Don Norman discusses why you would want to do something like that here http://businessofsoftware.org/video_09_dnorman.aspx (50:30).
Establishing secure connection
131–140 of 161 posts
Re: Establishing secure connection
#132We added progress bars and silly status messages to our 500 error pages in our web app. Things like a 15 second count down to "recalibrate" or "attempting automatic system correction". It, at minimum, stopped users from constantly clicking a button or link that was having server issues (and thus spamming our error queue). Instead, they'd wait the 15 seconds and then go try again.
If the issue was transient, like a dropped connection to the database or memcached or some obscure deadlock, the "automatic" fixes worked as expected from the user's perspective. We, of course, still got the full error report to diagnose the issue.
I even have a few gems in our user feedback system where the users outright praise the "automatic error fixer" and they wish every website/app had a tool like ours.
Re: Establishing secure connection
#133TurboTax has something that struck me today as similar (in spirit) to this, though TurboTax's is a skeuomorphic thing. It's the "Save & Exit" button TurboTax has. I'm sure that they are saving all info as it is entered, but users of QuickBooks, Excel, etc., I'm sure are used to having to save their data manually then exit. I think all the guffawing at this progress bar is a little overblown. If a question or concern…
I'm pretty sure Turbo Tax is not saving as you go. I had just finished entering my income a couple of weeks ago, and just as I started on my deductions, it crashed. None of the work I had done up to that point was saved.
Re: Establishing secure connection
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not "bad" in the sense of actually hurting people, but it is dishonest... it's a meaningless progress bar (not so terrible, Windows has us used to these), but the series of lies flitting on and off the page definitely isn't good . We all know banks aren't trustworthy, but that's what they should be, and their goal should be actual trustworthiness and not false, theatrical crap like this.
Or false, theatrical crap like building themselves massive stone buildings more suited for courthouses than branches and decking their interiors out with dark wood and brass? Banks are all about theatrics in the service of image. They depend upon it, in fact. A bank that loses trust is a bank in danger of a run.
That's just another way to state my point. Depending on theatricality instead of actually EARNING trust is exactly the wrong way to approach such a goal.
Re: Establishing secure connection
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
If I had to throw a guess, I'd say there was a random non technical manager in the company who saw the page was loading too fast and didn't like it; "it should show there is a heavy process in the background, otherwise our customers will think it is too simple!". Either way I doubt an UX genius is behind this.
There are no "UX geniuses". Or at least they are usually called Developers.
I usually trust a developer to absolutely ruin the UX of a product any day
The level of contempt of some developers is amazing, too bad they don't know UX 101
Re: Establishing secure connection
#136This reminds me of something we had at my office about 15 years ago because people were complaining their workstations were slow. In reality, their workstations were just slow machines; standard issue box for most people was a 70MHz Sun SS-5. So we wrote a perl script that printed out a bunch of platitudes like these, while printing out an ASCII "progress bar." It had some randomly determined sleep() calls in there t…
My father was an audio engineer/mixer and worked with some big names. He told me a similar story that happened to him later in life when he finally owned his own studio. There were clients that would always insist on making audio adjustments, for no good reason at all. They were paying to have their music professionally mixed, yet still insisted on making adjustments and changes. Finally my dad and his friend came up…
The "magic/more magic" switch is also this.
Re: Establishing secure connection
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
One of the best designers I've ever worked with had a similar great strategy with clients who considered themselves design experts (usually senior marketing/advertising managers) and who would almost inevitably want to change something in the “final” design. The solution he had was to leave one obvious minor flaw in the final design – a color which doesn't quite match, odd font choice, etc. It was a lighting rod for…
2 examples from a former communist country. - A theater director was putting on a new show about some workers in a factory. In the background he put a wagon wheel. Before the premiere the communist representative came to evaluate the show. It was usual that some random scenes would be adjudicated unacceptable and cut from the show. When discussion started the communist rep asked what the wheel, which was used in agri…
My brother is in construction and tells me similar stories about how they always leave something obviously wrong for the building inspector to find so he'll ignore the piddly things he'd otherwise complain about.
Re: Establishing secure connection
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
One of the best designers I've ever worked with had a similar great strategy with clients who considered themselves design experts (usually senior marketing/advertising managers) and who would almost inevitably want to change something in the “final” design. The solution he had was to leave one obvious minor flaw in the final design – a color which doesn't quite match, odd font choice, etc. It was a lighting rod for…
An alternative is to add a duck, or something else gratuitously out of place.
Why a duck? Why no a chicken?
Re: Establishing secure connection
#139This reminds me of something we had at my office about 15 years ago because people were complaining their workstations were slow. In reality, their workstations were just slow machines; standard issue box for most people was a 70MHz Sun SS-5. So we wrote a perl script that printed out a bunch of platitudes like these, while printing out an ASCII "progress bar." It had some randomly determined sleep() calls in there t…
My father was an audio engineer/mixer and worked with some big names. He told me a similar story that happened to him later in life when he finally owned his own studio. There were clients that would always insist on making audio adjustments, for no good reason at all. They were paying to have their music professionally mixed, yet still insisted on making adjustments and changes. Finally my dad and his friend came up…
When I was a kid, whenever my bro yelled to reduce the volume of the TV I just stay silent for a moment and say 'ok?'. Sometimes he demands to cut off a bit more noise. I wait for a second and say "NOW?". He's normally happy with the two tries.
He sleeps happy. I waste time happy.
Re: Establishing secure connection
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's more complicated than that. The last line has to match two out of three (for example, city and ZIP), and then it can try to do some reverse analysis on what you've written for the address line. (Even that's an oversimplification; it's pretty darn impressive.) The USPS also has the additional challenge of matching what you think is your address with what is actually your address. Very, very few people know their…
The USPS also has the additional challenge of matching what you think is your address with what is actually your address. Very, very few people know their address. What parts of their addresses do people typically get wrong? Where can one go to find one's actual address?
There is not always one answer. In the UK the Royal Mail, electoral roll, credit reference agencies etc can disagree with each other.