As a non-programmer but with years spent working with teams designing and developing software products across several industries it always amazes me at how people look at the outward appearance of software differently.  The graphical user interface (GUI) is always a point of interesting conflict and would probably rival most United Nations meetings on how much people disagree about the look, feel, and functionality.

We are working on a new integration into Microsoft Outlook and had a design meeting today where we sat around and discussed how the solution should look and feel.  When we came to the part on user interface, more specifically, the outward facing portion there was quite a few points of debate.  The two primary points were that software integrations should be completely embedded and only really visible at the point they are required.  The other is that there are certain levels of customer expectations to have the availability to features like toolbars in Windows products after the installation.

So, should software integration for a Microsoft office product, be completely embedded and basically hidden until the point the user requires that functionality?  Or should the software be a bit more obtrusive and sort of hang around in the toolbar all the time so that you know where to go and get it when you’re ready? 

Explanations from both groups:

Software hidden – If software is designed properly then there is no need for an obtrusive toolbar.  Especially when integrating into another product it should just work when required and only be visible when necessary.  A toolbar should only be necessary if that is the best way for the user to access the functionality.

Software visible – When people install a new piece of software there are expectations that the software is out and visible upon installation.  Yes over time as people become more comfortable with the application they may choose to hide or remove certain functionality like a toolbar.  But for marketing and customer expectations software should be as visible as possible during the initial installation.

What do you think?