13 ms·

You think people actually read what's on the screen...? Never done tech support I take it!

by cameronh90 5y ago

AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
So how do you expect them to use your product if you strawmen them as people incapable of reading?
- nkrisc 5y ago
  Because they’ll only read what they believe is essential to their goal. Small text below a form element does not scream “critical” it doesn’t get read. I’ve watched many users use websites: they only read what they think is important and skip everything else.
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
    Partly that's because they've been trained to ignore things by people putting too much irrelevant bullshit on everything, but I digress. There will always be idiots, there will always be people who missed something, and there will always be people who refuse to try and figure anything out themselves. But, if we keep designing for these people then everyone else has to suffer because of it.
    - beaconstudios 5y ago
      A good designer designs for reality, not their ideal head canon of how people /should/ behave.
      - userbinator 5y ago
        No, we should stop dumbing down UIs to the lowest common denominator because that's how you get user-hostile software that treats users like sheep to be herded and monetised. The less you encourage learning and self-improvement, the less it will happen.
        beaconstudios 5y ago
        You get user hostile software that treats people as sheep to be herded and monetised because of the capitalisation of software, not because designers are making their interfaces too easy to use. Don't blame designers for that, blame VCs and Silicon Valley.
  - david422 5y ago
    Not just naive users either. I am very computer literate and yet I find myself in situations where I've skipped that text and only find it when I go back. It makes me think when I'm designing things. If I have problems with stuff like that, how can I make it better.
    - handrous 5y ago
      Really, if people read everything they'd never get anything done. They see dozens to hundreds of things marked visually as important that they'll do fine ignoring, every single day. Of course they often miss the one or two per day that they actually needed to read. Then there's the way styles are so different, especially on the web. Horribly user-hostile. How does this site mark something as important, assuming it bothers in the first place? Who knows. And if I'm only planning to be on it for 30s, I'm not going to learn that.
      - swiley 5y ago
        >. And if I'm only planning to be on it for 30s, I'm not going to learn that. It's a standard UI control and it is used pretty often.
        handrous 5y ago
        I guarantee you fewer than 50% of people who use a desktop computer at least once a week know how to multi-select and range-select using shift and ctrl on them, though. That's why you need the text—which many will, for reasons that are actually pretty good, ignore. Or you could just use a better control.
        nkrisc 5y ago
        It is standard but it is not used often. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I saw one used that want some ancient, intranet application built on Cold Fusion. Many users don’t even know you can use a key shortcut to copy/paste.

You think people actually read what's on the screen...? Never done tech support I take it!

AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago

So how do you expect them to use your product if you strawmen them as people incapable of reading?

nkrisc 5y ago
Because they’ll only read what they believe is essential to their goal. Small text below a form element does not scream “critical” it doesn’t get read. I’ve watched many users use websites: they only read what they think is important and skip everything else.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
  Partly that's because they've been trained to ignore things by people putting too much irrelevant bullshit on everything, but I digress. There will always be idiots, there will always be people who missed something, and there will always be people who refuse to try and figure anything out themselves. But, if we keep designing for these people then everyone else has to suffer because of it.
  - beaconstudios 5y ago
    A good designer designs for reality, not their ideal head canon of how people /should/ behave.
    - userbinator 5y ago
      No, we should stop dumbing down UIs to the lowest common denominator because that's how you get user-hostile software that treats users like sheep to be herded and monetised. The less you encourage learning and self-improvement, the less it will happen.
      - beaconstudios 5y ago
        You get user hostile software that treats people as sheep to be herded and monetised because of the capitalisation of software, not because designers are making their interfaces too easy to use. Don't blame designers for that, blame VCs and Silicon Valley.
- david422 5y ago
  Not just naive users either. I am very computer literate and yet I find myself in situations where I've skipped that text and only find it when I go back. It makes me think when I'm designing things. If I have problems with stuff like that, how can I make it better.
  - handrous 5y ago
    Really, if people read everything they'd never get anything done. They see dozens to hundreds of things marked visually as important that they'll do fine ignoring, every single day. Of course they often miss the one or two per day that they actually needed to read. Then there's the way styles are so different, especially on the web. Horribly user-hostile. How does this site mark something as important, assuming it bothers in the first place? Who knows. And if I'm only planning to be on it for 30s, I'm not going to learn that.
    - swiley 5y ago
      >. And if I'm only planning to be on it for 30s, I'm not going to learn that. It's a standard UI control and it is used pretty often.
      - handrous 5y ago
        I guarantee you fewer than 50% of people who use a desktop computer at least once a week know how to multi-select and range-select using shift and ctrl on them, though. That's why you need the text—which many will, for reasons that are actually pretty good, ignore. Or you could just use a better control.
      - nkrisc 5y ago
        It is standard but it is not used often. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I saw one used that want some ancient, intranet application built on Cold Fusion. Many users don’t even know you can use a key shortcut to copy/paste.