norman@sdics.ucsd.EDU (Donald A. Norman) (10/05/87)
I vowed not to respond to this sort of thing, but I can't let bad design attitudesslip by. If a design flaw leads to errors, it isn't the user who should be blamed for making the error. Telling the user about the danger is not sufficient. The proper design avoids the possibily of the error in the first place. Users are human, and humans err. (It is a fundamental part of our operation, in part, I believe because many of the information processing features that make us reliable, creative, and imaginiative have as side effects error. (This is an informed, professional opinion, on which I have written much.) What leads to this weird set of statements that would appear to have nothing to do with Macs? Complaints about those miserable stickers that manufacturers put on their discs. That won't scrape off and have to be cut. That serve no purpose that I can discover, except that some lawyer probably likes them. And that can lead to damage of the drive if they are not removed and if the user inserts the disk with too much force. Worse, a psychologist (who should take the side of the user) writes, >In article <3907@watdcsu.waterloo.edu> psych@watdcsu.waterloo.edu (R.Crispin - Psychology) writes: > You should not blame the company because you didn't >look especially when the standard practice is to sticker the gate closed. ... > Complaining about a company because the individual user is careless is > not too bright. What a blow to those of us in the Human-Computer Interaction profession. Or who care about and preach User-Centered Design. I hereby sentence you to read The Psychology of Everyday Things. When it finally gets published (March, 1988). Donald A. Norman Institute for Cognitive Science C-015 University of California, San Diego La Jolla, California 92093 norman@nprdc.arpa {decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!sdcsvax!ics!norman norman@sdics.ucsd.edu norman%sdics.ucsd.edu@RELAY.CS.NET
humphrey@skat.usc.edu (Steve Humphrey) (10/10/87)
In article <399@sdics.ucsd.EDU> norman@sdics.UUCP (Donald A. Norman) writes: >If a design flaw leads to errors, it isn't the user who should be >blamed for making the error. Telling the user about the danger is not >sufficient. The proper design avoids the possibily of the error in >the first place. Users are human, and humans err. (It is a >fundamental part of our operation, in part, I believe because many of >the information processing features that make us reliable, creative, >and imaginiative have as side effects error. (This is an informed, >professional opinion, on which I have written much.) Here Here! (There? There?) When the Macintosh was introduced in Feb (?) 1984, Apple put one up on stage and, with a specially hacked up macintalk file, had it introduce itself with an amplifier and a microphone. The text, which I remember almost verbatim and which came (I believe) from the first glossy pamphlet produced, said that Apple engineers "worked night and day, and a few legal holidays, teaching tiny silicon chips about people: how they make mistakes and change their minds. ." Now just when, pray tell, did we teach the Mac ( or for that matter, any other hardware, software, peripheralware, or etcware) that it no longer had to compensate for the MISTAKES OF PEOPLE. -- Steve Humphrey USPS: P.O. Box 1285 humphrey@skat.usc.edu (NOT castor.usc.edu anymore!) Dixon, CA 95620 "There is beauty all around, when there's love at home."
humphrey@skat.usc.edu (Steve Humphrey) (10/10/87)
In article <4665@oberon.USC.EDU> humphrey@skat.usc.edu (Steve Humphrey) writes: >Now just when, pray tell, did we teach the Mac ( or for that matter, >any other hardware, software, peripheralware, or etcware) that it no >longer had to compensate for the MISTAKES OF PEOPLE. Oh, sure Steve. I suppose you would have a little dialog box : _________________________________ | | | You have just spilled your | | coffee into the top of your | | Mac. Please don't do this. | | ______ | | | OK | | | ------ | --------------------------------- Geez! Some people! -- Steve Humphrey USPS: P.O. Box 1285 humphrey@skat.usc.edu (NOT castor.usc.edu anymore!) Dixon, CA 95620 "There is beauty all around, when there's love at home."
oster@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu (David Phillip Oster) (10/12/87)
In article <4670@oberon.USC.EDU> humphrey@skat.usc.edu (Steve Humphrey) writes: >Oh, sure Steve. I suppose you would have a little dialog box : > --------------------------------- > | | > | You have just spilled your | > | coffee into the top of your | > | Mac. Please don't do this. | > | ______ | > | | OK | | > | ------ | > --------------------------------- Actually, the Lisa (also known as the mac XL) was designed so you could spill coffee into the keyboard safely. You had to look in the keyboard troubleshooting section of the manual for the directions for cleaning sticky, dried coffee out of the keyboard (you held it under a faucet and a clever series of barriers kept the water away from the works.) I don't know if the Macintoshes have the same technology, but they sure don't mention it, either on screen or in the manual. You've seen the quote from Duck's Breath Mystery Theater in the demo stacks that came with hypercard explaining how to tell the difference between a personal computer and a coffee machine. --- David Phillip Oster --A Sun 3/60 makes a poor Macintosh II. Arpa: oster@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu --A Macintosh II makes a poor Sun 3/60. Uucp: {uwvax,decvax,ihnp4}!ucbvax!oster%dewey.soe.berkeley.edu
norman@sdics.ucsd.EDU (Donald A. Norman) (10/12/87)
In an earlier note I argued that correct design philosophy would solve
the errors of incorrect disk insertion (rather well done now, by the
way), of not knowing why the apple menubar symbol was blinking, and
similar issues. (The notification manager sounds like the correct approach to
the alarm clock, mail, and other notification problems.)
Now to take care of coffee spills. A respndent complained that trying
to avoid all human frailty would require a warning about not spilling
coffee into the top of the minitor.
How do you design against that kind of error? There are several
answers. (Why do you care? Because the same philosophy and approach
will also lead to better interfaces and program interaction with the user.)
First, any sensible task analysis would indicate that people really do
drink things while working, that these things spill, and that
therefore they had better be guarded against.
One solution: forbid drinking in the workplace (a common approach. I
fordbid it myself. I violate my own rule.)
Another solution: design the workplace so that there is a place to put
the coffee cup, coke can, ... Any airline cockpit or Macintosh
workplace that doesn't leave room for the drink container is asking
for trouble.
Finally, design the top of the monitor so that it won't support a
cofee cup or coke can. Make it rounded, or tilted or pointed. (That
would also stop people from placing their manuals on top of the
monitor, thus blocking the ventilation and cooking the electronics.)
This note really belongs in cog.engineering, but that would require
establishing the entire context of the discusion in that newsgroup. A
problem of design, again.
Donald A. Norman
Institute for Cognitive Science C-015
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, California 92093
(619) 534-6770 (UCSD)
(619) 481-9191 (home)
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