4 ms·
My mom has had her own successful small fashion business for the past 25 years, and it frustrates me watching her do anything on the computer -- her business do
by neilsharma 10y ago
My mom has had her own successful small fashion business for the past 25 years, and it frustrates me watching her do anything on the computer -- her business doesn't even have a website. The ironic thing is that she spends all day on it managing her thousands of photos, sending out sales emails, etc. Here are some concepts I've repeatedly helped her with:
PC:
- Navigating the file system is confusing, esp on a PC with a lot of default folders that don't need to be touched
- Drag + Drop relocates local files, but copies if you're uploading to the web/external device. Same action but different results.
- Setting up a new device with the essential software
- Debugging printer and wifi problems.
Web:
- Password recovery/management (she can't use skype anymore)
- Figuring out google drive (finally migrated her business on this)
- the concept of shared files vs attaching everything in emails
- to her, the internet is youtube, gmail, and google search.
- tabs are like browsers in browsers. How do you remember what page is opened in each tab?
- product names are non descriptive. Why aren't they called "Chrome Browser" and "Firefox Browser"?
Smartphones:
- discovering her mobile number (i taped a sticker on the back of her phone with her #)
- making text larger (if she needs glasses to read, she won't read)
- managing push notifications and clearing voicemail (notification overload --> ignores all messages)
- She confuses the concepts of apps, icons, links, buttons, and thumbnails.
- jnbiche 10y agoHa, our mothers were separated at birth, I see. But seriously, it does bug me that Chrome, Firefox, etc. don't label themselves "Chrome Web Browser" and "Firefox Web Browser". A surprisingly high number of people don't even understand how they are browsing the web. The generally find some random way to get online, like clicking a shortcut to some random web page, and keep using this. They have no idea how to answer the question "which browser are you using". A large number of people, perhaps a majority of those 60+, have this issue. Add to this the concept of a "search engine" and they become hopelessly confused.
- yabatopia 10y agoOr just Firefox Internet or Chrome Internet. The word browser is too confusing or meaningless for many people.