Day 416, Large balls, range not satisfiable

The art of being able to conceal things in the hand, to palm.

Depending on the size of your balls and the size of your hand this may be more or less difficult.

So far my hands and the chosen balls are not really a match and palming has proved tricky.

Although the relative size may just make the process harder to learn rather than impossible.

Persevere, that's all.

That fleshy bit under my thumb seems much larger than in the diagram.

I can't yet do it convincingly at all, let alone at near range.

Making a pass hasn't even come close.




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Day 415, Unsupported media

When media goes bad.

Insert a pop filter.

Block out the P - P - P - Propaganda.

See an end to stop-consonants.

Fit a 'pop screen' to minimise plosives.

And that should reduce if not remove the voiceless bilabial stop.

Now test your offering with this simple phrase:

Pete's pa Pete poked to the pea patch to pick a peck of peas for the poor pink pig in the pine hole pig-pen.


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Day 414, First steps in assessing usability and user experience

Some rough and ready questions about usability and user experience.


Quick questions to ask to determine if usability goals have been achieved

Efficiency - does the product allow people to learn well, work efficiently, access information or goods?

Effective - is it possible for people to maintain a high level of productivity once the product has been learned?

Safety - are errors prevented, is recovery from errors easy?

Utility - are appropriate functions available to complete tasks?

Learnability - how long does it take to 1) get started and learn core tasks?  2) learn functionality for wider tasks? 

Memorability - how does the interface support operations which are infrequent?



Quick questions to ask about user experience goals

Is the product:

Satisfying to use?

Helpful to use?

Emotionally fulfilling to use?

Fun to use?

Aesthetically pleasing?

Supportive of creativity?

Rewarding to use?

Enjoyable to use?

Entertaining to use?

Motivating to use?

I find some of the user experience such as 'emotionally fulfilling' slightly odd.  Quite a lot of the products or software interfaces I use don't have any emotional engagement for me whatsoever.  So try reversing the question to say I don't want something to be 'emotionally unfulfilling'.  This may not completely erase the oddity but does make the concept slightly more palatable, so is worth considering.

This is the Atlas 5 rocket preparing to launch and take supplies to the International Space Station.  I bet NASA have spent quite some time considering usability and user experience of their launch procedures.

Yes, that's a screenshot of a Mac.

And that was a usability and user experience in-joke.

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Day 413, A festive face

Hailing from the planet Hattram-barce-juiceway my friend Bernard is not at all unusual.

Not unusual for the natives of that planet, generally...

Specifically, Bernard has more eyes than is the norm for someone non-gender-specific from that planet.

However Bernard comes from the sulphur region.

The sulphur region has atmospheric trans-dimensional diffusion effects.

An individual with only the regular number of eyes wouldn't get a full picture of all the hazards in that environment.

Due to a subtle combination of effects the longest residents have evolved eyes which can see multi-dimensionally.

Individuals from the sulphur region may be able to see across dimensions, but they are also not wholly visible in our dimension.

Hence there may be things about the portrait of Bernard which will be unusual to our eyes.

If you can get beyond the point that Bernard looks nothing like a living thing.

Whatever you do don't say that out loud to Bernard, it would be most insulting.

Bernard will be around until the new year and is here for the Christmas festivity.

If you see Bernard, say hello.



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Day 412, Red flag terms in interaction design

Glancing through my course notes from Fundamentals of Interaction Design I was reminded of 'red flag terms'.

Red flags are terms that claim to evidence sensitivity to human needs.  Whereas what they actually do are reflect a complete lack of understanding of people.

They should be avoided.

Examples of red flags are:

Fool-proof

User-friendly

Intuitive


Some implications of these red flags are:

Fool-proof - you think your customers are fools.

User-friendly - the product holds users by the hand and forces them to do things one step at a time, in prescribed order, whether they like it or not.

Intuitive - ‘so automatic it is not conscious’, but almost everything we call intuitive, such as walking or using a pencil, took years of practice.

'easy to use' - another red flag term

I'm pretty sure I've used these terms in real life, maybe I should have paid more attention after I'd written my notes.



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Day 411, Over 100,000 words

I'm not even sure I know that many in English never mind French.

I probably know about 100 French words.

Or maybe fewer.

Actually I'm not even sure I know 100 English words at the moment.

Let's see how many I can remember:

Bum

Cat

Toe

Lip

It

Devastation

Ogre

Bum

Dog

Millionaire

Fester

Bump

Sip

And

Lozenge

Gum

Tip

Chocolate

More

Chocolate



Ok I've had quite enough of that.

Probably many of those words originate from Spanish, Portuguese, Latin and Old French, as well as Middle English.

Anyway, it was far fewer than 100 words, so I guess that's a reflection of how atrophied my brain is.

It's a good job I have a dictionary available as otherwise I wouldn't have a clue what I was on about.



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Day 410, Will this wind ...

Be so mighty, as to lay low the mountains of the earth?

No.

But it was mighty enough to lay low this tree.

I thanked it for its service to us.*

Hugged it.

Limboed under it.

Then continued on my way.


*Always thank trees wherever possible.


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