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Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

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Re: Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

#241

Post by iterati »

eitland wrote: post #161
JoeSmithson wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just tested this and it works as follows; - Open Maps - Search destination. It autocompletes after about 5 characters - Select destination - Screen changes to infobox about the location. There is a prominent "Directions" button - Press "Directions" - It changes to a route view, the Start is autocompleted to Current Location but obviously editable - Press into start location edit box - I can type location or "Choose…

That is 9 or so manual steps and it doesn't become clear until step 7 or so that it can even be done! There's nothing intuitive about this and when someone knows how it works that must be because they've either learned it from someone or kept on experimenting with it until they figured it out. compare this to the original that they "simplified" away: - Open app in navigation mode (step 1) - it shows two boxes, where…

You didn't break down your steps like the parent did. Here's your way:

1) Open app 2) Search for start 3) Select start 4) Search for destination 5) Select destination 6) Click directions

Here's the parent's way:

1) Open app 2) Search destination 3) Select destination 4) Select directions 5) Search for start 6) Select start

They're the same process.

Re: Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

#242

Post by nindalf »

sonofaplum wrote: post #20

There are some good points here, but of course I am going to ignore those to talk instead about the stuff I disagree with! The section about google maps follows a form of criticism that is widespread and particularly annoys me, namely => popular service 'x' doesn't exactly fit my power user need 'y', therefore x is hopelessly borked, poorly designed, and borderline useless. There is always room for improvement, but a…

The Office 2007 redesign was panned for similar reasons. Power users couldn’t understand why the biggest, most prominently placed buttons were for copy and paste, when everyone knew that you could use ctrl+c and ctrl+v instead. Turns out, only the power users knew that and the vast majority of users clicked 4 times for edit-copy, edit-paste. Now they only had to click twice.

This was a quality of life improvement for the vast majority of users, even if it wasn’t for the minority who used it the most.

Re: Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

#243

Post by eitland »

gowld wrote: post #234
eitland wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is 9 or so manual steps and it doesn't become clear until step 7 or so that it can even be done! There's nothing intuitive about this and when someone knows how it works that must be because they've either learned it from someone or kept on experimenting with it until they figured it out. compare this to the original that they "simplified" away: - Open app in navigation mode (step 1) - it shows two boxes, where…

Obviously it's fewer steps if you combine some steps into 1 when paraphrasing.

The point is it was one step. There was a separate entry point or what should I call it from the main Android menu that took me straight to this.

Re: Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

#244

Post by T-hawk »

PaulHoule wrote: post #192
frobozz wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have not conducted a survey, but they strike me as reasonably common desires. On a 4-5 hour road trip, I want to take the kids to see a castle or something somewhere around 1/2 to 3/4 of the way. Even just wanting to have lunch somewhere other than Hilton Park or Newport Pagnell would be such a use case. I have also wanted it for visiting someone - I'm going to their house, what is my most convenient option for buy…

I think there is an anti-car bias in Google Maps and similar services. Everything is oriented around the model of "reserve a hotel", "reserve a flight", like you really are on rails like a European. Today's online maps aren't up to the freedom that motorists have to make small deviations from a route. For instance if I drive from here to Boston I am likely to stay at a hotel en-route, that could be anywhere from Alba…

> Everything is oriented around the model of "reserve a hotel", "reserve a flight"

Of course, that's where Google makes their money from the service. Google Maps isn't a public good, it's a line of business.

Re: Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

#245

Post by Fabricio20 »

dexen wrote: post #24
acheron wrote: post #12

One that got worse and then better again at least in my experience is boot up time. Old computers running MS-DOS I remember booting up very quickly (unless you waited for the full memory self test), then for quite a long time it took forever to get into Windows no matter what you did to try to speed it up. More recently things start up pretty quickly again; I think it's mainly hardware (solid-state disks being the ma…

>but I do think Windows seems to do a little better software-wise too Windows 10 does a little trick to speed up boot - when you perform a shutdown, Windows 10 saves a mini-hibernation image to the hibernation file. When you perform normal boot, it can start up quite fast[1]. This gives noticeably shorter boot time especially on spinning rust drives (i know, i know, $CURRENT_YEAR). However if you perform a "reboot" i…

This exact hibernation feature is what I feel is making my shutdowns slower!

I've been rocking an M.2 ssd for quite some time now and Win10 _always_ takes a considerate 1-2 minutes to shutdown.

Re: Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

#246

Post by xpe »

ryanianian wrote: post #57
brosinante wrote: post #21

Has anyone ever also noticed how cars are always heavier than the bikes we used when we were children. And how much more air you need and how much longer it takes to fill a car tire with a hand pump. Also, remember when none of us was a portuguese author and we used paragraphs rationally and wrote things down without splitting them into 200 letter long strings because we used mediums made for rants and did not need a…

Your comment is ad-hominem (dismissive) and does not contribute to the conversation. You can dislike with the style/syntax of the article but the point it's making isn't "things change" it's that "things change for the worse" complete with several examples which other commenters here either support or disagree with, but helpful comments mention central points in the article in good-faith conversation.

I am not confident you are using ad-hominem correctly. From the Merriam Webster online dictionary:

“1 : appealing to feelings or prejudices rather than intellect an ad hominem argument

2 : marked by or being an attack on an opponent's character rather than by an answer to the contentions made made an ad hominem personal attack on his rival”

(Here on HN, I think that #2 is the most common usage.)

Re: Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

#248

Post by iterati »

raisedbyninjas wrote: post #89
sonofaplum wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think that use case is that common? And why do you think google maps should elevate that particular use case above other competing use cases?

Search for destinations along your route is (finally) a feature in the gmaps mobile app. It isn't in the web-app. Apparently Google agrees that it is a desirable feature. Why does the UI-limited, small screen experience surpass the rich desktop experience?

Finally? I've been searching for things along my routes since at least the 2017 Eclipse as that's the first time I can remember using the feature on my trip from BC to Oregon.

Re: Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

#249

Post by wccrawford »

StavrosK wrote: post #198
eitland wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. But it used to be even better when it made that assumption clear by adding a pre-filled box with your current location. It just worked for the default case but when you needed something else it was straightforward to do that.

Doesn't it? It gives me two boxes, "current location" and "destination" and I can change either.

I can't reply to eitland for some reason, but yes, I get both those boxes.

I open the app, click my destination, and then click "Directions". The very next thing is both of those boxes, with "current location" defaulting to the start location. I can then change that if I want.

It optimizes for my most common use case, but allows me to do it otherwise, too. I don't think I could design this better.

Re: Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

#250

Post by mypalmike »

coldtea wrote: post #213
horsawlarway wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read the whole thing. I thought it was a pretty trash rant. My thoughts while reading roughly went:: "Everything was blindingly fast in the 80s!" - Yes you fuckwad, it was the 80s and the vast majority of content was local to your machine, or your machine was really just a terminal wired to a nearby mainframe. Do I need to link the "latencies every programmer should know?" article yet again? https://people.eecs.ber…

> "Everything was blindingly fast in the 80s!" - Yes you fuckwad, it was the 80s and the vast majority of content was local to your machine, or your machine was really just a terminal wired to a nearby mainframe. Do I need to link the "latencies every programmer should know?" article yet again? No, fuckwad, that's not it. Totally local UIs are much slower too, as often are local actions of remote UIs (e.g. typing, be…

This is a discussion about the perception of computer speeds. Why be uncivil?
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