Annoying Interfaces of the day - Outlook/Word and the grocery store

The Grocery Store:

Why is it at the grocery that we simply adapt to terrible user interfaces? Better yet, why do they even reach the market? Aren't they tested?

Case 1: The self checkout line. You have to run your credit card through a completely separate machine, but have to bounce back to the checkout interface at the end to signal you're done.

Case 2: How am I supposed to know hitting the big green button marked enter INSTEAD of my PIN will allow my card to be run as credit, not debit? I mean - I DO know it from repetition, but they look at you like you have 2 heads if you act confused. If you ask me, we as a grocery consuming culture are all bonkers.

MS Outlook/Word
I am sure you have noticed that Word will red squiggly underline misspelled words for you. Great. But it doesn't do this until you move the cursor off the word. I would think Microsoft, in its business devotion, would have come up with something by now that would allow you to contextually click a word before you've moved off of it and get several close spellings to what you might be trying to type. But nope, all you get is a formatting menu if you right click on a word before the re squiggle shows up.

I dunno, these things annoy me.

Annoying Interface of the Day: Stairmaster

So I was on a treadmill today. Running along, no problem. Machine gives me constant updates on how far I've gone, how high I've climbed, how many calories, etc. However, as soon as I got to the end of "course", this scrolling summary info was replaced with some inane message like "Have a good day!". The stats disappeared! Typically, most people want to see a summary when they are actually done...don't they? That's user experience in a nutshell, its not about what the information is, it is about when and how you can access it. If you are presented with a receipt on step 2 of 5 but can't get a receipt on step 5 of 5, there's a problem.

Scratching the Surface of the Web

Over the years, as Microsoft has risen to its present market dominance, its profit has come from tidal surge product updates versus the sort of innovation we've come to expect from the likes of Apple. But when you have the dollars and the sheer warm bodies that Microsoft has, sometimes the bleeding edge is brought to surface, as it was last month with the announcement of "Surface"--the surface computing platform that allows users to use their hands to manipulate screen objects.



As an aside, the product design reminds one of the "cocktail" video game consoles in the 1980s for Centipede, Asteroids and Ms. Pacman, which you found in neighborhood Pizza Huts. Take away the joysticks and big buttons, and that's about what Surface looks like, minus the repetitive fun.



Without passing any sort of pro or con judgement of the technology, the hype and the marketing hoohah, my thoughts are on implications for web site design. Assuming that the paradigm becomes less about clicking links and more manipulating things in a more natural way, does a "web site" even make sense in the not-too-distant future? Isn't a web page nothing more than a contrivance born of not having better tools? In the Surface world, doesn't information design start to resemble something like product design or interior design? How do we design for this? What is this, exactly? What are the technical and educational skills we need to cultivate now?

Like so many technological things, we ever feel that we are at the surface--perhaps now more than ever...at least for our industry.

I Google I Misanthrope

I was reading through some whitepapers from Enquiro yesterday. They're the folks who have done extensive research into how users perceive and use search engines. They've heat mapped how folks perceive a search results page and done extensive lab studies on the complex nature of search engine usage. Anyway, one interesting conclusion is that "We found that Google has created an inherent contradiction between their mission and their business model that results in a interesting dynamic with their users. " (that's from "Inside the Mind of the Searcher" by Gord Hotchkiss)

The thinking behind this is that Google has purposefully created a sharp visual distinction between the organic results and the paid ("sponsored") results by placing the paid links in areas commonly used for advertising and treating them different visually. This 'honesty' to its users has helped develop a loyal Googlerati. However, the types of users who value this honesty typically ignore and distrust paid listings - and don't click on them.

It will be interesting to watch Google's continuing effort to build a subscriber base of distrustful misanthropes like me.

Compare Column

Usability is all about making things intuitive - so the user doesn't need to read directions to know how an interface is supposed to function. I think ZD Net's compare column really hammers you with the compare column - something I think people have gotten so used to seeing that they need to be reminded of its value in bringing them to more information and potentially a (buying) decision. Win/Win.

Interface Crud

I like stuff like this. Two up arrows. This is what you get when you have an existing interface (the button panel) and try to modify it to do something other than the intended purpose. You get something that is functional yet hacked, and some would say poor in user experience and aesthetics.

Anyway, what I was really wondering about today is that molded plastic shell that surrounds everything I seem to buy nowadays. The latest experience was when I received my new Shure E2C headphones in the mail - rather than being in a simple box or nothing (since they come with a case....maybe....ship them in the case???), they are encased in a teradactyl egg shell coating of 1/8" thick molded plastic with sharp edges and curved contours that seems to just DARE you to TRY to open it. Next thing you know you are nursing bloody stumps where your hands used to be and grooving to the new Deerhoof on blood spattered brand new headphones.

Anyway, my point is that this is just another example of a poor interface. The closer to the beginning of a project you can nail the functionality of things down, the cheaper/quicker the project is going to be, and the more successful the end result.

The Internet at its best: TED Talks

Being in the "Internet business", we often go through our work days buried in code, development tools and esoteric discussions about how to best present a client's message. Having been an early Internet adopter (1994) I often get depressed by how this media has been misused by spammers, virus terrorists, porn and pedophiles. And, in spite of the '00 and '04 hype, we've yet to see a presidential election swung by the hoards of young, multi-tasking adults raised accepting the Internet as their communication tool of choice.

So it is that once in a while I am pleasantly surprised ("stunned" would work, too) by what is out on the web. Such a site is the TED conference site.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. Their annual conference is by invitation only with 1,000 people paying $4,500 each to attend. But through the magic of the Internet, the session speakers are accessible for free on the web!

They also have shorter, more frequent TED Talks with a wide variety of talented speakers and topics. If I had to pick only two of my favorite speakers it would have to be the poet Rives telling what the Internet would be like if he'd invented it and Michael Shermer, the editor of Skeptic Magizine demonstrating how people are taken in by misleading information.

Truly a wonderful site that gives me hope that the Internet is and will yet become a world changing media. Thanks TED!

Enjoy!