Re: [IxDA Discuss] read, 3 Things Phone Manufacturers Should Get Right to Beat the iPhone

[Billy Cox]

I perceive that the 'strategy' for killing the iPhone is to imitate it 
in almost ever conceivable way, but (theoretically) to improve it in 
some remarkable way.


I am an IT guy, so I think that the iPhone's killer app is, well...the 
apps. I just don't see how the iPhone killers are going to match the App 
Store and  the developer base behind it.



On Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 3:58 PM, Andrew Boyd  wrote:

Jarod Tang wrote:

IMHO, it's designing the best as we can for the end user ( and manufacture
for lower cost). Beat the iPhone maybe a natural result ( be even so, the
market is big enough for different players ).

As co-working with the manufactures, i found some really claim that "our
this handset will kill iPhone", but it turns to dust in the end ( we see
many xxx killers in last two years, but not so many suprise to the end users
IMHO)

Regards,
-- Jarod

On Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 3:58 PM, Andrew Boyd  wrote:

  





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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Unusable things

[Billy Cox]

What we need is a button that shocks the user if they press the button 
more than necessary. ;-)  The type of person that typically acts as 
though they can speed up the elevator with multiple button presses 
deserves it.


Adrian Howard wrote:


On 28 Sep 2009, at 06:34, gMulder wrote:

[snip]

Interesting. I did a web site for an elevator company and I talked 
about some usability stuff with one of their guys. Amongst other 
things they said that they generally didn't do this because many 
people press buttons repeatedly - and the toggling behaviour would 
cause more problems than it would solve.


I wonder why the difference.

Adrian
___




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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is the iPhone hard to use?

[Billy Cox]

Young children are accustomed to experimenting with their world via 
touch (and putting things in their mouth of course) so the iPhone fits 
into their normal mode of discovery. Adults by contrast have learned 
other means of discovery that might fail them when they have only a 
single button and a screen.



Brandon E. B. Ward wrote:
I've hesitated chiming in on this, because it's anecdotal, but Jeff's 
friend is not the only one to have experienced children and the iPhone.


My 3 year old had unlocked (swipe to unlock) and was watching YouTube 
videos and playing games on my iPhone the day I got it. She figured 
out all the gestures on her own. Now, 2 years later, my now 2 year old 
uses it like a pro, partly after watching me, partly after watching my 
daughter.


They know how to:
Change settings
Surf the web
Send SMS and Email
Play various games
Call someone
Take Pictures (their favorite)

Basically, anything that doesn't require reading/writing - they figure 
it out, and they figure it out quickly. Give a 3 year old any other 
phone and tell me how fast they're confidently, and repeatedly 
accomplishing their stated goals with those interfaces and software.


Could they have figured out 911 in ANY situation? No. But, I'm going 
out on an anecdotal limb here, if a 3 year old can figure it out w/out 
anyone showing them anything, and a 2 year old can get it by watching 
someone a few times I'm gonna surmise that the device is pretty darn 
easy to use. Just look at the number of kids' and small kids' apps in 
the App Store - mom/dad's device has turned into a portable family 
media station.


Now - there are probably a myriad of factors involved. I'm guessing 
that since my kids have grown up in a world with computers, cell 
phones, remote controls, plasm a TVs, DVD players etc., whereas I had 
my first VHS at age 8, my first computer my freshman year of college 
etc., I think my kids are gonna be ahead of the curve compared to me 
when it comes to adopting and adapting new technologies. (My 5 year 
old has her own iBook and knows its basics as well now so...)


I still come to the same conclusion - I did before, and beautifully 
quoted by Nasir:


"There is nothing wrong with having to explain the principles of 
operation.
It is wrong only when that same explanation has to be given ... over 
and over again." -- Don Norman


However, in the case of my iPhone - the only thing I ever had to 
explain to my kids in terms of usability is which button was the 
'done' or 'back' button as they couldn't yet read. I'm a firm believer 
that the iPhone platform is one of the easiest software/hardware 
combinations ever invented. I'm also an admitted Apple fanboy -  so 
choose to believe if I'm biased or not.







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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is social networking doomed to frivolity?

[Billy Cox]

"What sites like FB do really well, though, is encourage the small
congratulations/condolences that would otherwise get left behind."

This sounds like more bad news for greeting card companies.




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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Article: Southwest designs own software, affects ticket prices

[Billy Cox]

Large companies pay a lot of lip service to promoting entrepreneurial spirit
among their employees. It's nice to see that it can happen in the real
world.



> Then a Southwest employee, Alex Heinold, came up with a breakthrough 
> on his home computer, devising a formula to match the airline's unique 
> operation.




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Re: [IxDA Discuss] AWOL posts, was 'survey on design pattern usage'

[Billy Cox]

I am on a few other lists and they apparently have a filtering mechanism to
prevent out-of-office replies from going to the list. I'm sure that the
technology is mature enough now that this is a function of the list
management software.
 
That said, it's just an extra mental step; a minor inconvenience.
 
Yes, I realized after re-sending my original message that the list must be
down.
 

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Nasir Barday
Sent: Monday, August 25, 2008 5:42 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: IxDA Discuss
Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] AWOL posts, was 'survey on design pattern usage'


We had an outage that prevented posts from appearing on the list, so even if
you hit your handy reply-all button, the post wouldn't have gone through. We
fixed the problem and put some preventative measures in place to keep it
from coming up again.

As for the usability of setting the default reply-to address as the original
sender, we've set it up this way so that out-of-office replies don't get
broadcast to the list and bounce back and forth between each other, bringing
the list to its knees. 

Is this really the least usable list to which you subscribe? There are
several other UX lists that behave the same way, for the same reason.
There's a fine balance to walk here, mostly because Internet e-mail is a
system that hasn't evolved much from its roots in the 70s. That said, we're
looking at a complete re-design of the IxDA experience, which includes
re-approaching the list and thwarting most of the shortcomings we experience
with e-mail as a discussion medium. I hate to leave you hanging there, but I
promise more information in the next few weeks :-).

Cheers,
Nasir Barday
Digital Infrastructure Dude
Interaction Design Association



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Re: [IxDA Discuss] AWOL posts, was 'survey on design pattern usage'

[Billy Cox]

The first time I replied to a post on this list, the message never appeared
on the list because my reply went to the sender of the original message and
not to the list. I have to manually change the 'To' field in my email to
send a reply to the list.

How ironic that an email list for usability specialists is the least usable
list to which I subscribe. :)

 

-Original Message-

From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [

mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Michael
Stiso

Sent: Friday, August 22, 2008 5:12 PM

To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Subject: [IxDA Discuss] survey on design pattern usage

 

*(Note: I've had troubles posting and have had to try a few times.
Hopefully, all those attempts won't suddenly appear on the list, but if they
do, I sincerely apologize for the clutter.)*

 

 
 

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] AWOL posts, was 'survey on design pattern usage'

[Billy Cox]

The first time I replied to a post on this list, the message never appeared
on the list because my reply went to the sender of the original message and
not to the list. I have to manually change the 'To' field in my email to
send a reply to the list.

How ironic that an email list for usability specialists is the least usable
list to which I subscribe.  :)


-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Michael
Stiso
Sent: Friday, August 22, 2008 5:12 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [IxDA Discuss] survey on design pattern usage


*(Note: I've had troubles posting and have had to try a few times.
Hopefully, all those attempts won't suddenly appear on the list, but if they
do, I sincerely apologize for the clutter.)*





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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Fighting trolls

[Billy Cox]

I peruse the Kurzweil (musical instrument) forums every now and then. They
have some read-only forums consisting of answers to commonly asked
questions. (Now if I would just read them, I could get more out of my
Kurzweil instrument.)

I suspect that such threads/forums can provide the information that some
users seek in a format that is even easier than posting to the forum.

> > I question the initial premise of this post; is Trolling a problem 
> > on
> this
> >  list, (specifically individuals Trolling, with no malice - #3)?
>
> For some cases, it can be a problem. For example, I enjoy going to 
> howardforums.com which is a cellphone hacking community. That forum 
> suffers greatly from new members asking HOW DO I ADD FREE RINGTONES TO 
> MY NEW RAZR THX every.single.day. I'm not even joking about the caps 
> and the tone of the voice either.

Again, this can be done through integration with the posting process.  If
more than 50% of the post content is in all caps, stop and make them rewrite
(and at the same time, show the user matching similar posts to divert them).
There are undoubtedly other patterns that are associated with "noise" - but
the burden should be on the technology, not the user.





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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Proper Etiquette

[Billy Cox]

That's it... You're in timeout.  :)


-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of W Evans
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2008 7:07 AM
To: IxDA Nanny Bot
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Proper Etiquette


I already don't like Nanny Bot.
-- 
~ will





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Re: [IxDA Discuss] IxDA in flyover territory?

[Billy Cox]

Yes, my apologies for the US-centric topic. I suppose that the more
inclusive question would be to identify cities that are not A-list, but
which have a viable usability community.

Anyone in Mainz Germany? I'm going there in July.  :)


-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of dave
malouf
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 7:53 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] IxDA in flyover territory?


While this topic is incredibly US-centric, I guess I'll answer it: The short
answer is that if you want a midwestern lifestyle, your options decrease.
But here are cities that I'm pretty sure have some good stuff going on:

Cincinnati
Austin
Dallas
St. Louis
Minneapolis
Detroit
Pittsburgh
Salt Lake City
Denver/Boulder

I'm sure there are more centers in the Central & Mountain Timezones (Yes, I
realize that Detroit and Pittsburgh are EST).

-- dave



. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted
from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=26529



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[IxDA Discuss] Re. IxDA in flyover territory?

[Billy Cox]

I have to confess that my resume is that of a software engineer, but I am
the IT department in my current assignment, so I have to be conversant with
more fields than the average code monkey at a large company. I also find
IxDA (or whatever the proper term is) interesting since it's more closely
related to my educational background than writing code and monkeying around
with databases.

I enjoy reading this list. Usability is one of those specialties that I
could see myself possible transitioning to at some point in the future. It
might be hard to give up the perks that go with being an IT generalist.



-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Barbara
Ballard
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 9:38 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: IxDA list
Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] IxDA in flyover territory?


Kansas City has a few resources:
VML (interactive agency)
Hallmark
Handmark
Sprint, and some local offices for Sprint suppliers
Kansas City Art Institute (some good designers have come from there)
University of Kansas interaction design program Little Springs Design Other
web shops & agencies

And, apparently, you.

-- 
Barbara Ballard
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 1-785-838-3003




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[IxDA Discuss] IxDA in flyover territory?

[Billy Cox]

I'm curious as to whether people doing interaction design live in places
other than Chicago or the coasts? Is this profession like music or theatre,
in which living in flyover territory is a career-limiting factor.
 
 
Billy Cox
Old World Spices
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 
 
 

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Slanty Design

[Billy Cox]

In the case of the sloped floor around the baggage carousel, does slanty
design really help users to avoid a non-goal, or is it just a utilitarian
measure to make sure that some users' goal seeking does not unnecessarily
impede the goal seeking of other users?

I used gmail early on and having delete functionality buried in a drop down
was a pain. There are other reasons for deleting unwanted emails that have
nothing to do with storage scarcity.




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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Ariel vs Verdana?

[Billy Cox]

I lean toward the Ariel font, especially for end users who would relate well
to an overly ambitious mermaid.




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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Web discussion interfaces

[Billy Cox]

I am a frequent user of discussion forums. The forum that I use most often
allows users to customize their view between single thread and tree...which
disrupts conversational flow at times.

I believe there is still a killer app waiting to be developed, or maybe the
social networking model is that killer app.


-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of David
Herzog
Sent: Monday, January 14, 2008 7:44 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Web discussion interfaces


Hi there,

By working with web discussion forums and bulletin boards I'm  
wondering if there exist any different, more advanced approaches to  
display/present a discussion on the web and to interact with it.  
Something differently to tree view or single-threaded view. Does  
somebody know if there are any newer developments or did we reach the  
end of development on this area some years ago?

Thanks in advance.

David Herzog - 8542 Wiesendangen - Switzerland
www.skroll.ch



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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Cramming what we do into a few hours

[Billy Cox]

Point taken...

However, I have a feeling that the distinction between interaction design
and usability would be lost on an audience of project managers and techies.


-Original Message-
Now, I don't want to go off on a rant here, but this is the second  
time in a very short thread that the term "usability" has been  
substituted for "interaction design" (or simply "design"). We should  
know better and we certainly shouldn't be teaching people that they  
are the same!





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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Cramming what we do into a few hours

[Billy Cox]

If it were me, I would use a simulation exercise to illustrate the value of
usability...nothing too involved, but 15-20 minutes to grab their attention
and create interest in the topic.

I am reminded of a scene from 'Men in Black' in which Will Smith's character
and some military types are required to take a written exam but they are not
given a hard surface on which to write. The 'real' test is to determine
which one of them is resourceful enough to pull a nearby table over and use
it as a writing surface.

The application to usability has to do with *not* assuming that the end-user
of whatever we are designing is resourceful enough to figure out things that
are painfully obvious to us.

Another possibility... Create a timed problem-solving exercise in which
teams of 2-3 people have to figure out why a given product is selling poorly
and generating heavy customer service call volume.

Keep in mind that the audience will forget everything that you say and they
will lose, file, or throw away any paper that you put in their hands. What
they *can* keep is the idea that usability is worth paying attention to.
They could also come away with the understanding that they ignore usability
at their own peril.



Hello everyone,

My company has given me the opportunity to teach incoming technical and
project management type folks about what it is that we do. The goal is to
help these folks understand where we come in in the overall product
development methodology.

I have about 2-3 hours to give these folks a sense of what our profession is
about, our activities and the value it adds when properly incorporated into
a project. So I am curious: given those admittedly loose parameters what
topics should I be sure to cover?

Thanks
Baruch Sachs




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Re: [IxDA Discuss] 'Select Country' dropdown

[Billy Cox]

I cannot understand why a state dropdown would display state abbreviations
versus the actual name of the state. One would assume that the average user
knows the abbreviation of their own state, but I used to assume that
everyone knew that they could TAB through a form.

As for the maximum number of entries in a dropdown, I don't know that those
rules necessarily apply now that everyone has a scrolly-mouse and one can
also jump through the list by typing the first character of the desired
selection. 

I worked on a project a couple of years ago in which the client insisted on
having a dropdown populated with every employee in the company (1000+). They
were also in the thick of sub-prime mortgage lending, so long-term thinking
was not part of the company culture.

I think type-ahead controls (or whatever they are called) will replace
dropdowns in the foreseeable future and I won't shed a tear.




"I don't know if "states" fall into the same consistency rule, but over time
when I tab into a State field, I hit the letter N six or seven times (can't
remember which off the top of my head), and whether they use NC or North
Carolina, I almost always wind up on my state.  That is, even if you use
acronyms, use the order that's most consistent with what users expect.  In
my case, I expect to hit NY before NC, even though that's not truly
alphabetical.  Kind of odd how that turned out, but it's a weird sort of
consistency that works."




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[IxDA Discuss] 'Select Country' dropdown

[Billy Cox]

In filling out various web forms, I have noticed two interaction standards
specifically related to dropdowns in which the user selects their country of
residence.
 
1 -- List is alphabetical (placing United States near the end of the list)
 
2 -- Most likely selection(s) at the top of the list, with remainder of list
alphabetical.
 
Which one would you use and what would influence your decision?
 
 
Billy Cox
Old World Spices
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 
 
 

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Liquid Blueprint

[Billy Cox]

Thanks a lot for the link. I am weaning myself from table-based layout to
css-based layout, and anything that can make it easier is great.

-Original Message-
The Blueprint project page: http://code.google.com/p/blueprintcss/





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Re: [IxDA Discuss] The Millenials are coming

[Billy Cox]

This was my thought as well. I am old enough to have heard many sermons
about the 'me generation' when the target was baby boomers. The millennials
piece could very well have been lifted directly out of one of those 'How to
Manage Gen X' books; changing the Gen X terminology to 'millennial'.

A company has to have a pretty high margin (or a lot of slave labor) to
coddle inexperienced employees without going broke in the process.

Reeling this back to a business discussion, unless we are inclined to think
that the fundamentals of business (competition, profitability) have been
repealed, we will see millennials adapt to business culture or be faced with
a lot of extra time to climb Mount Everest.


-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Matthew
Nish-Lapidus
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2007 2:08 PM
To: Joseph Selbie
Cc: IxDA
Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] The Millenials are coming


Does every generation say that of the one older than them?  And vice-versa?

This doesn't seem like anything new to me




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Re: [IxDA Discuss] [QUAR] Re: What tools do you use for prototyping?

[Billy Cox]

How about a working definition of 'prototype'?

Prototype -- 'A visual approximation of the form and/or function of an
intended finished product with a level of fidelity appropriate to the
project lifecycle and intended audience.'

Such a definition acknowledges that there is no single method of prototyping
that fits every situation. The definition also suggests that the prototype
serves the project but it is not the final deliverable.

So, a design mockup would function as a prototype with a certain degree of
suggested function. 

A Visio flowchart (properly used) would function as a prototype of a process
flow while providing almost no indication of design requirements.

A pile of paper with sketches of various screens would function as a
prototype incorporating simple design as well as process flow.


Thoughts?


-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joe
Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2007 5:25 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [QUAR] Re: [IxDA Discuss] What tools do you use for prototyping?


paper/whiteboard then OmniGraffle then Fireworks then...whatever the team's
using. That's often Visio for wireframes and Photoshop for design followed
by some sort of higher fidelity. I use TextWrangler, BBEdit, and Homesite
(windows) for HTML/CSS coding.

I concur with Bill--give me a good combined tool. While I like Canvas,
having used it since version 3.5, I am saddened by what ACDeeSee has done to
it. Latest version is Windows only, for example.




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Re: [IxDA Discuss] What tools do you use for prototyping?

[Billy Cox]

Hello,

I am working on a touchscreen interface for a manufacturing application. I
sketched out on paper the various screens in rough detail, and now I can
impress my friends and neighbors by calling it a 'paper prototype.'

I work for a small company, so my paper prototype is primarily a development
tool and not a means of measuring usability. In my context, I perceive that
users give better feedback if the prototype is a closer approximation of the
real thing.

I AM prototyping the touchscreen buttons along with 'click' behavior to get
some user feedback. The actual touchscreen arrives today...fun fun.   :)

Btw, I'm new to the list - looks like a really good community.


Billy Cox
Old World Spices
[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
 
 



-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of pauric
Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 3:49 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [QUAR] Re: [IxDA Discuss] What tools do you use for prototyping?


Robert wrote: "There are also some good reasons not to use these tools."

I would argue that the tools used for a task such as prototyping are pretty
much irrelevant.  As long as it gets the job done.

Now, understanding what it will take to get the job done requires you
understanding who the audience of that document is.

It seems to me a lot of different things get called 'prototypes', right up
to near specifications.  Which is fine, but Robert highlights an issue with
such a generic label for a document that can be for anything from a personal
feasibility eval right up to a client presentation or something that might
be handed off to implementation.

As I said previously, the first and foremost part of prototyping for me is
understanding the audience, producing the right level of detail required for
that audience to interpret the design decisions captured withing.  I chose
to label some of these docs 'mockups', that suits my process.  It would seem
a worthwhile exercise to put a coversheet on your 'prototyping' to explain
whether the doc is up for review or just a heads-up presentation level
release.

We put annotations on the elements within a prototype, why not annotate the
entire thing with its purpose?

In the past when I've called something a prototype in the wrong context I've
set myself up for a world of mess when what I had was almost final.


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted
from the new ixda.org http://gamma.ixda.org/discuss?post=22050



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