The Importance of Usability — Online AND Elsewhere!
Maybe I'm just being small minded here but there are a few things in life that I dislike more than poor usability and poorly designed things that don't work well.
These days, however, whether something is user friendly and intuitive doesn't seem to be a super important part of our lives. And I can't help but wonder what's up with that?
One of the things Mrs. Denmarkguy and I really like is rotisserie chicken. Sure there's the kind you can buy fresh from the grocery stores or Costco, but we like to make our own at home.
Shouldn't be rocket science, right?
So, about a few years ago we decided to invest in one of these home ovens and we got something that seemed like it should work reasonably well.
But it was not really anything like it was promised to be.
For starters it really didn't work very well for any chickens that were more than about 4 lbs - which may raise a questioning eyebrow or two in many parts of the world - but here in the USA you very seldom can get a whole chicken that's less than 5 or 6 lbs. So that was strike one.
It also turned out that it was really difficult to use because the chicken had to be tied up a very specific way, and the forks that held the chicken in place on the long primary spit in the middle were rather too small and flimsy to do an adequate job.
The net effect was that it generally took us about 10-15 minutes to put a chicken on a spit and get it started. That was strike two.
Then there was the cleaning part. The whole thing was incredibly difficult to clean because the various parts that had been stamped out of a sheet of metal had lots of little nooks and crannies you just couldn't get to, and even required the use of a discarded toothbrush after having been soaked in soapy water for 12 hours or more. That was strike three.
So it ended up that even though we love rotisserie chicken, we ended up not using it very often and towards the end hardly at all.
Recently, Mrs. Denmarkguy got a coupon for some percentage off at a cooking store online and we did some research and decided to splurge and get a different machine. This model is not only easy to get set up and get cooking with the chicken, it cooks the chicken faster than the old one, and it's easy to clean.
Needless to say, this particular oven gets used all the time! The cost was quite similar between the two.
What made me think about that was running into something that doesn't work online, just now. I was visiting a news website and it was having a hard time loading because there were simply so many live interactive ads trying to load and run at the same time that the page become "unresponsive" and I had to shut down my browser.
It seems like lots of people have great ideas for stuff that maybe they want to develop or do something with, but do you people ever test your own product in real world conditions?
Moreover, when it comes to web apps and websites do you have somebody other than the developer with a screaming hot piece of gear test the site? Like maybe your average stay at home person with a very average 5-year old laptop? Based on what I typically see I'd venture not!
Which brings me to a perhaps less than subtle complaint about the whole blockchain and cryptocurrency space. I'm sure there are lots of marvelous ideas and marvelous apps and what have you but were these marvels tested on normal non-techie human beings as opposed to just a handful of super nerdy blockchain developers running $10,000 high-powered gaming machines?
Making sure stuff actually works in the real world it's a real important part of making sure you have a success with something. Seems like it's really difficult for people to understand that sometimes…
Oh, and adding a bunch of random "shiny" features that make something look really impressive and sophisticated does not mean that it's actually better or easier to use!
Of course, it could be you're more concerned with ego gratification than functionality...
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great remainder of your week!
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Created at 2024-08-14 01:42 PDT
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Couldn't agree more! It's rare to see a product designed for what the users need rather than to apply the latest technology.
I'm still happy with my microwave which features two dials only - no buttons, no screens. My toothbrush could be connected to the internet, but at least it's not required. I hope touchscreens on car consoles will be banned for security reasons before I buy an EV.
For websites, an ad blocker like uBlock Origin is essential to avoid bloat, trackers and dangerous links.
As for crypto, the current hope of Ethereum devs is that the complexity of all these second and third layers will be hidden for end users of apps eventually. Unfortunately, you can't hide the complexity when the underlying systems are experimental, insecure, badly standardized and sometimes expensive. At some point they'll have to explain: "Oops, your USDC.E on Polygon was sent to a contract which only accepts USDC on Optimism, and now it's gone." Hive would be more suitable for hiding the complexity this way.
I recently attempted to dine out at Panda Express, but ran into problems. I couldn't find an allergen poster anywhere, so I tried online. Nothing there either. All links related to their menu led to an app page or web form for ordering. No info I need about what I order. So I ate elsewhere.
Ah yes, ease of use and cleaning are huge. Mrs T always scours the internet for reviews on exactly that before purchasing now.