Usability Frustrations
Please send us your bad user interface stories, especially if it is about this site!
Nobody is Perfect
In this instance one can imagine the original error message: “The server could not respond to your request. Please try again”. Notes from the observer may have been:
- What is a “server”?
- What was the users “request“?
- Can more information be provided as to what to do next?
Maybe the developer was having a bad day when they received the notes!
This was adapted from a blog entry Made out of People: When Usability Goes Wrong.
Peuguot Flashers
The Peugeot 206 has a central digital display in the dashboard that looks aesthetically excellent. It is there to provide general information to the driver and passengers, such as date and time, current radio station, external temperature. Peugeot felt the need to put in some helpful features for those users who do not know when they have, for example, left the keys in the ignition or left the lights on. Generally, this is a good thing.
The one item that is less than useful is that the temperature replaces the time on the central dashboard display when the temperature falls below 3°C. This would be useful if there was a way to recover the time and, more importantly, if the temperature did not flash in the drivers peripheral vision causing a distraction.
Oh, and there are only two buttons to control the interface... and they are unmarked.
This Terminal is Dead
The manager of a system installation for police and sheriff departments one day received a call: “Your terminal is dead. Come and get it.”
The caller insisted the manager come personally and on arrival the manager found the terminal with two bullet holes in it. Apparently, it is not healthy for computers to repeat 'Do not understand' to armed officers!