So this is sub level 1:
> An example of task at this level is “Delete this email message” in an email app.
But it's probably at least level 3 to realize that actually deleting email messages is impossible.
The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think (2016)
111–120 of 280 posts
Re: The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think (2016)
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
When this came out I was skeptical and looked at transactions that I had metrics for to corroborate with some colleagues. Not at liberty to discuss specifics, but we all rejected the proportions that the study used. End of the day, complex processes get completed when offered to the public, and computer based processes are generally the norm. People somehow get hunting licenses, navigate complex DMV processes, book t…
There's some technical blindness that comes with PC use. While people can navigate complex situations fine by talking to humans, put them in front of a user interface and they can't tell an affordance from a hole in the ground. They're not dumb people, they just spent all their time interfacing with humans instead of with computers, so when faced with a technical challenge they don't really know how to start. (I'm su…
I think part of that contrast is in face to face situations, the person on the other side knows inside and out what needs to be done as part of their job. You can call a hotel with zero knowledge on how to book a room, and the concierge will hold your hand and walk you through the process until you have a room booked.
Even online chat support is pretty lackluster and puts a lot of work on the user. At an old job of mine, IT wouldn't even mess around with trying to troubleshoot a ticket going back and forth chatting or emailing. They'd just remote in to your workstation and fix the problem, same thing a concierge at a hotel would do with their keyboard and mouse rather than you struggling through booking on hotels.com and managing an online chat.
Re: The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think (2016)
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder if this really lowered all the scores, because the test UI may have been very non-standard/outdated/etc. ...or, as may as likely be the case, very "modern". I'm confident to say that I'm far in the "advanced user" category, also having been a developer for a few decades, and yet I still get perplexed often by UIs with lots of hidden functionality and confusing hieroglyphics instead of descriptive text.
Its also interesting how much of what we consider an "easy to use UI" actually just means "Its what I already know". I have been using linux with gnome for years and I recently had to use a macbook. I wanted to change the sound settings so I opened the global app search thing and typed "Sound" got nothing so I searched "Audio" still nothing so I tried to find the settings app and tried "Settings" still nothing until…
Jef Raskin wrote about this 25 years ago: https://www.asktog.com/papers/raskinintuit.html
Re: The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think (2016)
#114And this is why software sucks. We should focus on educating users, not stooping to their level GUIs of old had a specific design language. Like: File, Edit, Window, Help in the menubar -- always consistent, always in the same order, and always containing the same thing. Min/max/close buttons in the upper-right. And so on. If one knows the GUI language they can use almost any application for many solutions at a basic…
> And this is why software sucks. We should focus on educating users, not stooping to their level
Some users just don't want to learn. It's the reason why I always get a phone call when [Thing I've tried to sit down and teach to grandma] needs to be done.
You're on to something when talking about consistency and following design language. Building a good UI takes skill and thought into making the design intuitive enough that if it comes to it, anyone can figure it out.
I think you can have a UI that is both usable for both sides of the bell curve, it just takes skill and testing.
Re: The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think (2016)
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is it fair to say that because there will always be more specialized skills to be learned, that none should be learned? Everyone may not need to know how to repair their car, but to perform basic, routine maintenance on it and to learn driving technique as intended is something that, when neglected, can cause major inefficiencies.
Specialization says just the opposite. That everyone should specialize in a combination of what they are good at and there is a demand because it is much more efficient and trade those goods and services that they specialize in for goods and services that they don’t. In the modern era instead of trading directly, we use money as an intermediary. Economics 101 says just the opposite, that you create inefficiencies whe…
> Economics 101 says just the opposite, that you create inefficiencies when you don’t specialize.
That's simply bullshit. If you specialize on only installing tires on cars, but not removing them, you have specialized more than a business that swaps your tires, but you have created massive inefficiency by requiring your customers to somehow move around vehicles without tires for you to install tires for them.
There are particular circumstances where specialization increases efficiency, and there are (obviously) other circumstances where specialization decreases efficiency, so it's nonsensical to just say that specializing is always the more efficient choice, which is why all your analogies fail: You use an example where specialization (arguably) increases efficiency, then you completely fail to explain how computer skills fall into the same category as that example, and then you conclude that therefore it is in the same category.
Re: The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think (2016)
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder if this really lowered all the scores, because the test UI may have been very non-standard/outdated/etc. ...or, as may as likely be the case, very "modern". I'm confident to say that I'm far in the "advanced user" category, also having been a developer for a few decades, and yet I still get perplexed often by UIs with lots of hidden functionality and confusing hieroglyphics instead of descriptive text.
Its also interesting how much of what we consider an "easy to use UI" actually just means "Its what I already know". I have been using linux with gnome for years and I recently had to use a macbook. I wanted to change the sound settings so I opened the global app search thing and typed "Sound" got nothing so I searched "Audio" still nothing so I tried to find the settings app and tried "Settings" still nothing until…
How long ago did you try this? I just tested and searching for "sound" gets me the system preferences sound window. Searching "settings" returns system preferences.
There was a time where apple and windows both seemed pretty stubborn with their semantics (trash vs. recycle bin, both do the same thing, solely for brand identity), but I think that must have died a couple versions ago.
Re: The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think (2016)
#117eh. that’s about what i think. and not just about computer skills. driving skills basic reading comprehension the ability to think more than one step ahead i know it’s not going to be a popular opinion, but yes most people are stupid.
They might not be stupid, but at any given time people might be any mixture of: distracted, anxious, in a hurry. I pay full attention when I’m using work software during a 2-hour block of focused time, but I’m really not doing that when ordering a passport online while trying to get on the train to make it to the restaurant on time.
Re: The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think (2016)
#118This reminds me of an oft referenced quote: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.[0] What may not be immediately obvious from the wisdom bespoken by Arthur C. Clarke is that given enough technology, all of us will eventually find a point where we believe magic truly exists. 0 - https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/arthur_c_clarke_101182
Based on how this comment is resonating with HN, little did I know suggesting fallibility would result in such disdain.
No matter.
Re: The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think (2016)
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
Its also interesting how much of what we consider an "easy to use UI" actually just means "Its what I already know". I have been using linux with gnome for years and I recently had to use a macbook. I wanted to change the sound settings so I opened the global app search thing and typed "Sound" got nothing so I searched "Audio" still nothing so I tried to find the settings app and tried "Settings" still nothing until…
How long ago did you try this? I just tested and searching for "sound" gets me the system preferences sound window. Searching "settings" returns system preferences. There was a time where apple and windows both seemed pretty stubborn with their semantics (trash vs. recycle bin, both do the same thing, solely for brand identity), but I think that must have died a couple versions ago.
This was last week but I haven't used this macbook since about 2017 so its quite out of date.
Re: The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think (2016)
#120Earlier 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)…
People do disregard numeracy if all the, "LOL, your teacher said you wouldn't always have a calculator in your pocket" memes are anything to go by.