Three Unforgivable Usability Sins
Linked by Eugenia Loli on Thu 27th Dec 2007 05:37 UTC, submitted by Esther Schindler
Graphics, User Interfaces "It's hateful when a developer takes a 'shortcut' that saves that individual a couple of minutes, but thereafter causes extra effort from every single user. Awful as they are, these application design errors - all the fault of lazy developers - are entirely too common."
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RE[3]: I would add
by mojojojo on Thu 27th Dec 2007 15:00 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: I would add"
mojojojo
Member since:
2007-11-20

No offense, but I find no evidence on the CIO website that they are writing for an international audience. The form for free subscriptions is US-only, etc. Interested foreigners can pay, but it's clear that CIO sees them as a "bonus" audience and not their main audience.

Perhaps you should just take up the habit of immediately leaving any website that uses feet, pounds, and miles - you are not the intended audience for those sites. Or are you saying that anything posted to the internet should use *your* preferred units, even if the author and the intended audience won't understand those units?

I have some news for you - 30 years and counting of international pressure on the US to adopt the metric system isn't going to finally succeed because of your whinging about it on OSNews.

Reply Parent Score: 3

RE[4]: I would add
by renox on Fri 28th Dec 2007 00:11 in reply to "RE[3]: I would add"
renox Member since:
2005-07-06

Instead of making a fool of yourself you should reread what I suggested: a way to keep using non-standard units but having them transparently converted for other users..

Reply Parent Score: 1

RE[5]: I would add
by mojojojo on Sat 29th Dec 2007 17:19 in reply to "RE[3]: I would add"
mojojojo Member since:
2007-11-20

I understood that, but tagging to support this automatic conversion sounds like a hassle. Why bother? Where do you propose to draw the line in the demand for such things? With a demand that it handle local spellings, so I don't have to figure out what "digitised colour" might mean and you can live in ignorance of the orthographic abominations considered standard in communities other than your own? Automatic localization of the word "football"? Conversion of "lorry" and "lift" to and from "truck" and "elevator"?

In my dialect of English, we have a second person plural pronoun. This is an improvement to the language and I insist that everyone tag their use of "you" for number so my browser can represent it properly!

Local variations in vocabulary and usage are here to stay. If you learn to live with them you'll be better prepared to converse with people from other parts of the world and other segments of society.

Reply Parent Score: 1

Yagotta B. Kidding Member since:
2006-04-15

My, look what a cute boy he is:

...international pressure on the US to adopt the metric system isn't going to finally succeed...


Baby mojo, US _has_ adopted the metric system already. You do not work for NASA, or a defense contractor, you might predend you've got no clue. But I do. Indeed, a lot of us do.

And puhleez, don't try to suck here. Go hide and suck yourself.

It's not like inches, yards, miles, gallons and what have you should all vanish in a day - no one will let this happen. There are elderly people and there are bicycle chains. However, doing engineering work of any kind requires thorough understanding and daily use of the metric system. And yes, I do mean qualified US-engineering of today.

So far, I was not able to detect a trace of "international pressure" on us to adopt metric measures. The need is home-made. And very reasonable to boot...

Reply Parent Score: 1

mojojojo Member since:
2007-11-20

What's with the "cute boy" and "suck yourself" and all this crudeness and impoliteness? Is it really necessary? A little snarkiness or sarcasm I can live with, but invitations to implausible masturbatory acts seems a bit over the line to me. Then again, perhaps you are a troll, I suppose, and these lines are part of your troll shtick. For now, I will pretend as though you are not a troll.

I am aware that the metric system is in use in the U.S. for certain things. I use it myself in my work occasionally, although I don't work for NASA or a defense contractor, nor am I even an engineer, I'm ashamed to say. However, everyone must admit is still the common usage in the US to use Imperial units for most things. Truly, if it weren't common for some, mostly US-based, web sites to use Imperial units, we wouldn't be having this lovely exchange, would we?

The GP was complaining about use of Imperial units that the GP found incomprehensible and requesting (applying pressure) that web pages be coded differently to allow automatic conversion of Imperial units to metric units. I think it's safe to assume that the GP finds Imperial units incomprehensible because the GP lives outside the US (international). Are you now able to detect at least something that might be considered international pressure? If not, read the GP again - the reference to metric units as "standard" is certainly at least a gentle suggestion that metric units should be adopted.

Reply Parent Score: 1