UX Note

UX Note: Returning a luggage cart shouldn’t be so hard

Post published:October 31, 2019
Post author:philip

Recently I picked up my wife at the airport. She arrived with her bags on a luggage cart, as is common in airports across the world. This airport, Ben Gurion Airport outside of Tel Aviv, was famous for years for being one of the only major airports that made luggage carts available for free. That changed not so long ago, and like other airports you need to rent the carts. That, in and of itself, isn't that big of a deal. Even renting the cart isn't a big deal. Returning it, on the other hand, is a user experience disaster. In all the airports I've rented carts from, you pay for the cart (sometimes with cash, sometimes with a credit card), use the cart to move your bags, and then you either return the cart to a luggage cart station, or you leave it at the curb and someone would come collect it. In the US it was once common to get a small amount of money back when you returned the cart to a station, to incentivize you to return the cart instead of leaving it on the curb or in the parking lot. This is kind of like…

UX Note: High lights and design

Post published:March 26, 2017
Post author:philip

Recently while driving down the highway I noticed a crew changing lightbulbs on a street lamp. This particular street lamp was one of those extra-high poles with the circle of lights around the top that you see only on highways and some industrial or sports complexes. I had occasionally wondered why the transition was made to those poles that were double or triple the hight of standard street lamps. My assumption was that being higher they provided a larger spread of light, and they could be placed in the median so they could provide light to both sides of the highway. However, as I knew street lamps had their lights changed by crews with cherry-pickers, I wondered how these high poles whose heights were clearly beyond the reach of a normal cherry-picker had their lightbulbs changed. The answer to that question was now answered, but more on that in a moment. Seeing this crew change the lightbulbs reminded me of two homes with the same issue. Both homes had living rooms with high ceilings, which were very nice, but had the same practical issue – changing the light bulbs was difficult. In the first home, the lightbulbs were standard Edison-screw…

UX Note: How not to upgrade software

Post published:June 24, 2014
Post author:philip

Update 6 Jan 2016: A year and a half after this post was written, Daring Fireball is reporting that Circus Ponies, the company discussed in this post, is out of business. Not surprisingly, considering the odd customer service described below, customers were not a consideration in the closing of the company. The company simply disappeared, and posted a message that sending them an e-mail might get a response, but they wouldn't guarantee it. Oddly they linked to a second web site with the same message in some kind of parody of Alphabet (old Google). I think creating a parody instead of some kind of customer-focused site on how to transition away from Notebook was not the best use of their time. Oh well. I used to use a program called simply NoteBook on a fairly regular basis. It's developed by a company called Circus Ponies Software. Its origin dates back before Mac OS X, to an application that ran on NeXTSTEP (the operating system that would go with Steve Jobs to Apple and become Mac OS X). In the early days of Mac OS X, NoteBook was extremely advanced and fairly unique. Over time other applications aped its user interface, and other organizational applications using different paradigms…

UX Note: Changing the admin of a WhatsApp group

Post published:March 12, 2014
Post author:philip

WhatsApp has been in the news a lot for obvious reasons, and it has been praised for its focus and simplicity. Sometimes, however, simplicity is a crutch. Here's one example. Ever use groups on WhatsApp? It's a great feature. You can set up up to 50 groups with up to 50 people in each group. I've used it spontaneously to organize get-togethers with friends, etc. and it is very useful. I am also part of a larger WhatsApp group used for more long-term coordination. I set it up not realizing a major limitation of WhatsApp groups. The problem starts with only the admin being able to add people to groups. In order to add people, I of course had to have them in my address book with the same phone number they associate with their WhatsApp account. Okay, so I collected the phone numbers of the people I didn't have. Not a problem. As the group grew I realized I didn't want to manage it myself, so I figured I would add a second admin to help manage adding all the people. Except, like in Highlander, there can only be one. Then I figured I would switch the admin over…

UX Note: Removing Apps from an iDevice

Post published:March 10, 2014
Post author:philip

Designating apps to be removed in iTunes

Apple is great at making things 'just work' which is why when things go wrong with Apple, it's that much worse. This is just a quick note on a user experience (UX) issue that bothers me about how Apple syncs iDevices. I'll preface this by saying that since Apple liberated their iDevices from the tether of iTunes, I think they've put a lot less focus into improving the iTunes experience. This issue, however, I believe long pre-dates Apple eliminating the need for iTunes. If your iDevice is full, you need to remove data from the device to make room for new photos, videos, etc. Sometimes you can just offload your photos and videos to make room for more, but sometimes you want clear out more space, so you need to remove apps. There are a few ways to do this: Hold down an app in the Springboard view (aka the Home Page) until it starts jiggling. Press the ⓧ in the corner of the app icon, and approve it's deletion. Find other apps to delete and continue the process. Upside, can be fairly quick. Downside, no way to know which apps take up the most room. Go to Settings >…

UX Note: I see dead people…on WhatsApp.

Post published:March 5, 2014
Post author:philip

How and why WhatsApp grew at the rate it did in the years it has been in existence is a topic of much discussion. Most people attribute it to the fact that WhatsApp got rid of the concept of a 'buddy list' and just used the person's address book in their phone to connect them to other WhatsApp users. I feel like the side-effects of this system haven't been discussed in detail. Multiple SIM Cards One topic I have seen discussed is the problem people run into when they use multiple SIM cards, such as switching cards when traveling. I recall traveling last year and was surprised when I loaded a different SIM that WhatsApp recognized the phone was operating on a new number, and asked if I wanted to switch to the new number. At the time I didn't realize the significance of the switch. When you change numbers, anyone who has your other number in their address book becomes disconnected from you (unless they also have the new number). Why is it that a single WhatsApp account can't be connected to more than one phone number/device? It seems a silly limitation. Changing the number from the WhatsApp perspective…

UX Note: Apple needs to get in sync

Post published:February 3, 2014
Post author:philip

Apple IIe (Wikimedia Commons)

Apple IIe (Wikimedia Commons) The first computer I used was an Apple II in a computer lab in my elementary school. My first computer was an Apple IIe. I am forever thankful to my father who convinced me that replacing it with a Mac SE was the smarter move than getting the Apple IIgs. Except for a few companies that had me working on Windows machines, and some development on Linux boxes, I've been using Macs ever since. I've been on the iPhone since the first one in 2007. I love Apple and most of their products (the Mac Portable should never have come out, and the Pippin...let's not go there). I love that their products 'just work' and are consistent in design (due to their 'Human Interface Guidelines'). That's why it pains me when they don't work. Some things should work better, and just don't (and don't get fixed). In particular, I've found that Apple has a problem keeping things in sync with their iTunes/iCloud services. Let me just preface this with saying technically there are no iTunes accounts and iCloud accounts, there are really just Apple IDs that are associated with iTunes or iCloud. I understand this, but…