61–70 of 288 posts
So what should I write when I order a plane ticket? Write an O that the agents looking at my passport expects or the OE that matches what the computer reads?
What annoys me is not so much having to re-enter my name with the unaccented version of the vowel, it's when the form throws up an error message saying "Enter a Valid Name" [or suchlike]. I find that insulting.
At least make your error text put the blame where it belongs: "Sorry. This form can only handle ASCII Text". Don't insult your users by telling them their name isn't real.
I have a first name composed of two names, and one of them with an acute accent. This is enough to cause some of my credit cards to be printed with a repeated name because they assume my "second first name" to be a middle name too. The acute accent results in encoding problems once in a while. But nothing compares the problems that people with names longer than 30 characters have to face. Creating a SSN card, or driv…
"After a long flight I've already got my car, got to the hotel, checked in, and am fast asleep. Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Secretary General of the UN) is still stuck at the car rental counter at the airport patiently explaining his name to the befuddled clerk."
(Although admittedly, whilst I understand the humor intended, I could also see this anecdote as being perhaps a little offensive, too...)
More recently I've gotten out of a parking ticket in a certain municipality when a frustrated meter maid told me they saw my plates were valid, but the handheld device used to issue tickets would crash any time they tried to issue the ticket.
Inevitably, on the first day of a new class, the teacher would call out attendance, and would briefly pause with a puzzled look on their face, and attempt call me "Ala"? "Allah?" while my friends snickered in the background.
I'd sigh, and say "No it's Alan" and the teacher would correct the attendance sheet and we'd be done with that, for that semester at least.
Until there was a substitute, and we'd start the whole process over.
These days, I don't mind people butchering my last name, and when I have to spell it out over the phone, I endure the occasional comment about it. I take it in stride, as I myself struggle with ethnic asian names. However, I get very testy when someone butchers my first name (it happens more than you would expect).
So now American programmers assume a space in a last name (or a dash for that matter) never happens so is an illegal condition that should cause validation to fail. I don't agree
It doesn't even have to be an "edge case", as stated in the article. My first name has a single accented vowel and breaks tons of online forms. What annoys me is not so much having to re-enter my name with the unaccented version of the vowel, it's when the form throws up an error message saying "Enter a Valid Name" [or suchlike]. I find that insulting. At least make your error text put the blame where it belongs: "So…
Anecdotally, I also heard of a female games journalist who had trouble using a VR headset because she wore mascara. It threw off the eye tracking because the system wasn't designed to handle that.
Any designer must test his or her product on many groups of people to find these problems.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That, and we have bosses who don't believe us that a single string for first and last name won't work for everyone.
Conversely (or is it inversely?), I've got a coworker whose entire, full, legal name is a single word. It just shows up twice in all of our systems.
BTW Just found this list, pretty short. Is it common in some societies still to have just one name?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_legally_mononymous_p...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That, and we have bosses who don't believe us that a single string for first and last name won't work for everyone.
Conversely (or is it inversely?), I've got a coworker whose entire, full, legal name is a single word. It just shows up twice in all of our systems.