Live data from Hacker News

The Decline of Usability

datagubbe.se

301–310 of 719 posts

Re: The Decline of Usability

#301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ubuntu got worse at 18.04 .. Give Lubuntu a try. https://lubuntu.net/

LOL nOmegalol. LXDE is dead, and jankier than Xfce. Use Xfce (if you like jank) or KDE or Cinnamon.

Lubuntu is no longer on LXDE, having switched to LXQT on version 19.04. LXQT is pretty good from my perspective, minimal but intuitive.

Re: The Decline of Usability

#302
post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Logging in on desktop now requires "swiping up" with the mouse to get the password box. The "swiping" thing is to avoid problems with unwanted activation when the device is in your pocket. It's totally inappropriate to desktops. Anecdote: The first time this happened, I had no idea why it wasn't working and naturally started clicking on things and pressing buttons to try to get it to do the thing. I thereby discove…

I dislike it too, but doesn’t Windows 10 do the same thing?

Windows 10 with Windows Hello does face recognition logon without any need to swipe or press key combinations. On a touchscreen, it responds to a swipe upwards. On a machine with a keyboard it responds to apparently any mouse click or keypress.

Presumably Gnome copypasted it from Windows, because otherwise where did that idea come from into multiple distinct projects simultaneously? Windows has always had ctrl+alt+del to logon, Ubuntu hasn't had a precedent of having to do something to get to the logon prompt, IIRC.

Re: The Decline of Usability

#303
post #294

Recently moving from Fedora to a Mac to use my employer's computer one thing that's still very annoying to me after 6 months is the top menu bar that the Mac keeps fixed in the top of the monitor, even if I have the program window not occupying full screen. I have a 4k 20 something inches monitor, so I keep around 4 different windows open. To go from a bottom right corner window to the top left corner File menu is a…

Personally, I really like the top menu. It prevents apps from trying to style their own version of it, and it's always in the same place. Developers know that users always look there, so almost no apps skip making it. Was always the worst to me on Windows/Linux when programs would make their own crappy versions of a top menu that were all inconsistent and bad.

I use a mix of 27-inch 4k monitors and a 21:9 34" monitor, with many things open all over the screen, and have never felt it's too far away. You might try increasing your mouse speed a bit (you'll get used to it pretty quickly). If you can get from the bottom right to top left corner without picking up your mouse, you're probably at a good speed.

Re: The Decline of Usability

#304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think resume-driven development is bad for developers (and it is), consider the career incentives for UI and product people. If there's a "maintain" incentive, I'm not sure what it is. "Didn't change anything about functional and satisfactory interfaces" may be a real value-add in some cases, but it's not a sizzling narrative for selling yourself on the job market.

Very true. Most people get measured by how much churn they create. The more the better. Even if it’s 100% correct for the business you are digging your own grave if you leave things the way they are.

I met these two mobile devs at a conference.

They survived several rounds of cost-cutting at a large company by constantly convincing management to let them rewrite their mobile app in some new framework because of X.

Start out with the native implementations, then they did Xamarin, tried PhoneGap, went back to native, then to React Native, and now on to Flutter. The pair of them keep their jobs constantly rewriting an app.

Re: The Decline of Usability

#305
post #10

Ubuntu got worse at 18.04. Logging in on desktop now requires "swiping up" with the mouse to get the password box. The "swiping" thing is to avoid problems with unwanted activation when the device is in your pocket. It's totally inappropriate to desktops. Then there's icon mania. I've recently converted from Blender 2.79 to Blender 2.82. Lots of new icons. They dim, they change color, they disappear as modes change,…

"You can't have the same UX for both handheld touchscreen devices and M+K laptops/desktops" seems like an absolutely 101 level no brainer to me. How are big projects/companies still attempting to make stuff like this happen?

Re: The Decline of Usability

#306
post #10

Ubuntu got worse at 18.04. Logging in on desktop now requires "swiping up" with the mouse to get the password box. The "swiping" thing is to avoid problems with unwanted activation when the device is in your pocket. It's totally inappropriate to desktops. Then there's icon mania. I've recently converted from Blender 2.79 to Blender 2.82. Lots of new icons. They dim, they change color, they disappear as modes change,…

windows 10 is the same, there is lag between when the screen with the input box appears and when it accepts input. so if you start typing too quickly, fail. and don't get me started on their auto update policy (i agree with automatic updates; i do not agree with them forcefully hijacking my computer with no means to stop it. its actually what brought me back to linux as my dd. no regrets!)

Re: The Decline of Usability

#307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dislike it too, but doesn’t Windows 10 do the same thing?

Windows 10 with Windows Hello does face recognition logon without any need to swipe or press key combinations. On a touchscreen, it responds to a swipe upwards. On a machine with a keyboard it responds to apparently any mouse click or keypress. Presumably Gnome copypasted it from Windows, because otherwise where did that idea come from into multiple distinct projects simultaneously? Windows has always had ctrl+alt+de…

Windows hello is such a nice experience (at least just for local login), but I will never use it because I don't trust Microsoft with my data.

Re: The Decline of Usability

#308
post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the arguments, given in the Supreme Court, by Mr. Rogers, to permit the VCR to be legally owned (I know how crazy this is sounding but it's real) was to time shift programming ... which requires a functioning clock. Fred Rogers, 1984: "I have always felt that with the advent of all of this new technology that allows people to tape the 'Neighborhood' off-the-air ... they then become much more active in the prog…

Time shifting doesn't require a clock, if you are home to start recording, but a clock helps with programmatic recording.

That's an extreme nitpick. The whole argument for time shifting is to be able to record something while you're not at home.

Re: The Decline of Usability

#309
post #229
post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having rarely seen a VCR that wasn't flashing "12:00", I came to the conclusion that a clock was simply feature bloat.

If they couldn't make it easier to set I think the clock should have been less prominent. It's necessary if you're doing a scheduled recording. It's too bad time sync over power lines didn't catch on widely (or broadcast over the radio). It would still be saving everyone from changing their digital clocks during DST.

> If they couldn't make it easier to set I think the clock should have been less prominent. It's necessary if you're doing a scheduled recording.

On the contrary, the clock needs to be super obvious precisely because it's a pain to set. Otherwise you wouldn't notice until your recordings were messed up.

Re: The Decline of Usability

#310
UI/UX is just one side of the problem, talk about app sizes...specifically those Electron ones...I’m not kidding, the other day I saw a modern day Note taking app promoting itself as stellar Note taking solution which comes “featured packed in a single install file, just shy of 100MB“...and I thought to myself, oh gosh! Am I the only one that thinks WinAmp, an approx. 2.5MB install, is still the most kick ass app to date?!?!
Post reply on HN