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Top Ten Persistent Design Flaws
jlouderb writes "Bruce Tognazzini former human interface evangalist at Apple, and currently a principal at web design firm Neilsen Norman Group has begun cataloging the top ten design computing flaws that we just live with with, but shouldn't have to. Only seven are found at his article, and (not surprisingly) three are Mac related. My favorite: the mysteriously dimmed menu options. Why are those darned things grey anyway?"
/. effect
You can't handle the truth.
Not adding enough coolant to prevent the web server from melting down due to the /. effect.
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
that the option to view this article is greyed out.
If I wrote something witty, you would say I stole it from somewhere.
The bit where it says "(c) Microsoft"
Due to lack of disk space this user has been discontinued
KDE (gets coat)
AC comments get piped to
#1-Removing power from a device that maintains his information on devices run by power (i.e. RAM)
#2-Thinking that computers do "magic", or at least should do to not have design flaws
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10- Making top ten list without having 10 things to list
And what if you wanted a picture tour of the barns of british nobility?
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Not scaling up your webserver.
Design flaw #11
Using very large golden gradient shadowed GIFs each worth over 4K to represent the numbers 1 - 10 in a "Top Ten Persistent Design Flaws" webpage. It not only looks ugly, makes the website slower consuming more bandwidth, but it also takes away a good chunk of the left side of the page.
Cheers,
Adolfo
I bet the bookstore might have something like that in its stock... ;-)
Duration: [in years]: seems like a thousand centuries ago...
Supplier: Tog
Alias: "I have no concept of the difference between objective and subjective usability complaints."
Product: Tog's parents.
Bug: Tog's perceptual abilities.
Class of error: Intellectualy density.
Principle: "My opinions are holy."
Proposed Fix: Zoloft
Discussion: Some of the things he lists as flaws in the Dock are things that I acutally like about the Dock. It's a very subjective thing. Some of the things he laments losing from Mac OS 9 were not the bee's knees he seems to imagine they were. He was just used to them, is all.
Bug first observed: Can't check the date on the original Dock whinefest because his site is slashdotted. It happened some time after Tog ceased to be relevant.
Observer: Harvey Birdman, Attorney At Law
Bug reported to supplier: No. No point. You cannot argue with self-proclaimed learned wisemen.
Bug on list since: Whinefest first published.
--- Ban humanity.
My company actually does this as a marketing ploy. We add disabled items to our menus for options that don't even exist yet. When customers call to ask how to enable these options, we tell them that they need to buy a future upgrade.
It appears that everyone is guilty of having a framework. This guy, you, me, everyone. We think that what we experience in the world, and what we think about it, is all there is. We're all pretty small, even the wisest of us.
In this case, a Mac guy says the user is in charge, and thinks it's a law of nature.
Microsoft treats users as a renewable resource, to be used and reused as needed.
We Unix types, on the other hand, know that users are an unfortunate side effect.
sigs, as if you care.
I've always thought word processors were not intuitive. When I bought my first computer I wanted to write a letter but when I tried to use my pen on the monitor the ballpoint doesn't seem to work. I tried a sharpie and things were going fine until I needed to undo the marks I made on the monitor. The stupid computer didn't remove those sharpie marks. In fact, it didn't seem to do anything! Then I tried talking to the computer and it still didn't do anything ("Hello, computer?"). Oh, you have to use that flat thing with letters? Ok, will do. Hmm... I press a key and it show on the screen but the printer doesn't print it. Oh... now you tell me that I have to click on the print button? Ok. Wait... I can't do it with my finger on the screen? What a user unfriendly hunk of metal and plastic!
BTW, that was sarcasm. I 100% agree that learning to use a computer is exactly that, learning. If someone can learn what traffic signs mean, I think they can learn to use a computer.
3.243F6A8885A308D313
To quote someone whom I can't remember:
"The nipple is the ONLY intuitive interface. After that, it's all learned"
"You never know when some crazed rodent with cold feet might be running loose in your pants."
-Calvin
I don't know if it was meant to be that way, /. posts
but I love the free-verse format of your post.
Really, all
and main article submissions!
should be done that way.
The editors might do something then.
Mel would've liked that.
I don't know why it didn't become a fairly standard accessory.
Because it would cost money.
Seriously though, I wonder if this guy also bitches about the fact that his car stops when he runs out of gas.
The option should just be removed from the menu altogether. Sure, that would lead to users getting confused and looking through all of the other menus to find the option they were sure was there yesterday, but it would satisfy the author of the article, I'm sure.
Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
hey, Italians don't even seperate spoken words with pauses when they have something to say
What keeps me going is my inertia.
I can see it now. You click on a "grayed-out" option and you get another window that pops up saying:
Wanted to try the grayed out option but thought it was way too expensive for you?
You can do that now! Grayed out option at only $1.90 per use.
Your best deals are HERE
You have enjoyed other options and wish for a different effect? Grayed out option can make it happen.
UNBELIEVABLE! GRAYED OUT OPTION AT ONLY $1.90 PER USE
Say NO! to all those other options and your disappointment after "a messed up use". You don't have to be content with the standard results of a regular option. Get GRAYED OUT OPTION now to ensure the whole day of joyful computing.
You should at least give it a try. Especially when we offer large discounts for bulk orders and make incredible deals for returning customers. Get grayed out option now!!!
nslookup newyorktimes.com
NAME: newyorktimes.com
ADDRESS: 199.239.137.217
go to http://newyorktimes.com and it redirects you to nytimes.com...
I am being pulled in by a troll, aren't I?
Proving that no matter how simple you make something, there are still going to be dumbasses that can't figure it out. It would be interesting to see a comparative study of these nipple-impaired babies as they grow up, and whether they eventually get jobs at Microsoft.
No... You have to be connected to everything, all the time, everywhere. You're not living life to the fullest until you have a cell phone which allows you to do the following...
Talk on the phone
Play video games
Send and receive text messages
Track your global position
Surf the internet
Watch video
Check voice mails
Listn to MP3's
Receive satellite radio
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I had the same problem once; it vexed me for two days until I just pressed the return key at the password prompt.
taken! (by Davidleeroth) Thanks Bingo Foo!
So Michael Jackson is a Mac user? He just thought the baby would eject?
It was a really good paper.
I wasn't aware it was so slow on a Mac. In Windows or Linux, it is pretty much instantenous on any reasonably modern system.
Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life
RTFM.
Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
"The option should just be removed from the menu altogether. Sure, that would lead to users getting confused..."
No, if you really want to confuse the user, simply create the menu dynamically, picking 6 items apparently at random to put on the menu. Microsoft can't be wrong here, they have user-interface guidelines and everything. After a few seconds, when the user has had time to read most of the menu items, change them again, this time picking 12 items at random.
If you can, use two columns, and put an animation in so that the menu takes half a second to appear.
You're supposed to watch the hands for clues.
I thought you just right cli... oh, wait. WTF is wrong with this mouse?
!hoD
On second thought, I suppose we could stop our computers by dragging the start button to the trash...
Why would you need to be taught to suckle your laptop keyboard?
Oh, wait.. that kind of nipple..
The ELEVENTH October in 2004? Wow! October has been busy this year.
Man, I so know what you mean. Yesterday I clicked on this random icon to see what it did and my iBook threw me through a crowded shopping centre at 90mph killing 41 school kids and some guy selling baloons.
Chernobyl 'not a wildlife haven' - BBC News
Yeah, and what a, erm, cyan, too. And he's a bit of a magenta, methinks.
you mean babies use those things too?
Jeremy Logan's Website.
Which also explains a lot about Microsoft.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.