It's the Interface, Stupid

A lot of everyday frustrations with technology (among many other things) come from a simple root. The interface of the technology wasn't designed for the ease of use for the user, it was designed for the ease of building or or saving money or reusing an old design or to look "cool" or whatever the needs of the designer are. The best interfaces are those that are simple enough to become invisible with little practice. Yes, people can get used to almost any interface with sufficient practice, and then they're going to not want to change and start over again. Witness the survival of the QWERTY keyboard. Which is all the more reason to get things right the first time.

So what's a good interface have?

It should be as simple as possible. That's important. People only can remember so much stuff at once. By simple, I mean the number of options at any one time is limited, and each is distinct. And what they do should be fairly obvious.

Feedback. When the user does something, the interface should respond, and the response should be clearly tied to what the user did. That way people build associations to them quicker. And if they do something wrong, it should say so too, also clearly. And help lead them to what they want to do.

Those are the two biggest ones I can think of. I'm sure there's others, but I'm not an interface engineer. I'm just a guy who has to use crappy websites to put in reports. The main thing is this. The interface needs to be designed for other people, not for the people designing it. The best interfaces become invisible, the more the user has to notice it and think about how to work it, rather than thinking about what they're trying to do, the worse the interface is.

Wait a Second

Okay, so. Riddle me this, Batman. Recycled paper used a lot less raw materials, energy, water, and pretty much every other resource that goes into paper making.

So why are notebooks from recycled paper usually more expensive than notebooks made from new paper? Is it just the companies figure the only people who are going to care are middle class or better and willing to pay a "conscience tax" or something? Instead of just making plain old bog standard notebooks that happen to be made from less stuff, so they're cheaper to make?

Okay, Those Bombers Again

So, the British have charged fifteen of the guys they arrested in the wake of the "airline plot". Four have been released, and five are being held awaiting charges, which the British government has to do within seven days or release them.

An Article from the LA Times

And yet...so?

First of all, the hype around the arrests? Ten planes, "unimaginable destruction"? No. It's perfectly imaginable. Ten planes fall out of the sky, somewhere probably between 1,000 and 2,000 people total on board.

Except... "British and European counter-terrorism officials said they now believe the suspects planned to down about six jets, perhaps fewer."

And "Dozens of searches turned up six videos in which suspects described their reasons for participating in a plot to smuggle aboard materials to make liquid explosives while in flight, British and European officials said."

Okay. So, these guys didn't have passports, but they were busy screwing around and making "martyrdom videos" with a camcorder and webcams. With "bombs" that would take a lot of time and care to make in an airport bathroom. Which would be interrupted by the line of angry people waiting to go to the bathroom. Seriously, this is the kind of plot we're supposed to wet ourselves and run from? These guys who were approaching it like a bunch of fratboys psyching themselves up by taping each other? THIS is the great existential threat to our nation?

Sweet fucking Christmas. I can't take a bottle of hand lotion on a plane because of these yahoos? I dread to think of how our governments would react to a terrorist threat that wasn't run by complete morons.

A thought

Celtic Music is weird. Half of it's basically "LIFE FUCKING ROCKS! LET'S GO DRINK!" and half of it's basically "EVERYBODY WE KNOW DIED IN TRAGIC WAYS! LET'S GO DRINK!" and you can't tell which is which from the tunes, because some of the first sound really morose, and some of the second are some of the most upbeat music ever.

Thus, weird.