Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think (2016)

nngroup.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 280 posts

Re: The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think (2016)

#51

Post by ok_coo »

t34543 wrote: post #49
mquander wrote: post #25

It frustrates me that the takeaway of this post, and the implicit conclusion of many software designers, is "keep it extremely simple, or two thirds of the population can’t use your design." I think a better conclusion is "if these skills are important, design software which aids in and rewards the development of them." If your software is designed with some UX which is hyper-optimized to get users to do some small h…

I’ve got 20 years in tech and I find products like Snapchat extremely difficult to use. It’s NOT intuitive at all. Is it just me, or is it terrible?

Mobile app discoverability is terrible, it’s not just you. I guess you’re just supposed to monkey around with it and hope you find new features.

Re: The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think (2016)

#52

Post by madacoo »

unnouinceput wrote: post #40
mooreds wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of "Profession", a great short story by Isaac Asimov: https://www.abelard.org/asimov.php

That site has horrible design, that hurts my eyes so much. I've resorted to just copy/paste the text there to my preferred editor to read it. That said, I did enjoyed the story, so thank you.

Firefox's reading mode solved this problem for me.

Re: The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think (2016)

#53

Post by dredmorbius »

techslave wrote: post #45
dredmorbius wrote: post #22

The data, conclusions, and implications of this are huge, and go several ways. First: virtually nobody using information technology has any idea of what it's really doing, or how to do anything beyond a very narrow bound of tasks. This includes the apparently proficient, and it's almost always amusing to discover the bounds and limits in knowledge and use of computers by the highly capable . Children, often described…

> Second: if you're building for mass market, you've got to keep things exceedingly and painfully simple. Not the primary reason, but anyway one of the reasons google+ failed.

There are plenty to choose from.

It helps to rmember that as a rule, all but one mass-market social networking platform will fail. "Success" means "claiming the most mindshare". And if you're in the mass market, that means there's only one brass ring.

Any roadblocks or injuries, self-inflicted or otherwise, toward attaining that goal will not help you. Google+ certainly had much help inside and out in failing to attain that mark.

Paradoxically, this is why aiming for a specific niche can be a success, at least on its own terms. Reddit, Twitter, and Hacker News qualify on this basis.

Facebook is now actively competing against not only other comers, but itself (WhatsApp, etc.) in various guises. A battle it will all but certainly, eventually, lose.

Re: The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think (2016)

#54

Post by Spooky23 »

scarface74 wrote: post #23

Why is the result of the email test surprising? The popular meme that “email is for old people -lol” ( https://www.huffpost.com/entry/email-is-for-old-people-l_b_3... ) is true. If you don’t work in an office environment, why would most people use an email with a reply to all or schedule a meeting on a desktop app? People use, Slack, Facebook messenger, iMessage, AirDrop etc. Even kids often use DropBox to turn in wo…

There is a pretty steep cliff in offices too.

Even in modern Outlook on the Web, resource booking is buried in the UI — people don’t do it.

Re: The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think (2016)

#55

Post by wildrhythms »

ryandrake wrote: post #43
scarface74 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should I also learn how to repair my car instead of just taking it to the dealer? It’s called specialization of labor. Most of us make an above average wage dealing with computers and pay other people to know things we don’t know.

Yes, unpopular opinion these days, but car owners should really know how to do at least the bare minimum of basic car maintenance. I'm not talking about replacing the suspension or re-building the transmission, but things like changing oil, brake pads, and refilling washer fluid. The very basic basics. Not only does it save you money (who wants to have a mechanic do something for $200 that you can do for $30 + a litt…

I live in an apartment complex and park my car on the premises. I'm not allowed to change my oil on the property due to the landlord's fear of oil left on the parking surface, don't have anywhere to safely store tools or jacks to change a brake pad, and have no where to keep a half-used container of washer fluid outside of my living space (and I'd rather not keep it in my living space).

That said, I know how to do all of these things, I actually service my car and a motorcycle myself despite the apartment complex's "rules", but I think for a lot of car owners they're not in "safe" space to do their own maintenance. There's also the up front cost of buying tools. I think a lot of car owners in similar situations are relegated to taking the car to a shop for simple repairs as a result. Any advice?

Re: The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think (2016)

#56

Post by confidantlake »

taneq wrote: post #30
dredmorbius wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Median is an average. There are three generally used measures of central tendency: - The mean: the "arithmetic average", sum of observations divided by count. - The median: the central measure. The single value (or averaged pair) at the center point of an ordered listing. - The mode: the most frequently occurring measure. Sort a set of values by frequency, and pick the most frequent instance. Most people intend "mean…

I have never, ever heard anyone colloquially use the word 'average' and mean anything except 'mean'.

I have heard it all the time for median. Average height, average wealth, ect.

Re: The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think (2016)

#57

Post by Spivak »

t34543 wrote: post #49
mquander wrote: post #25

It frustrates me that the takeaway of this post, and the implicit conclusion of many software designers, is "keep it extremely simple, or two thirds of the population can’t use your design." I think a better conclusion is "if these skills are important, design software which aids in and rewards the development of them." If your software is designed with some UX which is hyper-optimized to get users to do some small h…

I’ve got 20 years in tech and I find products like Snapchat extremely difficult to use. It’s NOT intuitive at all. Is it just me, or is it terrible?

I think by most standards Snapchat’s UX would be judged pretty harshly. But it has a strong following because at its core it’s a power user app. Making features/actions discoverable takes up UI space that Snapchat almost entirely hides behind swipes or unlabeled buttons.

Snapchat’s philosophy is interesting because it’s designed for people who already know how to use Snapchat. It actually increased the social aspect a bit because most everyone probably has a story or two of being shown how to do something by someone else.

Re: The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think (2016)

#58

Post by [deleted] »

mquander wrote: post #34
scarface74 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should I also learn how to repair my car instead of just taking it to the dealer? It’s called specialization of labor. Most of us make an above average wage dealing with computers and pay other people to know things we don’t know.

What specialist does the labor get offloaded to, if someone doesn't know how to keep track of their data, doesn't know how to do simple research on the Internet, or doesn't understand how to secure their computer? Instead, people just lose their data, believe false things, and get pwned.

[deleted]

Re: The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think (2016)

#59

Post by [deleted] »

chongli wrote: post #41
scarface74 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should I also learn how to repair my car instead of just taking it to the dealer? It’s called specialization of labor. Most of us make an above average wage dealing with computers and pay other people to know things we don’t know.

I see the car analogy used regularly and I think it’s completely off base. A much better analogy for computer skills is literacy and numeracy. We don’t tell people “don’t bother learning how to read, you can listen to audio books on audible!” just as we shouldn’t tell people that computer programming is only for professional software developers (or anything else involving intensive skill mastery related to computers)…

[deleted]

Re: The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think (2016)

#60

Post by Spivak »

chongli wrote: post #41
scarface74 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should I also learn how to repair my car instead of just taking it to the dealer? It’s called specialization of labor. Most of us make an above average wage dealing with computers and pay other people to know things we don’t know.

I see the car analogy used regularly and I think it’s completely off base. A much better analogy for computer skills is literacy and numeracy. We don’t tell people “don’t bother learning how to read, you can listen to audio books on audible!” just as we shouldn’t tell people that computer programming is only for professional software developers (or anything else involving intensive skill mastery related to computers)…

Being able to use a computer is like being able to drive a car. After a little practice and learning a few rules most cars are pretty easy to just get in and drive. It takes a little more effort to learn to drive stick, and formula one cars are only driven by professionals.

Computer programming is like building, modding, or repairing your car — you can learn but it’s an activity done basically only by hobbyists and professionals.

Troubleshooting computer issues is like car maintenance. Everyone can fill the tank with gas, most people can change a tire, fewer can change their oil, and fewer still can jump a battery.

Post reply on HN