Rants, Raves, and Rhetoric v4

Category: Usability / Accessibility

  • Facebook Apps Not HTTPS Enabled?

    I much prefer to use sites with the encrypted HyperText Transfer Protocol (https) because it is a more secure connection. It is not just for banks or shopping. So I jumped on the chance to use https for my use of Facebook on more than just the login. Only now I am annoyed by the…

  • Not So Watch Instantly

    Stargate SG-1 season 3 on Netflix watch instantly requires getting the disks for episodes 5, 15, & 20. Why? My best guess is unlicensed for the medium because of an actor. Netflix needs to work on providing a warning when episodes of a television show require getting the dvd so I can plan ahead. Also…

  • Microsoft Failed

    A good error message in my opinion provides enough information for the user or administrator to determine likely cause. It doesn’t have to be THE cause. Just something I can try changing and see if the problem disappears. For a while now, Outlook was telling me the “Operation Failed” in a toaster pop-up. O… kay….…

  • Stats

    Dreamhost collects the access and error logs for the web site domains they host for me. The stats are crunched by Analog. The numbers are okay. I much prefer Google Analytics. (Even AWStats is better.) Analog is good enough. While at Bbworld, Nicole asked me about the hits to her wedding web site. She made…

  • Found My Soul

    A few weeks ago when I got home from out of town, I could not find the remote to my TiVo. On the third day, I ran to Best Buy to acquire a universal remote replacement. The replacement lacked critical usability features. Several buttons were simply missing: Select button to navigate the menus. Guide button…

  • Computing Tower of Babel

    Had a weird thought just now. The world of computing is becoming like the Tower of Babel. Where once there was one or a few options, people create their own variant which may gain in some popularity and take away from the dominant’s popularity. In order to not step on people’s toes we allow them to…

  • oxford v broadcloth

    The one thing I would like to see in computer products is reliability. Having tried my hand at some programming, I know how difficult it is to get there. A new feature? No! Make it work first! Before I forget… What exactly is the difference between an oxford and a broadcloth? Think I have an idea, but it…

  • Always a Gotcha

    Never, ever trust technology. No matter how “easy” they claim it will be, there is always a “gotcha”. Just to be clear, a gotcha, is a user-defined misconfiguration. Frequently they are a default configuration the user is supposed to change, but not clearly noted in the documentation. So much in technology is an afterthought. The only reason…

  • Unexplained Computer Behavior

    Showers are particularly problematic for me because sometimes I will get lost in thinking something through. It will haunt me for days. Saturday morning I started thinking on why computers are so difficult for people to learn. It hit me that just enough unexplained behaviors occur. Once one considers all of the factors that go…