
My grandfather’s iPad - preek
http://blog.dispatched.ch/2010/07/18/my-grandfathers-ipad/
======
dkarl
I really don't get the confusion about clicking. For me, right-click as used
in Windows and KDE (at least KDE3) enabled a massive amount of ignorance. I
never know how to do _anything_ and it doesn't matter. Want to know what
something does and what you can do to it? Right-click and look at the context
menu. Left-click doesn't do what you expect? Right-click and look for the
command you want.

I swear that's all I ever knew about KDE3, and it was almost always enough. It
usually works in Windows, too. Just right-click!

But, I tried to teach my mom about that, and it just never took. "How do I do
open this file with a different program?" "Did you try right-clicking on the
icon?" "Oh, there's the 'open with' command." "Always try right-clicking.
Right-clicking is magic!" "Okay, I'll try that next time." "I'm not kidding!
Write it down! It's magic!" Two days later, "How do I rename a file on my
desktop?"

I really don't understand how it's a mind-blowing concept. There are only two
buttons on the mouse. (That she knows of.) She uses the mouse every day! She
knows how to use more than two buttons on her camera, and she uses her camera
once a month. I just don't get it. Why are the buttons on the mouse harder
than the ones on the camera?

Even weirder is that she is capable of learning a lot of specific tasks. She
learned how to "Open With" and how to "Rename"; it's been a long time since I
had to help her with stuff like that. To me, it seems easier to remember the
single rule, "Right click and look at the context menu," than to learn all
those specific tasks without understanding the general rule.

~~~
Tichy
Same here - it is really just one rule to remember, instant PC expert. That is
also why I don't understand everybody raving about Macs. Macs are not
consistent with the second mouse button rule (they used to have only one
button), therefore there is no way to become an instant expert on a Mac. I
always hate using a Mac because it makes me feel so helpless.

My mother learned the second mouse button rule after a while, btw. Don't give
up :-)

~~~
jimbokun
"That is also why I don't understand everybody raving about Macs. Macs are not
consistent with the second mouse button rule (they used to have only one
button), therefore there is no way to become an instant expert on a Mac."

Although you may have answered your own question, as it seems that the right-
click button does not fit the mental model of non-computer-experts (at least,
that is what we have been discussing).

Maybe the Mac works better for those people because it does not assume that
the user will just right-click to figure out how to do something?

Right-click does work well, of course, in most contexts on the Mac.
Interestingly, though, I've been finding myself appreciating having a big
obvious button to click even when I know the functionality I want is also in
the right-click menu. I suspect Fitt's law has something to do with it.

~~~
glhaynes
Yes. There has traditionally been a drive toward putting all major functions
of a Mac app in the menu bar — even if they also additionally got a shortcut
such as through a "right-click" contextual menu. This leads one to expect to
be able to find any available option through scanning a single set of options
(categorized roughly by the thing or type of action they effect) rather than
having to mentally union all the options from several disparate places to get
a complete mental model of the app's actions and options.

------
WingForward
Just had a family reunion yesterday...I'd say half the people over the age of
55 lack an intuitive sense of computing.

My MIL didn't understand that the interface represented a physical top of a
desk. My mom double clicks on web links. My uncle does all his contractor
company accounting with a pencil, in a ledger book.

That is a huge market for the iPad.

The desktop was a wonderful metaphor with its files and folders, for what it
was replacing. But its time is coming to an end and the iPad is riding and
creating that wave.

After the iPad 3G drops below $300, it will do more to bring that demographic
online than any other device to date.

------
brc
I've been thinking about getting an iPad for my father. He has always been
interested in computers, but a keyboard and mouse are just a bit much for him.
I got him going on a TomTom GPS with touch screen, which, after a shaky start
and fat fingers, he got going on and is confident with. I've recently set them
up with a Tivo, and again, after a shaky start, is building confidence with
the menu system.

I've talked to him about an iPad, told him it is touch screen just like his
TomTom. He understands a touch screen interface - you point at something and
you get it.

Those wondering what the big deal with a mouse, keyboard and everything else -
older people have less flexible hands, someone who has worked hard all their
life don't have the fine motor skils to move a mouse around and click and
double click. A keyboad is an abstraction away from the 'thing' - which is the
screen. Old people also have bad eyesight and often wear bifocal lenses for
reading, and looking up and down constantly between a keyboard and a screen is
taxing and frustrating. If you think a keyboard is simple, ask 10 non-tech
friends what the 'scroll lock' key does, and see if you get 10 answers that
match.

Traditional computer devices haven't moved on much from the hobbyist days of
the Apple 1 where you plugged the box into a TV screen. The iPad is a genuine
step forwards in design for people who don't want to learn a complicated
control interface. At the same time old people know the future is online, and
their children and grandchildren work, play and communicate online. They know
they are missing out, but it's hard for them to undertake the near-vertical
learning curve of learning how to start, work and run a traditional personal
computer.

I'll take my Dad into the store and give him a play with one, see what he
thinks. I'm pretty sure he'll be nervous and anxious not to look silly but
will gain confidence quickly.

~~~
preek
That is exactly our story. My grandfather also has very strong hands due to
having worked a lifetime. But clicking (especially double clicking) never came
easy to him. His Navi did, however (after a stumbling start as you mentioned).

I did show my grandfather the iPad ads on my Macbook and he instantly liked
the idea. I'm sure yours will, too. I would be glad to hear about his
impressions when the time comes^

~~~
brc
Well it's my Dad, not my Grandfather, but, well, he is a grandfather and he is
in his '70s. ;)

The guy can still drive a 3 inch nail in with 3 hits of his hammer but has
real trouble with the end of his finger, of which the last 1/4 inch is
missing, courtesy of a saw blade. He also has trouble grasping a mouse due to
tendon damage in his right hand caused by a nylon rope, a flooded creek and a
rescue attempt - well, you get the picture. Old guys who have worked hard have
the money to spend, and the interest, but just aren't a use-case for product
designers. I've long argued that a phone company who brings out a simple,
affordable phone with a long-lasting battery, large buttons, easy to read
simple screen and ear-shatteringly loud ringers would clean up the seniors
market.

~~~
preek
Kudos to your Dad, then! I'm certain he will manage, he seems just too pro-
active to let this new chance go^^

------
Tichy
My granny learned to use the mouse, it is not that hard. Yes, her first
movements with the mouse were awkward. That doesn't prove that it is
impossible to master. A lot of things are awkward when you do them the first
time.

Is using a browser on a normal PC that much harder than on an iPad? Or is it
simply that people don't try to do many of the things on an iPad that are
confuding on a PC to begin with? For example, most problems my parents used to
have were related to scanning and faxing, which I tend to avoid on my own
computer.

How is the browser on an iPad easier to use than a normal browser?

~~~
preek
I congratulate you to your cunning grandmother! It's good to hear that she
keeps up.

Anyway, "something not impossible to master" might not be necessarily optimal.
In your scenario of browser usage the mouse adds an unneeded layour of
complexity in terms of usability.

Whilst human beings are normally used to interact with their hands directly,
sometimes they were apt enough to design tools when their hands just weren't
enough. With hands you can't make a fire. With hands you can't dig up a field.

What you can do with your hands is push a button or a link. There's no need
for an abstracted tool. The mouse provides nothing a single touch wouldn't.
The mouse just provides clutter.

Still, I'm glad for your grandmother to have mastered it though. Whatever
works to make people happy. Personally, I also have a mouse on my workstation,
but I'm an edge case^

~~~
Tichy
I realize it is silly to dispute somebody else's experience. If the iPad
worked for that grandfather, and the mouse didn't, what can I say. It just
seems to me the "revolutionariness" of the iPad tends to be blown out of
proportions. I'd guess that a lot of older people could have a problem with
the tiny screen, for example.

Supporting a granny on Windows and a mother on Linux, I have certainly seen a
fair amount of unintuitive and confusing user interfaces. I don't want to
defend all the design decisions in desktop computers (fwiw, I think Ubuntu
provides by far the best experience for older people who need support from
their younger relatives, but that is for another subject).

Of course just cropping away functionality until only "unconfusing" stuff is
left is one way to approach the problem. I don't think it is the best solution
for everybody, though.

~~~
preek
Certainly cropping away needed functionality is not a very decent approach.
But let me start with your comment.

Since it is my grandfather this article is about, I can assure you that he had
a pretty nice LCD screen on his old PC. It was only a 17", but it was a
Samsung SyncMaster providing good quality. Besides, my grandfathers eyes are
probably better than my own. And I'm not kidding here - I don't need glasses,
but with his glasses on he kills my eyesight whereever we go.

So it wasn't the monitor, it definitively was the mouse. But not only that. It
was a desktop PC. There's no way comparing the clumsy process of reading a
mail on a desktop PC to that on an iPad.

PC: Step 1. You don't know you got a mail, you poll them. In this case we're
not talking about tech guys who have an always running computer. Step 2. Go to
your computer. Step 3. Start monitor, start PC, (start modem) Step 4. Wait.
Step 5. Login Step 6. Connect to the internet. Step 7. Start your favourite
mail application. Step 8. Wait. Step 9. Probably you got mail last week. Go
ahead and read it.

iPad Step 1. Your iPad is laying on the couch table. It beeps. Step 2. You
take the iPad into your hands and unlock it with one click and one sweep. Step
3. Mail.app tells you there is one message. You click on it. Step 4. Read the
message.

There was a lot less walking and using potential keyboards and mice involved
with the iPad. I personally like that experience a lot better for "non tech
folk". Plus I like it on my phone. A lot.

I hear you when you talk about Ubuntu. I personally look after several
installations of friends (sometimes girls). All of them are very happy with
their computers. No viral problems, no bluescreens, no constant reboots. If
they need something new I can install it remotely or talk them through on the
phone.

Yet, all these users are "powerusers". They need Office. They need a printer.

Many people don't. That enables them to a lesser complex toolset. The iPad
provides that. It could have been a good Android tablet. I'm a big fan of
Linux and have been a SUN employee back in the day. But honestly, there is no
good Android tablet out there to compete with the iPad right now.

~~~
Tichy
I don't understand how the iPad magically connects to the internet, while for
the PC it is a complicated challenge. I suppose you have a WLAN router now,
whereas at PC times, you didn't?

No question, the always on nature of the iPad makes it more convenient for
some tasks. Although I have to say, I never switch off my MacBook either, it
always only goes to sleep (before you ask, I bought a MacBook because I
thought I would do iPhone dev... Still a Linux man at heart).

I understand that the iPad can be simpler for some taks, I just don't
understand how the PC/mouse could have prevented computer use completely.

Eyesight: your grandfather seems to be lucky, I was talking more in general,
as the iPad is hyped as "the computer even old people can use". Most old
people are less lucky with their eyes.

Both my parents do mostly stuff with the PC the iPad can't even do, for
example skyping with their granddaughters. My mother is also still big on
scanning, although I wish she would stop :-)

~~~
preek
That's great to hear, Tichy! I'm glad for your parents to do all those things!

To your comments: The iPad is always connected, because it runs on a data plan
(since you're from Germany: we're on 10€/month O2). Before my grandfather had
to connect his modem after disconnecting his phone. Again, you're from
southern Germany, I'm sure you know a lot of smallish villages without DSL,
too. Getting that Ubuntu PC online takes me about 5-7 minutes. Getting the
iPad online the better part of a second.

And my Grandfather can use Skype, too. Ever since I started living in
Switzerland (two years ago), I'm doing all of my calls using Skype with a
landline plan. First with my Macbook, but since one year with my iPhone. I
carry my landline with me, all the time. And so does my grandfather.

What the iPad doesn't do is scan, yes. But my grandfather has a fax capable of
copying. And he own's a digital camera. That fixes about all use cases he has.

~~~
Tichy
Again, if your grandfather is happy with the iPad, who am I to argue with it.
I just don't understand why you compare it to outdated technology (this also
always irks me about Apple). At the moment, UMTS routers seem to be all the
rage, so you could have attached that "old PC" to a router, too. Of course
having to manually change the phone connector is unbearable - I last did that
maybe 12 years ago... Even twelve years ago there where cheap boxes available
that would switch the phone line automatically between modem and phone.

I am not very knowledgeable about skype. I thought since the iPad doesn't have
a camera, skype would be impossible (at least skype with a picture, which is a
hit with the granddaughters). Also I wasn't sure, can you attach a digital
camera and get images off it onto the iPad?

Anyway, I suppose it is all great - until you get those flash christmass
cards...

~~~
preek
There will be no video chat on the iPad. But honestly, I don't even do that
with my girlfriend. I call her with my iPhone, not the Macbook. Just because
it's more convenient to walk around while calling.

And there's an iPad camera connector kit. This was a must-have feature for us,
because my grandfather really likes his Sony Cybershot digital camera.

As for the christmas cards, I will certainly not send him a flash card. I
wouldn't want or open one myself. There's little to no chance that anyone will
send him something blinky or flashy. Maybe a nice picture, though^^ Yeah,
that'll work.

------
preek
I just had to do an Apache redirect from my wordpress installation to
posterous. Over 2400 hits in like 70 minutes. Thanks for the interest!

------
0_o
I wonder what my future grandson can teach me (50 years later).

~~~
zweben
If everything goes well, he won't have to teach you much at all. That's the
exciting thing about the direction the iPad is bringing computing; it's very
capable, but at the same time, there's not that much to learn.

------
sliverstorm
_My_ grandfather's iPad:

[http://creativecitizen.com/system/attachments/0000/0607/lega...](http://creativecitizen.com/system/attachments/0000/0607/legal_pad.jpg)

~~~
preek
The classic legal pad, not a bad choice. I personally prefer the Moleskine,
though(;

------
julius_geezer
very cool.

------
Charuru
Let me make a bold statement:

The touchscreen will obsolete the keyboard within 5 years.

~~~
thought_alarm
Too bold.

~~~
Charuru
6 years then? :D

Let me qualify this a little. I don't mean no keyboards will exist within 6
years, but at around the 6th year mark, the vast majority of tech aware
people, like you and me, will refuse to buy a computing device (including
desktop PCs) whose primary mode of interaction is through the keyboard/mouse.
Rather they will only be interested in touchscreen devices.

~~~
hugh3
I've only tried typing on an iPad a few times, and while it worked reasonably
well, I can't imagine doing it for hours a day at 80+ words per minute.

~~~
sambeau
Most people, at most times, have no need to type at such a high rate.

The computer-as-leisure device is mostly used for small pieces of
communication - comments on sites like this.

I would be even bolder - the 'average' leisure user could mostly get by with
three buttons:

':-)', ':-(' and 'LOL'.

