

UI Fail: How Our User Interfaces Help to Ruin Lives - dredmorbius
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/001112.html

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dredmorbius
Lauren Weinstein looks at UI design, and misdesign, and the human cost.

Themes: the pervasiveness of bad design (I've been saying for a while: Web
design isn't the solution, Web design is the problem), the frustration _across
all levels of user expertise, including engineers_ , the isolating effects for
those without immediate access to local technical support from caregivers, and
the sheer thoughtlessness behind many of the undrelying problesm.

Weinstein also makes a highly laudable modest proposal that really should be
taken to heart by HN's WebDev community:

 _I would like to see major Web services commit themselves to the proposition
of providing optional and easily enabled "basic interfaces" to their main
services, alongside the existing "primary" interfaces._

Of the rest, some highlights:

 _A couple of months ago, in Seeking Anecdotes Regarding "Older" Persons' Use
of Web Services, I asked for stories and comments regarding experiences that
older users have had with modern Web systems, with an emphasis on possible
problems and frustrations...._

 _It was immediately obvious that many of these respondents were long
frustrated by these issues, and viewed the survey as finally an opportunity to
get these concerns off their chests. Much of what they described was
heartbreaking..._

 _While some of the users had indeed never had much computer experience, a
vast number of responses involved highly skilled, technologically-savvy
individuals -- often engineers themselves -- who had helped build the
information age but now felt themselves being left behind by Web designers who
simply don 't seem to care about them at all...._

 _The frustration of caregivers in these contexts was palpable._

 _They 'd teach an older user how to use a key service like Web-based mail to
communicate with their loved ones, only to discover that a sudden UI change
caused them to give up in frustration and not want to try again...._

