Last week, I got on my soapbox and chatted about user interface design fails. It turns out the weekend's accidental missile alert in Hawaii was the result of users error that was facilitated by some poor user interface design.
Tagged With user experience
I spend a lot of time using various computers as well as an iPad, iPhone and Apple Watch. Given the modern computer interface has been in development for over 30 years you'd think developers and designers would be pretty good at avoiding useless screens and poorly designed controls. But that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm going to mention a couple that I keep bumping into but I'd love to hear from you about your user interface fails.
Over the past three weeks, the /r/ProgrammerHumor subreddit has reinvented the on-screen volume controller hundreds of times over. Starting with one user's sideways slider, users have created funny volume controls based on laptop screen angle, fidget spinners, battery power, latitude and longitude, and the digits of pi. I've gathered some highlights here. For maximum appreciation, imagine how each one sounds.
For those who don't know art and don't care to know art, it still helps to know some easy-to-implement, empirically tested design techniques. Especially if you'll be working in a small team one day, where everyone needs to wear multiple hats. Erik Kennedy has posted a primer for just that on his blog, and it contains a lot of great tips.
