thumb|Wikipedia article creation wizard

A software wizard or setup assistant or multi-step form is a user interface that leads a user through a sequence of small steps, such as a dialog box to configure a program for the first time. They are used to make complex, unfamiliar tasks easier by breaking them into smaller pieces.

History

Before the 1990s, "wizard" was a common term for a technical expert, comparable to "hacker." The 1985 textbook Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs was nicknamed the "Wizard Book" for the illustration on its cover; its first chapter says, "A computational process is indeed much like a sorcerer's idea of a spirit."

When developing the first version of its desktop publishing software, Microsoft Publisher, around 1991, Microsoft wanted to help users create well-presented documents in spite of their lack of graphic design skills. Microsoft reasoned that, no matter the tools a program offered, users would not know how best to use them. Publisher's "Page Wizards" instead provided a set of forms to produce a complete document layout, based on a professionally designed template, which could then be manipulated with the standard tools.

Wizards had been in development at Microsoft for several years before Publisher, notably for Microsoft Access, which wouldn't ship until November 1992. Wizards were intended to learn from how someone used a program and anticipate what they may want to do next, guiding them through more complex sets of tasks by structuring and sequencing them. They also served to teach the product by example. As early as 1989, Microsoft discussed using voice and talking heads as guides, but multimedia-capable hardware was not yet widespread.

The feature spread quickly to other applications. In 1992, Excel 4.0 for Mac introduced wizards for tasks like building crosstab tables; Office 95 introduced the "Answer Wizard" for querying help pages with natural language; and Windows later used wizards for tasks like adding a printer, configuring an Internet connection, or installing new applications.

Example

The following screenshots show part of the seven-step installation wizard for the operating system Kubuntu. Each step is necessary, but unrelated to the others; they are presented one at a time, so as not to overwhelm. The user can go back and forward through the steps; early steps also have an option to quit. Options may default to a choice, so that a user without an opinion can accept the designer's best judgment. Progress through the steps is shown on the left. The last screen has no options or inputs, but summarizes what was done.

<gallery style="text-align:center">

File:Kubuntu 12.04 setup, step 2 (Prepare).png|2. Prepare

File:Kubuntu 12.04 setup, step 3 (Disk Setup).png|3. Disk Setup

File:Kubuntu 12.04 setup, step 4 (Timezone).png|4. Time Zone

File:Kubuntu 12.04 setup, step 5 (Keyboard).png|5. Keyboard

File:Kubuntu 12.04 setup, step 6 (User Info).png|6. User Info

File:Kubuntu 12.04 setup, step 7 (Install).png|7. Install

</gallery>

Criticism

Wizards have been criticized for being ponderous, stripping questions of context, and obscuring the underlying operations. The criticism is common enough that one guide to wizard design starts by addressing the popular perception that a wizard is "just a patch for a bad interface".

See also

  • Expert system
  • Virtual assistant
  • Office Assistant
  • Conversational user interface

References

  • Wizards — Microsoft Windows Dev Center