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Yikes... I completely disagree with 'the man' on the stocks and on the weather widget. All of the "improvements" he suggested for weather are horrendous. Adding

by nickb 19y ago

Yikes... I completely disagree with 'the man' on the stocks and on the weather widget. All of the "improvements" he suggested for weather are horrendous. Adding all that noise does nothing to improve my cognition of what the temp is currently outside and what will it be later in the day.

Alex3917 19y ago
The point of IT is to combine information with technology to answer questions. When designing something like this you need to start by asking yourself what questions your users are trying to answer. The problem with Tufte's sketches is that they answer different questions. The official Apple version of the stock widget is designed to answer the question, "How much money is my portfolio currently worth?" Whereas Tufte's version is designed to answer the question, "Is now a good time to buy a given stock?" (And I would argue that he answers this question poorly and unaesthetically.) The real problem though is that since his widgets are designed to answer a different set of questions, there isn't really any basis to compare the two sets of designs.
- nickb 19y ago
  >"How much money is my portfolio currently worth?" Whereas Tufte's version is designed to answer the question, "Is now a good time to buy a given stock?" I disagree. As someone who has some experience trading stock, there's no way that anyone would seriously make a trade just based on looking at sparklines. Even technical analysts need more information to make a decision. So in that regard, sparklines are a failure. >The real problem though is that since his widgets are designed to answer a different set of questions, there isn't really any basis to compare the two sets of designs. What about weather? What question is Tufte's version answering?!
  - Alex3917 19y ago
    "As someone who has some experience trading stock, there's no way that anyone would seriously make a trade just based on looking at sparklines." That was kind of my thinking, that sparklines are more information than you need to know how much your portfolio is worth, but not enough to answer the question of whether to buy stock. (Which is what I was trying to say when I said that it answers the question poorly and unaesthetically.)

by nickb 19y ago

Alex3917 19y ago

The point of IT is to combine information with technology to answer questions. When designing something like this you need to start by asking yourself what questions your users are trying to answer. The problem with Tufte's sketches is that they answer different questions. The official Apple version of the stock widget is designed to answer the question, "How much money is my portfolio currently worth?" Whereas Tufte's version is designed to answer the question, "Is now a good time to buy a given stock?" (And I would argue that he answers this question poorly and unaesthetically.) The real problem though is that since his widgets are designed to answer a different set of questions, there isn't really any basis to compare the two sets of designs.

nickb 19y ago
>"How much money is my portfolio currently worth?" Whereas Tufte's version is designed to answer the question, "Is now a good time to buy a given stock?" I disagree. As someone who has some experience trading stock, there's no way that anyone would seriously make a trade just based on looking at sparklines. Even technical analysts need more information to make a decision. So in that regard, sparklines are a failure. >The real problem though is that since his widgets are designed to answer a different set of questions, there isn't really any basis to compare the two sets of designs. What about weather? What question is Tufte's version answering?!
- Alex3917 19y ago
  "As someone who has some experience trading stock, there's no way that anyone would seriously make a trade just based on looking at sparklines." That was kind of my thinking, that sparklines are more information than you need to know how much your portfolio is worth, but not enough to answer the question of whether to buy stock. (Which is what I was trying to say when I said that it answers the question poorly and unaesthetically.)