Usability Hell

It was gutsy - abandoning the ‘submit’ button for comments, and just accepting the ‘enter’ button to post instead.

Part of me loves this idea - less is more. However, it ignores convention and it seems it confused people.

Facebook recently added the above text ‘Press Enter to post your comment.’ below the comment box.

So they replaced one well understood, conventional button ‘Submit’ with a 6 word text explanation.

Failbook - if you have to use 6 words to explain how to submit a comment YOU FAILED - ACCEPT IT AND MOVE ON.

To paraphrase Steve Jobs - get on with your life, spend more time with your family - get over it; just put the button back.

Even Facebook have problems re-educating us on even the smallest of usability conventions it seems….

Many of the millions of geeks who purchased iPads will already have realised it’s actually pretty useless when compared to a small laptop (such as an 11” MacBook Air or 3G 11” Sony Vaio X)

The problem is - it stops you doing so many things, it can never replace a laptop.

On the flip side, there aren’t any killer apps - there’s nothing you can do on it you can’t do on a laptop or even an iPhone (which makes calls).

Sure there are curiosities like Flip Book, or Discovr - but nothing you can’t live without (and if you couldn’t live without it - they’d just make a computer version).

Yes it’s a big iPod Touch - and actually, thats not very useful.

Stuff you CANT do properly on iPad

• Create Content (Graphics, Audio, Pro Video)
• Code
• Type Fast
• Browse Flash Websites
• Install non-app store apps
• Remote Desktop
• Run Various Browsers
• Multitask many apps, foreground & background, properly
• See what apps are open at a glance
• Download & Manage Files
• Download & Manage images / video off SD Card
• Skype Video Chat (no, not Facetime)

Im a geek - the above is what I’m doing *most of the time*.

So you have to carry 2 devices with you (kinda defeats the point in it being so small) - or leave it at home. At which point it becomes a house toy - and you console yourself by ‘using it like a magazine’.

Instant On - laptops have had that for years (sleep).

In reality it gets relegated to Farmville use - or for a TV (so long as you don’t need Flash).

Having owned a super small, 10-11”, ultra-light laptop for ~10 years - I can tell you, it changes your life. I would highly recommend everyone go down that path (the vast majority of us can, you think you can’t - but try an Air or Vaio X - then try going back).

Don’t get me wrong - I’m glad the iPad exists, it’s an interesting device that may lead to even more interesting devices - specially in very specific niches. It’s sure made Apple a ton of money too.

But can it replace a laptop? Not close. It’s for granny & the grand kids - for geeks it’s a toy that they never use.

This post is fuelled by a burning pain.

Something most of us have, which takes form OVER function to new heights of stupid.

Metal kettles on the cooker top - OK fine it needs to conduct heat. Metal kettles on your work top powered by electricity? Which prick came up with that idea? Seriously.

OK plastic kettles can look a bit crap - but making something look good at the expense of having a large piece of metal in your kitchen top at 100oC - is dangerous - I’m amazed it’s legal.

Use non conducting metals, insulate them against the heat or use alternate materials. But make something that doesn’t burn my frikking fingers; it’s a solvable problem.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/12/tragically-stuck-with-the-status-quo.html

Latest on the list of ‘pull handles where push plates need to be’ is trendy cafe Albion in shoreditch.

Part of design legend Terrance Conran’s Boundary Project you’d think door handles would be easy. You’d be wrong.

It was the all too familiar push pull shuffle. For the un-initiated few here’s how it goes:

1. Pull right door - nothing.
2. Pull left door - nothing.
3. Spot counter-intuitive ‘Push’ signs (if your door needs instructions you’re doing something wrong)
4. Push right door - apparently its locked.
5. Push left door - Halle-*******-lujah

ITS NOT BLOODY ROCKET SCIENCE

1. Use push plates on push doors.
2. Dont lock one door.
3. Look before crossing the road.
4. *Always* wear clean underpants.

Time I put my money where my mouth is you might say?

So I have - welcome to JustWhatsOn.com. An extremely stripped down, primarily mobile website that takes less is more to the extreme. Listing whats on in London in the next 24 hours & London Top 10’s things like Markets, Street Food & Espresso Bars

Usability; short wording, minimal design, few images, fast loading, quick scannable text are all core principles of the site.

Throughout development we have removed elements, not added them; leaving the essence of what the site is: 1. Things on Right Now in London. 2. Top 10’s

Really interested in feedback on this one - be as brutal as you like ;)

Also if you have any ideas for listings or Top 10’s, please let us know.

JustWhatsOn.com

Just What’s On Blog

Before I had an iPhone I had a SonyEricsson M600.

It was a great phone and I had to dig it out recently for a friend to use - and the similarity between the M600 (released 2006) and the iPhone 4 (released 2010) became apparent.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery right?

Toilet Door Sign, Costa Coffee

As Usability Celebrity Steve Krug said of websites Don’t Make Me Think! .

Same is true of signs.

This is the kind of sign a committee would come up with.

Sadly, I’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to work out the point of this sign. Does it mean that I’m not allowed to use it if I’m not disabled or a child? Probably not as it says ‘priority’ not ‘only’.

Hmm, so does it mean if I’m in the queue, a disabled person or child gets to push me out of the way? Or does it mean if there’s a queue I should go to the downstairs convenience? That’s all unclear. Most people will probably have an interpretation of this sign that works best for them - which causes more problems than it solves.

So either drop the sign or say ‘Disabled & Children Only’

Heron Tower construction site, City of London

I’d love to have been a fly on the wall at the meeting where they came up with this hilarious piece of business bullshit.

The Heron Tower - a 46 floor office building currently under construction is apparently not an office tower. No - how could you be so obtuse, no its an (the photographic proof is above) - “Advanced Business Life Environment”.

WHAT THE F**K!

The bullshit department must have been on overtime that week. I don’t know what brand of cocaine they were on but Tony Montana would be proud.

I can see the phone calls now:
“Dave, where are you?”
“Hi Steve, I’m at the ‘Advanced Business Life Environment.’”
“Oh right.”
“Yes.”
“So what the **** is that”
“I don’t know but the marketing department took 6 months to come up with that phrase.”
“Fancy a pint down the Simple Leisure Intoxication Life Environment?”

Lets pick it apart:

1. Advanced - so they’re not using 1960’s building techniques - that’s a relief.
2. Business - its a ******* office in the City of London.
3. Life - no corpses then, thats always a bonus with an office.
4. Environment - ie a place - no existential ambiguity then.

Before I read ‘Advanced Business Life Environment’ I was puzzled what this weird tall thing was. But now - its all so clear to me….

People really need to get the bullshit radar switched ON!

Update 5 sep 2010

Taps & Sink, new Apple Store, Covent Garden, London.

Closest thing I’ve ever seen to the perfect sink….