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Dialing 911, it instantly starts calling, and the send button changes to hangup. I find this kind of crap all over the place in Android - buttons dancing aroun

Dialing 911, it instantly starts calling, and the send button changes to hangup. I find this kind of crap all over the place in Android - buttons dancing around or changing function so idiotically that it almost feels like my phone is intentionally trying to trip me up. The designers also seem stuck under an assumption the user is operating in an act-look feedback loop. In reality, good tools let you shift your focus away from them once you become proficient - the mechanics of their use becomes second nature and fades into the background allowing you to focus on your task - exactly the way you found yourself relying on muscle memory in that razor-focused, high stakes situation. I'm saying this not only as a lifelong tech nerd, but from lived experience as a First Responder (where we routinely deal with high-stress situations, and aim to train with our equipment until it's too familiar to get wrong). It's unconscionable they'd ship such an inconsistent behavior in a function that is at once critical and rarely-exercised. The problem wasn't you, it was your shoddily designed tool.

sunaookami 1y ago
The constant A/B tests in Google apps like the Play Store drives me nuts. Buttons constantly changing around which is equal to being gaslit because you are wondering whether you just misremembered where the button was.
- hulitu 1y ago
  New 21 century UI design: "John, you will work on a new project: change the send button in a recording button depending on context and moon phases. Alice, you will also work on a new project: Round the corners of UI elements and increase the space between them, so they are more visible. But everything must fit on one screen, no scrollbars allowed."
sudahtigabulan 1y ago
I think touch screen itself limits the possibilities to create UIs usable with minimum attention. You have to look at it to find the right area to press. All those buttons, knobs, sliders, etc., imitate the real thing, but only in 2D. Can't rely on feeling to find the right control, unlike with physical designs. It's not the only culprit, of course. There's still room to at least design a layout that is predictable, and with buttons that are easily reachable. Some UIs make me think the designer was an alien invader in a human body. It thinks nobody can tell, but when it designs a UI that can only be called "intuitive" if you have 7 fingers, the 2-nd and 5-th longer than the others, and the 3-rd one a tentacle... I got you, motherfucker!
- hulitu 1y ago
  > I think touch screen itself limits the possibilities to create UIs usable with minimum attention. It has nothing to do with touchscreens. Windows 3.1 UI is thousand times more usable than the crap that is Android and iOS. The UI "designers" decided that everything must be a label and the only menus allowed are the hamburger ones.
Nextgrid 1y ago
> The designers also seem stuck under an assumption the user is operating in an act-look feedback loop Remember that most of the technology industry today is primarily an ad delivery platform - either current one (aka there are ads there already), or a future one (so even areas where there aren’t ads yet aren’t safe). Designers want you to always be in an act-look loop, because then you’ll either look at the ad which is already there, or at the very least generate more “engagement” which pumps up their analytics numbers (translates to promotions/salary) and ultimately translates to more ads (the company can now pitch this high-engagement screen real estate to the highest bidder). The era where computers/technology did things as their primary function appears to be just a happy accident. It’s only a matter of time before you get ads for health insurance while you dial 911.

sunaookami 1y ago

The constant A/B tests in Google apps like the Play Store drives me nuts. Buttons constantly changing around which is equal to being gaslit because you are wondering whether you just misremembered where the button was.

hulitu 1y ago
New 21 century UI design: "John, you will work on a new project: change the send button in a recording button depending on context and moon phases. Alice, you will also work on a new project: Round the corners of UI elements and increase the space between them, so they are more visible. But everything must fit on one screen, no scrollbars allowed."

sudahtigabulan 1y ago

I think touch screen itself limits the possibilities to create UIs usable with minimum attention. You have to look at it to find the right area to press. All those buttons, knobs, sliders, etc., imitate the real thing, but only in 2D. Can't rely on feeling to find the right control, unlike with physical designs. It's not the only culprit, of course. There's still room to at least design a layout that is predictable, and with buttons that are easily reachable. Some UIs make me think the designer was an alien invader in a human body. It thinks nobody can tell, but when it designs a UI that can only be called "intuitive" if you have 7 fingers, the 2-nd and 5-th longer than the others, and the 3-rd one a tentacle... I got you, motherfucker!

hulitu 1y ago
> I think touch screen itself limits the possibilities to create UIs usable with minimum attention. It has nothing to do with touchscreens. Windows 3.1 UI is thousand times more usable than the crap that is Android and iOS. The UI "designers" decided that everything must be a label and the only menus allowed are the hamburger ones.

Nextgrid 1y ago

> The designers also seem stuck under an assumption the user is operating in an act-look feedback loop Remember that most of the technology industry today is primarily an ad delivery platform - either current one (aka there are ads there already), or a future one (so even areas where there aren’t ads yet aren’t safe). Designers want you to always be in an act-look loop, because then you’ll either look at the ad which is already there, or at the very least generate more “engagement” which pumps up their analytics numbers (translates to promotions/salary) and ultimately translates to more ads (the company can now pitch this high-engagement screen real estate to the highest bidder). The era where computers/technology did things as their primary function appears to be just a happy accident. It’s only a matter of time before you get ads for health insurance while you dial 911.