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iPhones are hard to use

blog.fawny.org

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Re: iPhones are hard to use

#471

Post by pbhjpbhj »

simion314 wrote: post #408
varenc wrote: post #110

Most of this article just lists semi-advanced features that people don't know about. I think that’s Apple’s intention... Having every feature and option up in your face can reduce usability and make simple tasks harder for the average user. Apple wants a product that's easy for anyone to use and that often means keeping non-essential features out of the way. I’d be more interesting in seeing feedback for Apple on how…

I think that instead of defending the design we need to focus on this problem: -we have feature X but only 1% of users find it where 10 of users use it after someone else shows them how to use it. Maybe a feature that is only for 5-10% of users is advanced or niche but we need to design it better so this niche/advanced features are irrecoverable. I do not know how to solve this on mobile, I know that some software on…

Settings having a search facility is helpful. Something like `apropos` that searches all installed apps and suggests matches seems like it would already be in the latest gen phones?

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#472

Post by jacobush »

dspillett wrote: post #445
jtokoph wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet the end users are not setting up the phones themselves and the younger people doing the setup skip all of the prompts except WiFi.

That isn't Apple's fault though. As much as I'm not a fan of their products, there is very little you can do to help users when they (by proxy in this case) ignore or avoid your attempts to help them. Making the option easier to find after on-boarding might help, but for the users you describe it would need to be very easy to access and you will fill any list of quick-access options very quickly if you include things…

You can make the onboarding so simple they don't need help?

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#473

Post by kylnew »

Both my parents and my grandmother use iPhones now and I do notice the limited functionality they are comfortable with but I believe the problem goes beyond the iPhone and into general tech literacy. I taught my dad to use 1Password then noticed he never uses the biometrics to log in, then reveals the password and memorizes it instead of copy pasting. He definitely set up touchID and has interacted with text before yet in this context forgot they both exist. I wonder if some of these examples like the map direction example are about the same. People who know better just forgetting parts of functionality depending on the context of the problem.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#474

Post by kkarakk »

smogcutter wrote: post #132
julianz wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never been able to understand why mail apps insist on the word Compose. Is it an American thing? I've never wanted to compose a piece of text, and never heard the word used in that way.

It's the word gmail uses as well.

no the word gmail uses is "+"

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#475

Post by stuaxo »

simonh wrote: post #345
jtokoph wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet the end users are not setting up the phones themselves and the younger people doing the setup skip all of the prompts except WiFi.

Not if you do it in an Apple Store, at least in my experience.

I'm guessing most people get their phones from their phone provider or online.

And of course there are still countries where there is no Apple store, but you see quite a few iPhones.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#476

Post by xg15 »

MatekCopatek wrote: post #387
xg15 wrote: post #382

> You really need to tell the phone, and/or Siri, who you are and who your family members are. This involves creating a contact card (what’s that?) for yourself and linking to it. Then all your family members need their own cards, and you have to laboriously specify their relationships to you. I insist this is not an optional or nice-to-have feature. For a usability expert, I'm surprised he cares so little about the…

I think he means the user should create/amend contact details for their family members.

That makes sense. But then how would this be possible to do as a "non-optional" feature?

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#477

Post by simion314 »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #471
simion314 wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that instead of defending the design we need to focus on this problem: -we have feature X but only 1% of users find it where 10 of users use it after someone else shows them how to use it. Maybe a feature that is only for 5-10% of users is advanced or niche but we need to design it better so this niche/advanced features are irrecoverable. I do not know how to solve this on mobile, I know that some software on…

Settings having a search facility is helpful. Something like `apropos` that searches all installed apps and suggests matches seems like it would already be in the latest gen phones?

You still need to know that something exists and how it was named to be able to search for that setting.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#478

Post by dotancohen »

coldtea wrote: post #377
fit2rule wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Language? I'd quite like to be able to change that frequently. I see no good reason to have mono-culture enforced by the OS. There are three languages spoken in my household, by various family members. Changing the language dynamically for them would be a benefit, not a hindrance. Text size? Same - I often have to show something to my elderly family members, but digging deep into the menu's to find the Text Size sett…

> Language? I'd quite like to be able to change that frequently. I see no good reason to have mono-culture enforced by the OS. That's an outlier request, if I ever saw one, and the accusation is absurd (they give localizations for the OS and tons of things like Siri for dozens or hundreds of languages, so to say they ..."enforce a mono-culture" because they don't allow one to see Spanish one day and French the next o…

>>Language? I'd quite like to be able to change that frequently.

> That's an outlier request, if I ever saw one

I've lived in similar households. In KDE one can change the language on the fly for any arbitrary application or the desktop manager.

The Russian-speaking girlfriend, the Hebrew-speaking children, and the Spanish-speaking regular can all use KDE comfortably. I was actually surprised when I had to use an English-language Windows machine and could not change the language on the fly.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#479

Post by dotancohen »

coldtea wrote: post #359
rtpg wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get that, but I do think that saying that text size is an advanced feature is just not true. Loads and loads of people are older than 40. Loads of people just have weaker eyesight. Apple has really good accessibility tools, and it would make a _lot_ of sense for there to be a dedicated part of the onboarding for accessibility.

> Loads and loads of people are older than 40. Loads of people just have weaker eyesight. Even so, all of those people have to change their text size just once or twice. They can look it up when they need to. It's not like it's a feature they need to use everyday.

> Even so, all of those people have to change > their text size just once or twice.

Actually, I prefer a larger text size in the evening / night and a smaller text size during daylight hours. So I'm changing text size once or twice per day.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#480

Post by danaris »

jacobush wrote: post #472
dspillett wrote: post #445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That isn't Apple's fault though. As much as I'm not a fan of their products, there is very little you can do to help users when they (by proxy in this case) ignore or avoid your attempts to help them. Making the option easier to find after on-boarding might help, but for the users you describe it would need to be very easy to access and you will fill any list of quick-access options very quickly if you include things…

You can make the onboarding so simple they don't need help?

Not if the problem has nothing to do with how simple the onboarding actually is, and everything to do with the users being scared to try things.
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