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“What’s a Browser?” – Remembering the Non-Tech-Savvy User

spin.atomicobject.com

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Re: “What’s a Browser?” – Remembering the Non-Tech-Savvy User

#41

Post by freehunter »

GeneralMayhem wrote: post #26

Why do we need to remember these people? Car manufacturers don't have to say "wait, what if they don't know what a door handle is."

The difference being, there's a mandatory "new user training" before you're allowed to operate a car. Take something like a riding lawn mower that doesn't require new user training, and you'd better believe manufacturers worry about things like "does the user know that letting off the brake means the mower will accelerate to full speed instantly?" You end up with people who know how to operate a riding lawn mower and those who don't, and it explains why many new mowers come with car-like accelerator and brake pedals (with "cruise control" for the classic crowd), and also why mowers will disconnect the battery if the operator isn't sitting in the seat.

If a new computer required mandatory training and a license to operate, these issues wouldn't be nearly as common. Besides, how many people are absolutely flummoxed by a manual transmission?

Re: “What’s a Browser?” – Remembering the Non-Tech-Savvy User

#42

Post by oftenwrong »

M4v3R wrote: post #8

> I got her to show me how she used the computer; she got into Facebook by typing Facebook into Bing and clicking on the search result. This is so common to non tech-savvy people (I observed this dozens of time) that it makes you wonder why browsers adopted single bar for searching AND entering the URLs so late. This, when implemented properly, solves the problem, because usually you only need to type just few letter…

A few years back there was an amusing instance of a blog post overtaking the facebook login page on google when people searched for "facebook login"

http://readwrite.com/2010/02/11/how_google_failed_internet_m...

Re: “What’s a Browser?” – Remembering the Non-Tech-Savvy User

#43

Post by ryanmcbride »

zachrose wrote: post #34
MarcScott wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a teacher of Computing, I couldn't agree more. I've blogged about it here http://www.coding2learn.org/blog/2013/07/29/kids-cant-use-co... Habits I see daily include: typing domain names into search bars, using Caps Lock to type a single uppercase letter, holding down off buttons to 'shutdown' a computer, using passwords like asdfg1234.

Funnily enough though, all of those things get the job done.

Just like how hitting a nail with a screwdriver gets the job done!

Re: “What’s a Browser?” – Remembering the Non-Tech-Savvy User

#45

Post by tjoff »

pestaa wrote: post #31
gcb0 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole issue with the industry (specially here) is that the drive to just make it work completely obliviates the user. Maybe we should strive to better inform while making it just work.

In my opinion there's no fix for lack of curiosity.

Well, the "smart"phones of today hardly inspire curiosity...

Re: “What’s a Browser?” – Remembering the Non-Tech-Savvy User

#46

Post by ryanmcbride »

michaelfeathers wrote: post #2

In the glory days of AOL I ran into non-tech savvy users who thought that it was the internet. I was met with blank stares when I opened another IE instance. In many cases, companies that develop software for non-tech-savvy users go the extra mile to make things easy to use. For me, it's been easy to believe that it was somewhat predatory to make your "thing" a complete portal, but I can see now that it is really a c…

If I only knew when I was a kid, and had access only to AOL kid's, that I could open IE and look at all the porn in the world... My life might be very different now.

Re: “What’s a Browser?” – Remembering the Non-Tech-Savvy User

#47

Post by ryanmcbride »

rartichoke wrote: post #11
michaelfeathers wrote: post #2

In the glory days of AOL I ran into non-tech savvy users who thought that it was the internet. I was met with blank stares when I opened another IE instance. In many cases, companies that develop software for non-tech-savvy users go the extra mile to make things easy to use. For me, it's been easy to believe that it was somewhat predatory to make your "thing" a complete portal, but I can see now that it is really a c…

I still have a client who is like this now. He still goes through AOL and thinks it's the internet. The funny thing about it though is that he usually says things like "the page needs more pop", "make that bright red and bold because I can't see it", etc.. AKA, he has no idea what he's talking about but thinks he does. I stopped taking new work from him because it was the most infuriating thing imaginable.

My friend's mom still connects via dial-up to AOL to check her email and read the news. Until my friend told me this I was completely unaware that AOL still offered internet services.

Re: “What’s a Browser?” – Remembering the Non-Tech-Savvy User

#48

Post by ryanmcbride »

pauletienney wrote: post #9

Some of my friends (no maxi geek but 30 yo, gamers, smartphone users ...) still type google.com in chrome bar in order to type Facebook in google and then access FB via search results ... Mindfuck

I'll bet they also don't use the scroll wheel.

Re: “What’s a Browser?” – Remembering the Non-Tech-Savvy User

#49

Post by doubledub »

I've always assumed younger users were sharper at correcting problems and knowing most of these terms since electronics were available at younger ages. Seems like more opportunities to accidentally discover fixes/areas/tools/etc.

Our recently created business targets relatively older users, so we had to make adjustment for knowledge levels similar to what this article mentions.

Favorite quote from article, "This fix was easy: switch to Chrome (remove 5 different search toolbars!) and voila, baby and cat photos and Bubble Safari all working as intended."

Thanks Mark Zuckerberg!

Re: “What’s a Browser?” – Remembering the Non-Tech-Savvy User

#50

Post by recursive »

wutbrodo wrote: post #33
recursive wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A door handle is much simpler concept. Car manufacturers do have to say "wait, what if they don't know what a transmission is?"

I don't know about that. It seems like the complexity of operating a car (at least in terms of "# of things you need to know about") is pretty similar to that of a computer (at least on Linux/Mac systems; Windows is needlessly complicated for the non-tech-savvy user imo). In a car the things you HAVE to understand are the shifter, (P/D/N), the interplay between gas/brake/coasting (which is more complex than it sounds…

I think you're glossing over things. How to use a mouse. The difference between moving your mouse cursor and focusing a text field. How to double click. (most new mouse users have trouble with this) How to turn the machine on and off. Clipboard. I don't have much experience with non-Windows OSes, so I won't comment on that. But everything inside a computer is necessarily more abstract than a door handle, since it doesn't physically exist. IMO that makes it harder to understand necessarily.
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