January 2012

Google+ Add To Circles Interaction: Some Good & Not-So-Good UX

by Paul Sherman on January 10, 2012 · 2 comments

in Design, Usability, Web

This is an impromptu video of me interacting with the Google+ “add people to circles” feature.

Like most things we interact with in the world, there’s some good and some not-so-good to the experience.

First, the good:
1. The people “cards” are just the right size. The picture is just right also – big enough so I can recognize the person, small enough to fit their name.
2. It was also a smart idea to just show the target’s name (or email if the name is unavailable). It makes for easier and quicker scanning and target acquisition.
3. The whole card is a click target.
4. You can select multiple cards with clicks; no CMD+ or shift+click necessary. However, using a key combination (which some people will carry over from the desktop software interaction paradigm) works just fine as well.

The not-so-good:
1. Drag and drop appears to be the only way to get people into circles. Really? Given Google’s demonstrated commitment to accessibility, I *can’t* believe this is the only way to manage circle assignment. I must be missing something. That just can’t be.
2. A few times I highlighted multiple cards and then inadvertently deselected them. I have no idea why or how.
3. Believe it or not, on first view I thought Google+ had only found 28 (7 x 4) people I knew. It took more time than it should’ve to realize that the card area was scrollable. I might not be able to pin that on Google however. I used Safari on Mac OS X 10.7, which together are a walking advertisement for iOS disappearing scrollbars.

So what does this little spiel demonstrate? I guess it shows that even cutting-edge design with massive resources behind it can still occasionally be a struggle for users. Oh, and don’t forget the accessibility.

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I’ve Found It: The Worst Thermostat Ever

by Paul Sherman on January 4, 2012 · 3 comments

in Everything Else, Hardware

After many years of working in user experience, I’ve found the semi-mythical holy grail of poor design: in my grandmother’s condo I encountered the dreaded “which way is which?” thermostat.

Just looking at this picture, you might think that pressing the left-facing button would lower the temperature, and pressing the right-facing button would increase it. And you’d be wrong. At least, I think you’d be wrong.

If only they were reversed, I could at least deal with that….but sadly no, what we have here is *both* a 90-degree control rotation (or negative 90; I’m not sure), and some kind of mode problem where I couldn’t actually just change the temperature on the fly without entering a “temperature change” state.

And no, I never discovered how to enter the “change temp” mode…I just sweltered in the Florida heat for the rest of the visit.

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