Rumor has it that the LJ update page now sucks

[xiphias]

I wouldn't know. I use Semagic.

Nyah, nyah.

"Course, it makes me wonder whether web designers and other interface designers actually do any coursework on the subject any more. I mean, my wife, who is an interface designer, has years of work on usability, accessibility, and user experience. And she's made me read tons of the seminal books on the subject, because she thinks (correctly) that I'll think they're cool.

It's largely left me with the belief that, if you have a system in which the users consistently press the wrong buttons, try to stick the card in the wrong slot, or stick it in upside down, it's because the designer is an idiot, not because the user is.

I'm looking at you, MBTA Charlie Card designers. And at you, morons who designed the Shaws supermarket credit card readers. Which now all have notes written in marker explaining what you have to hit where, and all the cashiers still talk you through it, because they know the system sucks.

Comments

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm the lone idiot in the woods, then, because I think I like the new page.

1. The option for selecting the journal to be updated (e.g., your own or a community) is at the top, instead of at the bottom.

2. The "post" button confirms which journal is being updated.

I'm sure there are important points that I'm missing, though, since I'm not Web designer and have no background in interface design, usability, or accessibility.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

I also like that there's an easy way to post using another uid, without logging out and back in.

[beaq.livejournal.com]

a) I haven't had any problems with the new interface yet, and it looks like it will be easier once I break my habits. In other words, it might suck, but I'm not sure it sucks any more than it used to, and it hasn't bothered me yet.

b) Somewhere or other, I got the impression that *one* of the problems with credit card swipers at stores is that they are a one-size-fits-all solution to a variety of prompt sequences, and as such are always going to suck, but no one wants to replace them. (They're ubiquitous, with their attached index cards and Sharpie graffiti, not just a Shaws phenomenon.) I can already think of a one-size-fits-all solution that would have worked better, though, so there's probably another, lamer reason. Perhaps Liz knows.

c) Mostly, though, I agree. Except for the coursework part, since interface design is a growing academic field. I'm guessing a lot of what we're working with wasn't done by interface designers, per se. Not designers with a free hand, anyway. I'm not sure idiocy is the problem, except the systemwide accumulations of idiocy that result when people think other people must be idiots.

[ckd]

The card-slurper system at Target seems to be pretty well designed, especially since it has a nice animated card showing you which way to insert it.

[beaq.livejournal.com]

I wonder if there's a way to design a slurper so you don't have to have special animations to make it obvious.

[ron_newman]

If you were designing this from scratch, the real answer would be non-rectangular cards, so that only one end fit into the slurper.

[cheshyre]

Or a card reader which can read the magstrip from both sides, to accept input from any reasonable direction.

[delerium69.livejournal.com]

I always thought it was a combination of both, perhaps due to my years in retail and having first-hand experience that many customers *are* morons. (But when I'm back in Boston next week, I'll have a chance to try the new fare system and decide whether it's decent or useless.)

I noticed the update page was different last night, but didn't really have any issue with it. Only time will tell with me.

[theloriest.livejournal.com]

I was up til 1 am a few nights ago fighting with livejournal to go back to my original basic text format. I didn't know they were trying to update it. I don't like the new format simply because it is a change to my routine. I get very attached to habits and I am sure once I pick up a new way of filling out the update page I will get used to it again.

I have Semagic, but I never use it. Again with habits.

[paper-crystals.livejournal.com]

How can you get it back to sane and normal?

[theloriest.livejournal.com]

*sighs* I didn't. I was just so happy when I finally got it out of "rich text mode" (which I abhor beyond all reason) that I stopped caring at that point that it wasn't my regular format.

[(Anonymous)]

Too bad. It being finals week I was not looking forward to another thing driving me up the wall.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

+1

The sticky-note (or sharpie) on a machine is the best sign of a poorly-designed interface. We even came up for a term for it....user-adapted.

[paper-crystals.livejournal.com]

The rumor is true. It sucks monkey balls.

[kiya]

*goes and looks at it*

Well, then. The way it's wider than my standard browser window with no way of adjusting it is quite charming. I get the impression they presume that everyone uses a fullscreen browser.

*goes back to not using it except for occasional edits to posts*

[kimberly-a.livejournal.com]

Have you read The Design of Everyday Things? I think you would like it.

[eerielass.livejournal.com]

Wow. Thank you for that post. I think it was one of those moments where something changed in my head.

[eerielass.livejournal.com]

In fact, can you suggest some of the books on the topic?

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I'd probably start with the work of the late, great Jef Raskin. (He died early last year, at only 61.) His work, The Humane Interface, is probably one of the best expressions of his idea of human-centered interface -- the idea that machines should work the way people do, not the other way around. That is, if it's hard to use, it's the designer's fault.

Jef Raskin, by the way, is the guy who invented all the stuff that made the Macintosh the Macintosh.

[ecban.livejournal.com]

If you're looking specifically for computer-oriented books, The Inmates Are Running the Asylum and Don't Make Me Think are also useful. For more general engineering, try anything written by Henry Petroski.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Yeah, those are both good. Also, for non-computer-related things, the book that kimberly_a linked to is good.

For a slightly different aspect of this whole thing, I love the work of Edward Tufte. He specifically works on "how do you display information so that it's easy to understand, and compelling?"

Check out the first poster he's selling here, the one that he calls the most effective display of information ever.

It's even more effective full-size -- but the thing you should know is that the thickness of the line represents the size of Napoleon's army on the march to (tan) and retreat from (black) Moscow in his attempted invasion of Russia. The shape of the line represents a map showing where he marched.

Hello, i new

[(Anonymous)]

Hello friends! i new on your forum!
see ya:))