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The best interface is no interface

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Re: The best interface is no interface

#51

Post by jgfoot »

kalleboo wrote: post #12

Is that list of steps to use Google Wallet in this article correct? If so, that wasn't the promise of NFC at all! I have an Android phone on which I use the legacy Japanese NFC system which doesn't require waking up the phone at all (it even works if the battery is depleted). He says that tapping a device against another one is undesirable, but I think people like that kind of "I have to do this for money to disappea…

No, that list of steps is wrong. Google Wallet doesn't require you to unlock your phone or launch the Wallet app. You just hold your phone up to the reader and enter a PIN.

Re: The best interface is no interface

#54

Post by DenisM »

MatthewPhillips wrote: post #50
DenisM wrote: post #36

I found the article somewhat light on useful examples; however the premise is very interesting, so I would like to bring a couple of my own examples to the table : In a restaurant named "The Herb Farm" in Seattle area you don't pay when you eat, you pay before the dinner, when making a reservation by phone (the menu is prix-fixe). So when you're done eating you just walk out - no waiting for the check, no computing t…

Your first example doesn't make sense to me. Why is the restaurant optimizing for the leaving experience? They should be optimizing for the eating experience. Like deciding to get an extra appetizer because the people you're with got one that looks really good. Or deciding to break your diet and get the dessert anyways.

It's prix fixe, the dinner consists of 14 courses and lasts over 3 or 4 hours. You don't get to chose food any more than you get to chose music. There's an exception for extra wine (that comes with a bill), but few people take it as what's sever is plentiful and well mar matched.

And there is plenty of interaction with people about food, just none about things that aren't food.

Re: The best interface is no interface

#55

Post by diminoten »

SolarUpNote wrote: post #29
kalleboo wrote: post #12

Is that list of steps to use Google Wallet in this article correct? If so, that wasn't the promise of NFC at all! I have an Android phone on which I use the legacy Japanese NFC system which doesn't require waking up the phone at all (it even works if the battery is depleted). He says that tapping a device against another one is undesirable, but I think people like that kind of "I have to do this for money to disappea…

I can picture it now :D Me: "This isn't what I ordered." Cashier: "It's what you ordered last time. We went ahead and made it for you. And we also charged your account. Aren't you delighted?" Me: "But I just wanted a coffee. Now my account is overdrawn, and you just cost me a $35 overdraft fee."

Of course the decision point still needs to be maintained - that is, the human should retain the trigger on a predictive transaction unless they explicitly give it up, such as in recurring payments or that XKCD $1 bid bot! :-P

Re: The best interface is no interface

#56

Post by seanica »

jbrennan wrote: post #10
seanica wrote: post #4

One thing that mustn't be over-looked with interfaces that 'learn about your behavior' is they can lock into a 'local maxima' and can be difficult to retrain without resetting to factory defaults. - If your lifestyle changes, can the interface keep up?

That could happen, but really that would be a "bug", not an inherent problem with the design. That would be the developer's job to fix.

I disagree that this would be a bug. It's a design flaw that cannot be corrected by fixing bugs.

It's analogous to security flaws. If there is a flaw in the design, no amount of bug fixing will make the system secure, unless that 'bug fixing' changes the design.

Re: The best interface is no interface

#57

Post by DenisM »

LockeWatts wrote: post #39
DenisM wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re payments - consider situation where I keep going to the same coffee shop, and I just tell the barista to "add it to my tab" and then drink my coffee and leave. That would be very liberating, and I know the barista personally I would have no problem for them to keep the tab for me, and I would close it weekly or monthly. Not so crazy now, iz it? If they could make it stretch to a point where I know the business but…

And the system could learn typical usages, and close the tab for me automatically, or bring it up for review if needed. This sounds like an awful idea. I don't trust another developer to accurately be able to predict how I use my money. What if someone needed to pay a bill with that money this week, and then can pay off their tab next week. But your AI decides to pay off the tab, you have no way of getting the money…

Every system is designed to an audience, that's not shortsightness, that's called focus.

Re: The best interface is no interface

#58

Post by VLM »

ProblemFactory wrote: post #25
jrajav wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't you want to own a Roombamower that could automatically mow your lawn after a few times around manually? Or a microwave that could recognize types of food with an internal camera, and suggest optimal cooking times based on total times you've done in the past? Maybe you'd rather stick with what you're comfortable with right now, but don't count out great ideas that you might not have thought of yet.

The problem with interfaces that learn from user behaviour is that they have to be almost perfect to be usable. Simple, predictable interfaces that the user can understand and control are okay. Self-learning interfaces that do what the user wants are okay. But there is a gap between the two with poor (and even good but imperfect) learning interfaces. A microwave that sets the timer itself would be great - unless it a…

"The problem with interfaces that learn from user behaviour is that they have to be almost perfect to be usable."

You listed some practical engineering issues.

I can list numerous psychological issues, such as anxiety knowing the failure rate will probably be much worse than mine, the anxiety of not knowing how much extra time I'll have to spend on rework. Uncontrollable failure is stressful. Then there are more attitude level issues with being active "I'm making popcorn" vs passive "The microwave is making popcorn". This is before we get started with complacency "The microwave is really smart, so I'll let my kids use it. Whoops house burned down after 20 minute popcorn setting ... Guess I should feel guilty, or someone should anyway"

Re: The best interface is no interface

#59

Post by namank »

The core thought is of value and basically the direction in which HCI is headed.

Other than that, wow. As a UX designer, I would expect the author to show more critical thinking when evaluating the interfaces like a car dashboard and refrigerator. Put those into context as you conveniently do with interaction patterns like opening car doors and paying with ewallets.

Re: The best interface is no interface

#60

Post by stdbrouw »

kapnobatairza wrote: post #40
zdw wrote: post #3

The best interface is hiding all the steps of a complex process and saying you did away with the interface. No steps = easy to debug when it goes wrong. You just point at it and loudly whine: "It's not working!" then nobody fixes it because all the back end is "magic".

One things that came to mind when reading your comment was some of my frustration using OS X. When an app in OS X or OS X itself stops working you don't get a blue screen or a "this application has crashed" error - it just stops working. Many of my friends would have the false illusion that OS X is much more stable than Windows 7 because they see less error messages.

Hmm, but you do always get an error message when you relaunch, allowing you to report the error or see some details.
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