(a) The disk 500GB is nearly full.
(b) The disk 500GB is about to fail.
(c) The disk 500GB is running at turbo speed.
When I polled a group of people on Twitter, the correct answer (c) was chosen by about a third of people. Most people picked (b): “It looks like it’s about to blow, Captain!”
The icon appears when you install Western Digital’s drivers. It’s meant to show that the disk is in turbo (high speed) mode. But there’s something not right about that needle pointing to the red zone…
I think these two photos tell you all you need to know about design leadership.
I’m running some remote usability tests this week where I ask participants to share their desktop with me. I’m viewing the tests on a 30″ Apple Cinema Display and it’s easy to forget the lower-spec hardware that many users still struggle with day-to-day. Here’s a screenshot from one participant: you’ll notice:
I’m not saying that this configuration is typcial, but it’s certainly not unusual to find this when you look at the way “real” users use the web, rather than the digerati.
Webex.
Whenever I use Webex I struggle. Error handling like this doesn’t help much. (Click the image for a larger view).
I think I discovered the World’s smallest close box on a pop-up. If you’ve ever wondered how to use Fitts’s Law for evil, now you know. (This is one of those times when you’ll need to click the image to get a larger view).
I read that Groupon are struggling at the moment. I thought I’d visit their site and have a cursory look at the user experience.
It turns out that they won’t even let you use the site without signing up — or at least, they hide the close box behind the pop-up so well that it may as well be registration only.
This kind of design mistake went out in the mid-90s.
They could also do with some help with their geolocation algorithm. They think I’m in Belfast. In fact, I’m currently in Stamford, CT.
The BBC’s new iPlayer Radio app has a carousel at the bottom of the screen that you can use to scroll through the various channels.
At first when I saw it I thought it was a bit skeuomorphic: I thought the design team were trying to replicate a circular tuning dial that you might find on a physical device.
But when you use it, you realise it’s actually a very clever design. This is because, when you’re using it with one hand, your thumb moves in an arc. This makes the interaction very natural — even ‘ergonomic’.
Like most of what the BBC do, the whole app is very well thought through. I love the way that a publicly-owned organisation like the BBC is showing its richer competitors how to do user experience design.
I saw these two juxtaposed tweets in my Twitter stream today. These kinds of issues are par for the course with new software, but in an old timer like Office it’s very hard to excuse.
I was reading about a book on Amazon today when I came across this:
Quick question: If you wanted to search this web site for a product, where would you click?
