user friendly

[′yü·zər ′frend·lē] (computer science) Property of a system that is easy for an untrained person to use and sets up an easily understood dialog between the user and the computer.

user friendly

A system that is easy to learn and easy to use. In the past, this term was so abused that software vendors have become reluctant to use it today. Except for mobile phone applications, which due to their tiny screens forces developers to design the user interface with a bit more thought, a great amount of desktop software is downright "user hostile." It is the rarest of desktop applications that can be used by someone immediately who has never worked with a similar program. See user interface.

A Century of Experience Didn't Help

One would think a home theater receiver would be user friendly. Hardly. With nearly 100 years of audio experience between them, Alan Freedman, author of this encyclopedia (right), and his colleague Pete Hermsen, who built his own radio at age eight, struggled in vain to balance the speakers on Freedman's new receiver. The manual was worthless (see RTFM).