabilities and oversimplifies usage thereof.
As computers have become more omnipresent in our lives, they have also grown immensely more complex. This complexity is often hidden behind user interfaces that attempt to make common tasks as easy as pressing a key or a (virtual) button. In some instances or applications and within specific contexts, this “press the key/button and magic transpires” approach does work. Certainly, computer usage has not fallen off and if anything, continues to grow almost exponentially as cell phones, iPads, tablets and other mobile computing devices become ever more prevalent.
Unfortunately, at some point, the underlying complexity of an operating system or of the myriad technologies an operating system must address rears its ugly head and a user finds there is no magical fix. Anyone who’s been around a computing device for any period of time has encountered something like the following: “Sorry, your—insert peripheral device or software application of your choice here—is no longer supported, please upgrade to version #, blah, blah, blah.” Far more common (and pernicious from my perspective) is when a user decides they would like to move beyond the basic functions of their device or software application to take advantage of a custom feature. Almost without exception, the user soon finds there is no simple interface or “click here” button to make the custom feature magically appear.
In a certain sense, I earn my living by constantly maintaining a knowledge base that allows me to understand the computer interaction process at a level beyond the basic “click here/press this key” lowest common denominator approach. Still, there comes a point when it would help if computer manufacturers and software developers would stop marketing their wares as though the underlying complexity didn’t exist. It does and it doesn’t help the end user to pretend otherwise.