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On the one hand I do think that there is a long way to go in improving the usability of computer applications, and that "computer illiteracy" is to some extent
by tesseract 17y ago
On the one hand I do think that there is a long way to go in improving the usability of computer applications, and that "computer illiteracy" is to some extent merely a symptom of the fact that user interfaces aren't good enough yet.
On the other hand it would not shock me at all to learn that many of the confused commenters in this case are not just "computer illiterate", but illiterate sensu stricto, unable to (for example) parse the front page of a newspaper. Of course this is not to say that they can't learn - but user interface design can only go so far; at some point education is necessary.
- thwarted 17y agoNot just education, but actually _wanting_ to learn. This is what bothers me about the position that computers need to be made easier because people just want to get their work done, they don't want to use computers. Well, tough, you have to learn at least something about a tool in order to be effective at it, otherwise, you're going to have problems. So while it's good to work towards a usable interface that is straight forward, easy to use, doesn't get in the user's way and is easy to understand, there is a limit beyond which you have diminishing returns.