Comments on: Your interface sucks. http://www.whatknows.com/blog/2008/10/22/your-interface-sucks/ jed brubaker's blog Tue, 20 Sep 2011 07:01:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: Jed http://www.whatknows.com/blog/2008/10/22/your-interface-sucks/comment-page-1/#comment-8066 Jed Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:09:50 +0000 http://www.whatknows.com/blog/?p=404#comment-8066 Very funny Brian. One of the topic I specifically avoided is learned behavior. I am reminded of the recent debunking of the "digital native." If teenagers aren't more technically savvy, just more savvy with the technology they use (which makes complete sense), then it should hold that we can make interfaces for people of any age, provided it makes sense for the reality of their life. I think one of the major problems is that socially we expect "older" users to be the same kind of user as "younger" users. "With enough time, they'll get it!" In doing so, I think we actually end up placing the burden of cross-generational understanding on our interfaces. Perhaps the reason grandma can't learn email has nothing to do with email, and more to do with her not understanding why you would ever write someone an email at 3AM. Very funny Brian. One of the topic I specifically avoided is learned behavior. I am reminded of the recent debunking of the “digital native.” If teenagers aren’t more technically savvy, just more savvy with the technology they use (which makes complete sense), then it should hold that we can make interfaces for people of any age, provided it makes sense for the reality of their life.

I think one of the major problems is that socially we expect “older” users to be the same kind of user as “younger” users. “With enough time, they’ll get it!” In doing so, I think we actually end up placing the burden of cross-generational understanding on our interfaces. Perhaps the reason grandma can’t learn email has nothing to do with email, and more to do with her not understanding why you would ever write someone an email at 3AM.

]]> By: Brian http://www.whatknows.com/blog/2008/10/22/your-interface-sucks/comment-page-1/#comment-8065 Brian Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:31:00 +0000 http://www.whatknows.com/blog/?p=404#comment-8065 Good stuff, Jed. Call me old-fashioned - and not to undermine the quality of the post - I'm coding up a Firefox plugin that capitalizes (at least) the first letter of each sentence. Hehe. Seriously, though... Don't you think this scenario translates to the workplace? And, if so, is your generation prepared to cope with the fact that some boomers won't retire for another 5-10 years? And what about us X'ers? Are we expected to mediate all this? Call me a whiner, but I'm exhausted. Help. Good stuff, Jed.

Call me old-fashioned – and not to undermine the quality of the post – I’m coding up a Firefox plugin that capitalizes (at least) the first letter of each sentence. Hehe.

Seriously, though… Don’t you think this scenario translates to the workplace? And, if so, is your generation prepared to cope with the fact that some boomers won’t retire for another 5-10 years? And what about us X’ers? Are we expected to mediate all this?

Call me a whiner, but I’m exhausted. Help.

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