

Hot zones - vibhavs
http://www.marco.org/579412944

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bonsaitree
I find a similar trend with some websites where there's little dead-space for
a mouse-click to switch the focus off of a control, hyperlink, or widget
towards the document window itself.

This is also particularly irksome on sites which implement full-background
ads. The only "non-hot-zones" end up being small parcels of the titlebar or
footer.

I recall this concept of "dead/neutral" space mentioned in one Don Norman's
books (<http://jnd.org>).

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jazzychad
This is my biggest gripe with my iphone (and other fully touchscreen
phones/devices). I have to hold it by its four thinnest edges on the sides.

Re-aligning the phone in my hand usually requires use of the other hand since
it is hard to "crawl" my fingers around the edges. At least with my previous
Treo or blackberry I could rest my thumb or finger across the keyboard to
"grip" the phone when picking it up or moving it.

It's funny how the front touch-screen, when on, renders the entire back almost
untouchable as well.

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patio11
For folks who don't deal with non-technical folks often: "Something unexpected
happen, I assumed it was broken, and I immediately stopped using it to prevent
the brokenness from spreading" is an absurdly common reaction.

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rameshnid
I must say that I disagree with the author. I think humans get used to the
experience and adapt. I remember when I used to drive a bicycle as a kid, I
was scared when dogs ran across me because I thought I would run into them.
Then I realized they are intelligent and they will evade me on their own.

I think when you are designing, one should not consider the user to be dumb.

~~~
alanh
Your argument would seem to work for even the world’s worst user experiences.
Thus all user experiences become equally (not) frustrating with time. This is
a contradiction with real-world experiences.

Edit: It's a popular, but dangerous, misconception among programmers that
making something easy, usable, or intuitive means assuming the user is "dumb."
Understanding that this isn’t true is very important for the success of one’s
product.

Marco makes Instapaper and he has spent a lot of time thinking about &
adjusting the placement of buttons in Instapaper for iPad's UI. His article is
insightful and his opinion carries a lot of weight, for me.

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petercooper
_You hand it to them, the screen auto-rotates, and they freak out for a second
and think they broke something._

That hasn't been my experience when passing the iPad around at family events.
It's usually "Ooh, that's a useful idea." I _hate_ the rotating myself but the
orientation lock fixes that. The iPhone is worse because it doesn't have one.

 _You can pick up a TV remote, twirl it around, and run your finger over some
buttons without triggering anything._

Humans are smart. You can't pick up a glass of lemonade, a mug of coffee, a
donut, a cat or a vase without understanding how they respond. People are
quick to learn how to handle items without being "stressed," though almost any
novel item will cause a little initially. There are plenty of folks throwing 2
ton boxes of metal with incredibly delicate controls down roads at 70mph right
now without incident.

That the iPad has a different usage profile to the Kindle has little to say on
how "peaceful" or "low stress" it is for someone who is realistically going to
use it. This 99 year old woman doesn't seem to be having any problems -
[http://www.tuaw.com/2010/04/22/99-year-old-loves-her-
first-c...](http://www.tuaw.com/2010/04/22/99-year-old-loves-her-first-
computer-an-ipad/). People are more concerned about things like it being next
to useless in sunlight, how delicate it feels, or how the screen is made of
glass.

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lsb
Similarly, on Macbooks the Disc Eject button is really close to the Delete
key. If you just tap the eject button, like you'd tap Delete, nothing happens.
You really have to hold it down for 0.5s or so for the Eject to register.

~~~
Timothee
Thanks, I never thought about the reason why it did that. It's pretty clever:
ejecting a CD/DVD is uncommon enough to warrant the delay.

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derefr
See also: buttons at the bottom of touchpads, vs. tap-to-click, vs. Apple's
"the touchpad is a button" design.

~~~
alanh
Absolutely. (When using a laptop with tap-to-click enabled, I accidentally tap
far too much. Quite frustrating.)

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rmundo
I find the auto-rotate awkward as well, and mostly keep the orientation
locked. The "peaceful" description nails it perfectly.

BTW, this reminds me again why having the same interface as iphone/ipod touch
is a good thing. Anyone who has used those devices would likely not be too
surprised.

