Operational interfaces are very hard to make well, that's clear. Here's an example of a poor detail in an otherwise well done design and interface.
On the Canon Ixus camera, if the camera achieves correct focus, there's a beeb, and the focus frame is green. If it can't achieve focus, there's a slightly different beeb, and the frame is yellow. Both these differences are way too subtle, I did not notice at all until I stumbled over these data in the manual. And I've used Ixuses (Elph) for years.
At a minimum there should be a blinking light, or the focus frame should be blinking. And they might even add "can't focus" in blinking text on the screen or summin like that.
It's not really a catch phrase or mantra, but where I work now we often say "imagine your mother trying to use that".
ReplyDeleteI don't think of myself as absent minded, or stupid, but the cinema thwarted me the other day.
Because of time constraints since 2000 I get to the cinema once or twice a year. That is seldom enough that the whole system has changed.
I got to the theater, and there were six box offices, one open, and unattended. This was midweek for a matinee. There were no signs saying more box offices inside or any such. Used to be you needed your ticket to get in the lobby. Any I finally went inside. After a few minutes I saw what looked like a lot of parking ticket validation machines (like the Jack London in Oakland has). They were clearly labelled "Coming Soon, Will Smith Is Hancock" or some-such.
I looked at the machine "Insert Regal Card Now" was the on-screen legend. Not having a regal card I looked for other prompts. "Next", really, next? I hadn't used my Regal Card yet.
Next was the right choice, kinda intuitive, but not first time user friendly.
Next asked me for my choice of film. Course a 21 screen theater, so I have to find next page a couple of times.
Insert payment card (Visa Mastercard etc.) Where is the slot? Hidden beneath the ticket eject slot's catch basket. With an awkward wrist motion I dibbed the card in and out like a petrol pump at the gas station. Punch in the secret number etc. "Please take your card and ticket". I have my card, then whir click, piece of card, looks like a ticket, I'm sorted.
The ticket collector looks at my chit and tells me I need a ticket. Incredulous I say that is what the machine just gave me. No, it's the receipt, then one I wasn't told to collect before my ticket came out the slot.
When I get to the machine I find a new user there, and my ticket on the floor.
Nope, it was another receipt.
Finally got my ticket an saw the movie, but please, someone find a better developer for that GUI.
I have designed user interfaces professionally. Yes, it is always difficult, and even the customer doesn't always know what their user will want.
Even something as simple as a phone is too complicated. My old cordless phone had a single "Talk" button, click - off hook, click - on hook. My new one has a "Talk" and separate "End" button, this is more like a cell phone, but still not what I expected at home.
Thank goodness they haven't changed the interface on tinned fruits (oh wait they have - ring pull cans).
Yeah Alex, I'm totally in support of your experiences with those machines. They're just not intuitive and userfriendly enough. It's a shame, it could be easier, but the programmers seem to be nerds in an ivory tower.
ReplyDeleteAt tesco in London they have a few automated cashiers, not a bad idea. I thought I had gotten to grips with how they work, put in a ten-pound note and waited for the change to come out (approximately 7 quid): I got coins out of the slot, but where was the five-pound note? Coming out of a another slot, in a completely different part of the machine. Without the help of the assistant I wouldn't have found the note. What do manufacturers think of when they construct such a machine?
But: At a railway station in the Netherlands I saw a very userfriendly ticket machine! So it can be done.
The ticket machines for Caltrain are very good, their one failing, like post office stamp vending machines, and pay before exit parking machines is that they give dollar coins in change. No one uses dollar coins, so you end up with these strange things in your pocket confusing the heck out of everyone.
ReplyDeleteBART, on the other hand, have really messed things up. To get a Bart to Bus transfer, you have to use a machine just before the exit gates. They are small and anonymous, and easily missed.
BART allow you to "top up" your ticket, before exit the add fare machines allow you to add a bit of value to your ticket, but outside the ticket vending machines take your ticket on slot A and return a new ticket on slot B.
They have no machine that can take in three partial tickets, and combine them into one with new money, to do that, you have to go to Downtown Oakland (not even San Francisco) and trade them in!
The hardware store and Safeway here have the self check out, they are not very friendly either.
Good old Tesco, I keep forgetting them, I used to shop there every week.
Eolake, ever ran across the old RTFM? If not, it stands for Read The Fine Manual. ;-) You cannot expect every feature to be completely intuitive and self-explanatory, especially regarding something as complex as an advanced digital camera.
ReplyDeleteFinding the right balance between obtrusive and invisible is an art, and it sure is not easy to please everyone. For example, the file delete confirmation dialog on most operating systems: "Are you sure?" Of course I'm sure, you idiotic contraption! Until the day you click on "Delete" instead of "Copy" in the context menu...
I would much prefer to have an indication that a file deletion is taking place (just flash the dialog) along with a 30 second "grace period" during which I can undo the command if it's a mistake. But that would be too complicated for most users, so I'm stuck with the annoying prompt or the wasteful (and generally useless) recycling bin.
I'm sure many users of the Ixus just love the existing "can't focus" indicators.
As for the vending machines, I think you are describing very good examples of engineering outsourced overseas... UI designed by the client who ordered the machine (and who's clueless in such matters), implemented by people who don't know better (and often couldn't care less), all with a ridiculous cost objective making logical component integration impossible (machine has to be too small & too cheap to do any better).
The cinema machine: why would you need both a ticket and a receipt anyway?
ReplyDeleteThe receipt is "for your records".
ReplyDeleteI think the belief is that you will use your credit card approximately 80 times a day (at least 5 times at Starbucks). You, your wife and three kids will all be using your credit card for various transactions, and at the end of the billing period you may want to confirm what has really been spent by your clan.
Yes, and we will all have saved all the tiny receipts, which we will happily wade through.
ReplyDelete---
Bert, I still say this feature could easily have been made much better.
"Bert, I still say this feature could easily have been made much better."
ReplyDeleteQuite possible, and I haven't seen it anyway.
It's a bit off-topic, I know, but then it still belongs to this thread:
ReplyDeleteThe London Transport Oyster ticket payment system (where you do all your paying, check-ins and -outs) with a small card is very very good and userfriendly.
It can be done!
The Oyster was being introduced last time I was in London. There used to be a "capitol card" back in the 90's. One flat fee got you any inner zone tube and any bus. In Manchester we had similar monthly unlimited zoned train, any bus/tram passes.
ReplyDeleteHere in the Bay Area it is a nightmare, but they are fixing it. Used to be my commute by mass transit option was AC Transit bus to BART to MUNI bus to Caltrain to VTA. Each were separately ticketed. There is an AC Transit Bus/Bart token. You can by a BART +Muni ticket, the Muni being good for a month, and BART for $20 of rides (10 days worth from my station.) No reciprocal with Caltrain, and VTA only takes Amtrak and ACE train tickets for one way trips. When they built an Amtrak station it became better. AC Transit to AMTRAK was free with a "Capitol Corridor" tranfer. Amtrak to VTA used the same transfer. Going via San Jose was better than going via San Francisco.
They are fixing things, but there are so many agencies involved. There is the MTC which is an umbrella organization, but they seem to blame I580 for the decay of the East Bay, and try to stop Eastern Expansion by not improving infrastructure, be it Rail or Road.
There are only 5 roads into the Bay Area, imagine London if the only roads allowed to cross the M25 were the M1, M2, M3, M4. That is how the Bay Area is (101, 80, 580, 101).
Just wanted to add some more information: Oyster looks like a Credit Card, you touch it on a pad when entering or leaving the tube or all the buses. The balance is paid in advance online or at userfriendly ticket machines. You can google for more info.
ReplyDeleteAnd some more: Today I went to a photoshop to have some of my digitals printed for takeaway. What a fantastic machine!! You insert an SD Card with the digitals on it, select images and print size, and zzzzzzzzzzz: done!! And quite cheap too.
I've become a friend of these machines!
I liked the idea of an RFID tag for Oyster. I've used various cards, one which used to be used in Britain was a "clipper card", had a mag strip on the side, and would clip off a tab each usage. These always got bent up, and the driver would then have to punch them. BART tickets are like Tube tickets, put em in the slot and grab on passing through the gate.
ReplyDeleteI liked NY, they sold you a token, it was like a quarter, bought it at the ticket box, then dropped it in the gate or some such. I've only taken the commuter in from West Chester area, so I don't know if these tokens are throughout NY, or just on the suburban trains. Anyway, that was in '97, nice old fashioned feel to it.
I'm glad the photo machines are easy to use. My dad has just gone digital on the camera, and is using the kiosks. They have no PC, and not even a printer dock at home. It's an older hand me down camera, so I doubt it's got PictBridge. Anyway, he is getting prints from the booth, and is talking about getting a CD. They do have a JPEG capable DVD player.