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

The Decline of Usability (2020)

datagubbe.se

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 241 posts

Re: The Decline of Usability (2020)

#81

Post by sixstringtheory »

the_af wrote: post #54

I cannot prove it, but I think some of these UI and UX horrors are caused by the ever present need for software to change in order to demonstrate it is alive. Imagine you reach peak usability in $YourApp, in the year of our lord 2023. It's maybe not perfect , but there's no conceivable way your app's usability can improved past this point. Users are reasonable proficient, everything mostly clicks into place past the…

I don’t even think it’s that calculated. I think it’s just that there are teams of designers employed there that would have nothing else to do once the design is “finished”.

My ideal is to create a product that is well loved and used, automate the hell out of every conceivable customer support and operational concern, and either/both move on to a different product or kick back on the beach.

Nobody wants change. I only ever see hordes of people complaining whenever any UI changes. There is never an equivalent mob of true believers on the other side of the line.

Re: The Decline of Usability (2020)

#82

Post by 6D794163636F756 »

the_af wrote: post #54

I cannot prove it, but I think some of these UI and UX horrors are caused by the ever present need for software to change in order to demonstrate it is alive. Imagine you reach peak usability in $YourApp, in the year of our lord 2023. It's maybe not perfect , but there's no conceivable way your app's usability can improved past this point. Users are reasonable proficient, everything mostly clicks into place past the…

I think we need to move past the first to market model and assume a best in market model. Allow things to reach peak usability then maintain them. Add security features and new usability when it's discovered but let a good product make you money.

Re: The Decline of Usability (2020)

#83

Post by grishka »

brazzy wrote: post #76
grishka wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft in particular seems hellbent on putting touchscreens in everything. They REALLY want to make it happen but seemingly no one is having it. There's ONE person I know who owns a touchscreen laptop and genuinely touches its screen on purpose. On your scrolling complaint — well, there's this desktop-specific thing that OP doesn't mention but that becomes very apparent once you start looking for it in old-school…

But then you need fixed window sizes, which is pretty damn annoying as well.

That same Microsoft solved that nicely in win32 by using "DLUs", or "dialog units", for layouts. These scale with the font.

Re: The Decline of Usability (2020)

#85

Post by wredue »

“I NEED TO SAVE SCREEN REAL ESTATE SO I CAN… CHECKS NOTES… PUT A BUTTON THAT TAKES THE ENTIRE SCREEN”

Yeah. This one always gets me with the whole “moving to the title bar saves screen space”.

The other thing that really grinds my gears today is how many applications steal focus multiple times during launch. The number of people that have accidentally posted passwords in team chats cause of bullshit focus stealing is too damn high!

Re: The Decline of Usability (2020)

#86

Post by yawaramin »

codeptualize wrote: post #64

There is a misconception that consistency == usability. It's an important part of usability but there is a lot more to it. Tunnel vision on consistency (or anything really) doesn't lead to good outcomes. The big picture is what matters: can someone do what they need to do? Articles like these also have lots of opinions, no research and stats, nor have decent explanations of how much impact these "problems" actually h…

> How often do you lose work because of crashes or not enough undo steps?

Crashes and too few undo steps are not a UI/UX problem, they are a software quality/hardware limitations (enough memory or storage to hold all those steps) problem. Software reliability has definitely gotten better in many aspects, as long-lived software applications and operating systems have been through the crucible of time and learned from their reliability mistakes. But UI/UX is in many aspects worse than ever.

> Also don't forget about all the horrible Java software that didn't use the OS UI.

The article actually says the same thing: 'A few rogue applications didn't play by the rules,...'

> completing the task that you need to complete, and that is easier than ever.

Do me a favour–try getting an older person who has not used Zoom before, to host a meeting and accept guest join requests. You will really understand the sorry state we are in once you see them struggle to do this.

Re: The Decline of Usability (2020)

#87

Post by osigurdson »

It has taken me a least a year to learn the right gesture combination to close apps on iPhone 13. Many operations are very subtle.

However, I seem to be far less bothered by modern usability than some others. My brain is hard wired for novelty it seems. I would not want to use Windows 2000 for example.

Re: The Decline of Usability (2020)

#88

Post by yawaramin »

ho_schi wrote: post #71

Apple? The people which removed the menu from the window and keep it separate to tease all users? Maximized windows and full-screen are itself a pain. I cannot use MacOS. Finder is especially bad. The partially weird idea of GNOME (Hamburger-Menu) is also a copy of CSD-Style. Putting that aside GNOME did some really good things (keyboard-centric usage, dash and overview instead of a desktop, no desktop-icons and syst…

The separated window menu which is always attached to the top of the screen, is a usability win. It gives you much more leeway to move your mouse and hit the target you're aiming for. See: Fitt's Law.

Re: The Decline of Usability (2020)

#89

Post by grishka »

the_af wrote: post #54

I cannot prove it, but I think some of these UI and UX horrors are caused by the ever present need for software to change in order to demonstrate it is alive. Imagine you reach peak usability in $YourApp, in the year of our lord 2023. It's maybe not perfect , but there's no conceivable way your app's usability can improved past this point. Users are reasonable proficient, everything mostly clicks into place past the…

Yes, it's that as well. Imagine you've already designed everything that needs designed across all your products, but you still employ an entire department of graphic designers that need something to do. You wouldn't just fire them, right? That's how all those UI redesigns happen. I've seen it myself. "We need to change it because it's been a while since we last changed it."

The omnipresence of high-speed always-on internet connections exacerbates this issue immensely. Before that, software developers were at least forced to have some defined goals and deadlines for their products so that they could put the thing on CDs or floppies or whatever and ship it to stores — with no easy opportunity to release an update. And when they did release an update, it had to be something meaningful and substantial to convince the users to go through the trouble of obtaining the new version and updating. Modern software, on the other hand, is best characterized with this saying we have in my language, roughly translated as "samurai doesn't have a goal, he only has his path".

Re: The Decline of Usability (2020)

#90

Post by couchand »

alistairSH wrote: post #52

Even worse, the trend away from good UX is leaking from software to hardware. Who at Kia thought this was a good idea? Three steps to open the door. Requires two hands. Good luck if you’re an amputee, have arthritis, can’t see the door unlock touch zone, or just can’t figure it out. https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=50&v=Rv5so7szIMM Then there’s Elon’s obsession with that stupid F1-style steering wheel. And V…

Cars are particularly bad these days, where once they were a model of streamlined usability.

My father-in-law's van has three large knobs next to each other on the dash. Which one adjusts the volume, which one the fan speed, and which one switches gears? Hope you don't pick the wrong one while driving at highway speeds!

Post reply on HN