"I wrote the book on user-friendly design. What I see today horrifies me." (grandparents, grandpa)
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The lady just needs a very basic thermostat (preferably with analog controls, since those are what she's used to). While some people do need one that's programmable, can control different heating/cooling zones, can turn on a source of emergency heat, etc., not everyone needs that. And the extra, unneeded features come with a price: added complexity of operation.
TV remotes are of course the classic example of this problem. Two or three dozen buttons, of which perhaps five are used with any regularity. All the rest are to support "features" that almost no one ever actually uses. (I actually had to unplug and do a hard reboot of my TV once because I accidentally hit one of those buttons on my remote - I don't know which one I accidentally pressed - and couldn't figure out any other way to get the TV back to the original setting. That's absurd!)
With more features and capability comes more complexity with interfacing with the device. Complex devices are going to require more buttons or whatever to operate the features.
What I don't get is everything comes with a owners manual except computers, tablets, phones, why?
Several years ago, I bought a Mac. Took it home, opened it, then nada. Without a manual there was no way to trouble shoot it without using another computer, which, given the nearly thousand dollar price tag, was ridiculous. My computer tech geek boyfriend at the time was even mystified as he'd never seen an Apple product *not* work out of the box. I had to go back to the store the following morning for a different computer. Way to go, Apple.
It amazed me that Apple puts multiple stickers in the boxes with its products, but nary an instruction guide--not even a two-sided card for simple tasks.
Whatever happened to electric can openers now that we really need them?
I can't pull those pull tabs and I'm afraid that if I do, it could come off and the contents go flying everywhere. My regular can open is pretty good but it can get stuck and there will be no way to ever open the can.
Either way, you could easily cut yourself on the sharp edges of the can. I just checked with Google and they still make them--that's my next purchase then. Haven't seen an electric can opener in years, but maybe that's just me.
With more features and capability comes more complexity with interfacing with the device. Complex devices are going to require more buttons or whatever to operate the features.
Precisely. If you actually need those additional features, the added complexity is just the price you must pay to get them. But why should your grandmother have to pay it? She only needs a bare-bones thermostat. Why can’t she get one?
That’s feature-creep: the belief on the part of the designers that more features = better leads to the loss of the simpler models (even though there is still a time and place for that simplicity).
As a draftsperson/house designer, I spend a lot of time thinking how folks are going to interact with the built environment. There's a lot more to a good environment than the size of the buttons. Start at the front door. Is there a ledge there to set whatever you're carrying on while you find the door opening device? Lever handles are a good choice. A motion detector light is a good choice, too.
Start there and go through the whole bringing-groceries-into-the-kitchen-storage-areas routine. Then add in cooking. Cleaning. Removing the trash. Doing the laundry. A well designed space will make living almost effortless, a poorly designed house, well, don't even bother to build it if you can help it.
It doesn't matter what device or structure is being built, a well thought out design will improve the use and the user to no end.
Whatever happened to electric can openers now that we really need them?
I can't pull those pull tabs and I'm afraid that if I do, it could come off and the contents go flying everywhere. My regular can open is pretty good but it can get stuck and there will be no way to ever open the can.
Either way, you could easily cut yourself on the sharp edges of the can. I just checked with Google and they still make them--that's my next purchase then. Haven't seen an electric can opener in years, but maybe that's just me.
My electric one won't bite deep enough to open them but grabbing the tab with a pair of plier does the job easily. Many cans are easy enough but seems that Progresso soups are the worst
Start there and go through the whole bringing-groceries-into-the-kitchen-storage-areas routine. Then add in cooking. Cleaning. Removing the trash. Doing the laundry. A well designed space will make living almost effortless, a poorly designed house, well, don't even bother to build it if you can help it.
It doesn't matter what device or structure is being built, a well thought out design will improve the use and the user to no end.
I made that point recently in a post in the Architecture sub forum in reply to another poster who thought the idea of a house having “good flow” versus “bad flow” was nonsense. And good design doesn’t have to be costly, either! That’s another thing that confuses people.
Yeah, what's the deal with that? In a world where printing is all typeset by computer, there's no need not to just use WORDS to explain things. It might have made sense to provide only pictures when it cost a lot of money to have instruction sheets typeset and printed in multiple languages, but now it's just a dysfunctional fad. Are you telling me that your computer's operating system, where the first thing you do is set "language", can't cope with putting words like "SAVE" or "PRINT" or "BACK", but has to rely on undistinguishable little blobs of color? Are you telling me that people who use complicated software are commonly so illiterate that they can operate all the software, but they can't read the word "SAVE"? Total BS.
This is why alphabets and writing were invented in the first place for chrissake, so we didn't have to communicate everything by drawing pictures.
What it shows me is that user interface design like many other things is driven by fads and function be damned.
Fads and "trendiness" create new markets driven by those who spend freely just to follow the crowd. Eventually, most of them wake up, but their prime earning years are now behind them -- and they become cost-conscious geezers like the rest of us.
The option to have scroll bars always in MacOs is in System Preferences > General
...until they decide we don't need a choice in a future OS rev.
The other day, I tried to increase the size of my Mouse Pointer because I have to move it around in the files I work with. A simple task like that took me down a path from the Start menu into Control Panel, into Options blah blah blah.
At the end of this click-fest I was offered a choice of "Classic" or something else. I stopped at that point, because I feared that choosing the wrong option would banish my PC into a Game of Thrones Dungeon that I would never escape.
Gene Roddenberry envisioned a computer on Star Trek that responded to voice commands.....that was 50 years ago. Are we there yet ??
What I don't get is everything comes with a owners manual except computers, tablets, phones, why?
And tge things that DO come with a manual have what i call a "NASA sized manual "that " reqiires a doctorate to decipher".
But I'd rather have one than not.
I have several canes. One os bamboo that i use at home, it has a rounded handle.
I also have a couple "commercial "canes that look like a medical device and have a flat handle. They do make round handled commercial canes, but they all look like a medical device. I had one nice wooden one that was great until the handle came off...it was more like a chalaylie ( spelling's way off, if you ger my meaning). It was really nice.
Of course tge commercial ones are all metal and set off all metal detectors. I dread tte next time i air travel. Of course for that i have a mental folding cane. Thatll come in handy if it holds up.
I have yet, regardless of price, to find a comfortable for me computer desk chair. Withca bad back, sitting in one too long is a pain...no pun intended.
We moved the laundry up to the kitchen. Since there wasnt room for side by side, we opted for front loader stackables. Problem is, I'm short for a male, i do tge laundry, and i need a step stool to get up to see what the dryercis set at. The controls are both top front side mounted.
They should make a stackable dryer with controls at the bottom, so when stacked the dryer controls are right there on top of the washer controls. Its getting dangerous for me to climb a stool.
Who thought that design up??? A young tall guy?
My mother was wheelchair bound and the "handicapped accessible ramps" often were too steep if she'd have had to push her way up them. Of course that was way back when the American with disabilities act came out, so places rushed to just intall an incline anywhere to call it "handicapped accessible " without thought to the actual useability of it.
Im handicapped and use handicapped spaces as i have the hang tag and license plate. There are times tge handicapped spaces are NOT convenient to use....either because of location or because every one wants a space close to the store or door, and wont leave you room to get out! Also when we go anywhere people directing traffic or weeding out the handicapped pay no attention to the license plate, only if you have a hang tag. So i have to have both.
Im NOT a designer, so ill leave that to them, but it would be nicer if more things were ergonomically designed.
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