A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad • Hacker News Board

Re: A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad

#41

Post by bm98 » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 10:29 PM UTC

As a father of a 1.5 year-old who loves the iPhone, this looks very familiar. But toddlers pick up on all kinds of new things incredibly fast, so I'm not sure this tells us much about the learnability of the iPad for computing novices of any other age group.

It seems easier than the typical desktop/laptop, but there are many subtle interactions that have to be learned and practiced to use the iPad. I would like to see how well a 60+ year-old without prior computing experience interacts with it.

Re: A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad

#42

Post by edo » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 10:32 PM UTC

For people interested in interface design paired with kids new to UI's. The following link points to research performed in India, where computers were dropped in slums for children to use. They monitored their progress in understanding the interface, and in discovering the web. http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/india/kids.html#04

Re: A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad

#43

Post by leviathant » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 10:33 PM UTC

kalid wrote: post #29

leviathant wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now try giving that 2.5 year old a violin and see how well that works. Now try giving that 2.5 year old a graphing calculator and see how well that works. Now try giving that 2.5 year old a drum kit and see how well that works. Now try giving that 2.5 year old canvas with a palette of oil paints and see how well that works.

Those are great examples. Regular PCs are like giving people drum kits because it satisfies all the "requirements". The iPad is like giving you maracas, a tambourine, or bongo drums. Same functionality? No. Vastly more fun for beginners? Yes.

I realize we're stretching the analogy thin, but maracas, bongos, and tambourines can all be had for $3-$20 each.

Re: A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad

#44

Post by gizmo » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 10:34 PM UTC

DougBTX wrote: post #34

gizmo wrote: post #23

Stray observations: 1. kids are awesome 2. she only got frustrated once, and that was when she couldn't get back to the home screen. With the hint "press the button; the big button" she felt in control (and happy). 3. By this point I'm thinking how I would simulate her investigative behavior in software. It's not systematic, but it's oh so efficient. 4. the confidence with which she dragged the letters to the "learn…

I was about to comment on point 2, when I saw you covered it in point 5. I imagine that the resting touch problem could be solved with software, the iPhone keyboard for exams supports resting a finger on one key while you touch the next. I was surprised that it didn't work on the home screen, eg, ignore the touches from a resting hand.

The glib answer is this: You have a problem. You solve it with heuristics. Now you have two problems.

If I had to guess why Apple designed it this way? Here goes: Apple can't determine what a resting hand is as an abstraction, because sometimes a resting hand should do something (e.g. the pinch gesture; one static touch + one moving finger). So app developers would each have to implement their own heuristics to decide what's "probably" an accidental touch and what's "probably" a deliberate (but sloppy) tap. Result: you won't be able to predict anymore how the iPad will behave. That's far worse than having a predictable but imperfect system.

Re: A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad

#45

Post by edo » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 10:35 PM UTC

thomasreggi wrote: post #2

So easy a child can do it? I really think testing a user interface on a child is key to good design.

The grandmother test is a few gazillion times harder to pass. Beat that one, and you conquer the world!

Re: A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad

#46

Post by viraptor » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 10:37 PM UTC

swombat wrote: post #15

Now try giving that 2.5 year old a Netbook with Windows on it and see how well that works.

It would probably have the same effect as giving the iPad to a 2.5 year old with no iPhone experience. The movie basically shows that the big screen works almost the same as the small screen and even kids don't get confused. It tells absolutely nothing about iPad itself imho.

So yeah - try giving a "laptop with Windows"-savvy 2.5 year old a netbook with windows...

Re: A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad

#47

Post by ajj » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 10:43 PM UTC

tullius wrote: post #22

edo wrote: post #4

It's amazing how fast she grasps the concept of the UI. Either she has some experience with an iPhone, or we have gotten to a point where interface design has become so intuitive that 3-year olds grasp software immediately. I think the first is the case, but impressive nonetheless ;-)

A friend told me his kids now try to use iphone hand motions on other screens they encounter and are surprised when they don't work. Same age group.

I have often used my finger trying to scroll on a GPS screen, only realizing it doesn't work a few seconds into it.

Re: A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad

#48

Post by EwanMacLeod » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 10:45 PM UTC

Just fantastic

Re: A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad

#49

Post by whatusername » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 10:49 PM UTC

edo wrote: post #4

It's amazing how fast she grasps the concept of the UI. Either she has some experience with an iPhone, or we have gotten to a point where interface design has become so intuitive that 3-year olds grasp software immediately. I think the first is the case, but impressive nonetheless ;-)

:) At 2 I've been told that I could find out the Print-Shop-Pro disk, put it in the Apple Mac Plus and do my own drawings. I'd then save my work and wait for mummy/daddy to wake up so I could print - I wasn't able to line up the paper properly in the printer.

Moral of the Story: Kids are smarter than you think. (And they don' have a phobia of technology so they are willing to try anything)

Re: A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad

#50

Post by potatolicious » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 10:49 PM UTC

pclark wrote: post #36

thomasreggi wrote: post #2

So easy a child can do it? I really think testing a user interface on a child is key to good design.

really? why?

The more "higher level" thought processes required just to operate the basics of your device (e.g., basic navigation, app launching, scrolling, etc) the more mental effort (and thus, frustration and cognitive load) it takes from the user.

As an extension to this, the less brain power you have to devote to basic, fundamental interactions with the machine, the more bandwidth you have to dedicate towards other things (e.g., if the calculator is hard to use, you're spending more effort wrangling the calculator instead of solving math problems).