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RE: ADMIN: Re: OT How do I unsubscribe?.. reading directions
Subject:RE: ADMIN: Re: OT How do I unsubscribe?.. reading directions From:Chuck Martin <CMartin -at- serena -dot- com> To:TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 26 Jan 2000 17:09:48 -0800
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Cornellier [mailto:cornelli -at- stavanger -dot- geoquest -dot- slb -dot- com]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2000 1:51 AM
> To: TECHWR-L
> Subject: Re: ADMIN: Re: OT How do I unsubscribe?.. reading directions
>
<snip>
>
> 3. Incompetence. Raise your hand if you've never pushed a
> door labeled pull.
>
But it's not incompetence, at least not by users. That the door needed a
label probably means that it was designed so as to look like it should be
pushed.
A bar all the way across a door generally communicates something that is to
be pushed. When that's not the case, instead of re-designing the door, most
times a label is added: Pull.
When users approach the door, they do so without conscious thought. They see
the bar and recognize from its appearance what to do. Or so they think. They
are then surprised when pushing does not result in what they expect. That's
not incompetence in users, that's incompetence in design.
--
Chuck Martin
Sr. Technical Writer, SERENA Software
"People who use business software might despise it, but they are getting
paid to tolerate it....Most people who are paid to use a tool feel
constrained not to complain about that tool, but it doesn't stop them from
feeling frustrated and unhappy about it."
- "The Inmates are Running the Asylum"
Alan Cooper
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