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Re your UI/UX comments (experience?): Could you give a more concrete
example, perhaps a link to something that illustrates what you mean?
Your final statement seems to be the crux of your misgivings, but I don't
have a good enough grasp of what you're getting at.
I agree that the simplification you refer to might be a response to the
size of the screen.
This discussion has made me think about technological change in a new way;
I'm usually super annoyed by the newest computer/program, etc., i.e.,
planned obsolescence. But in some ways, we can only think so far ahead of
experience. How well does something work? We don't really know until we've
tried it; then we can see where it fails viz the real world, especially
considering the world is changing around us at the same time.
Don't recreate the wheel keeps popping to mind. Refine it, reimagine it, ...
Re tables/data: Maybe another way to think about it is where you want the
computer, or what you're going to do with the info. I'm not sure where we'd
want super complex intricate data in front of us in the form of a phone, or
who the person might be who would want that, but that might be a better
starting point for figuring out how to present it instead thinking of it as
an all-in-one solution.
Maybe I'm completely off the ball here, and I'll admit that I don't want to
try anything more complex that getting directions on my phone. Screen size
is the break point for me. I'd rather have several devices than try to do
everything on one. Anyone tried to do anything with a watch? Ugh. Or how
about a frig with a computer or TV on it?
Kathleen
On Fri, Jun 24, 2016 at 2:04 PM, Chris Despopoulos <
despopoulos_chriss -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:
> Since I'm the one who accused UX design of dumbing down, I'd better
> respond. I don't mean to say that dumbing down NECESSARILY happens, or
> that the world would be better without designed GUIs. But in my opinion
> the current trend is toward dumbing down.
>
> Just the change of title, from User Interface to User Experience gives me
> a problem. At the highest level, if I want an experience I sure don't want
> it on my computer (phone, etc.). Collapsing everything into images and
> removing the raw POWER of text is not the right way to go IMO. Without the
> combinatory power of text, we wouldn't have the technology to support this
> discussion.
>
> GUIs initially presented command frameworks as a language -- nouns, verbs,
> and modifiers. That was a huge innovation. The visuals give shortcuts,
> but the interface still supports linguistic combination of terms. IMO,
> User Experience is in danger of trending away from that kind of
> combination, and back to lists of independent commands that can be
> expressed by a tile or some sort of picture. And I'm wondering if this
> trend isn't driven by shrinking real estate (phones).
>
> Back to tables... I just think tables support rapid (agile?) combination
> of data points, and hate to lose that. What's the alternative on a phone?
> Can we support the same level of combination, or must we dumb things down
> and force users to either know the combinations beforehand, or else risk
> never discovering them?
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Kathleen MacDowell <kathleen -dot- eamd -at- gmail -dot- com>
> *To:* Chris Despopoulos <despopoulos_chriss -at- yahoo -dot- com>
> *Cc:* "techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
> *Sent:* Friday, June 24, 2016 2:32 PM
>
> *Subject:* Re: HTML5, Phones, and Tables
>
> This is a very interesting discussion, as I haven't considered how to do a
> better job than is currently being done. I do know I get frustrated with
> trying to do too much with my smart phone, but I haven't had a
> sophisticated one for very long.
>
> A couple of small component ideas based on the discussion:
>
> -Some vendors do a superb job with putting type & info onto the small
> screen. I don't know enough to compare them, but Apple has impressed me, so
> I know it can be done.
>
> -Love tables for info, but even on a computer or piece of paper, there are
> limits to how much info you can put on them or absorb. So then we do some
> type of judgement call. If necessary we can offer links or books of
> background or expansion. Thinking of it makes me marvel at the whole idea
> behind Excel and similar types of programs.
>
> Hate the airline apps & way to choose flight, but there's something to the
> idea. Maybe give people a list of selectors as to what's most important: A,
> B, C, ..., with a max number of choices, then present info sorted that way
> and let them scroll sideways. Then they can select from that list to
> present info more compactly? Like your photo app lets you select?
>
> One could also present info similar to what was selected, like a shopping
> site, when you select one item and it offers other choices like that. Or a
> list where you select a bunch of items to compare.
>
> -I beg to differ with whoever slighted UX/UI practitioners as dumbing down
> info. Ideally that's not any more what they do than what a tech writer
> does. In fact, I'd hazard that this discussion touches on a real synergy
> between what tech writing and UI/UX could be/does at its best.
>
> Kathleen
>
>
> On Thu, Jun 23, 2016 at 3:09 AM, Chris Despopoulos <
> despopoulos_chriss -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:
>
> In the old world tables are very useful. There's no better way in print
> to show a matrix of options, or present a comparison in one glance. For
> desktop online docs that translates really well... You can even use
> javascript to turn the table into something a bit more dynamic -- say,
> enable sorting of rows, for example. But tables require a lot of real
> estate.
>
> What do you do for phones?
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> --
> Kathleen MacDowell
> kathleen -dot- eamd -at- gmail -dot- com
>
>
>
>
--
Kathleen MacDowell
kathleen -dot- eamd -at- gmail -dot- com
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