True information ergonomics is subtle, you need a fair amount of laissez-faire so the user feels in control but at the same time fill gaps at the right time.
I remember being shocked at an old AS400 application that was so lean, easy to learn and use and so useful. It blew any admistrative or even web (new trend at the time) application I've used in every dimensions.
Of course it was about to be retired and replaced by .. a web app.
Ditto, that's why I hate today MS Access and all that shiny crap.
With a simple TCL TUI interface to some SQLite database, you could do the same stuff even with a built-in help with no effort at all, and running with half of the resources.
I remember being shocked at an old AS400 application that was so lean, easy to learn and use and so useful. It blew any admistrative or even web (new trend at the time) application I've used in every dimensions.
Of course it was about to be retired and replaced by .. a web app.