Horrible error message when I tried to book a flight on Virgin America. A great example of the desperate need for better copywriting on the web.
It turns out that Regan’s name didn’t match the frequent flier number I entered. Why didn’t they validate that three screens ago when I entered it? And why didn’t they provide a clear way to edit the frequent flier number I entered?
6 days ago“Are users dumb? User interface design is not about dumbing things down for the poor stupid user.
We software developers, understanding the software as we do, find it easy to look down upon those who lack our understanding.
This is wrong.
Users aren’t dumb. They just have better things to do with their lives than memorizing the internal data model of our screwy software.
When software is hard to use, don’t make excuses for it. Improve it.
When a user makes a mistake, don’t blame the user. Ask how the software misled them. Then fix it.
The user’s time is more valuable than ours. Respect it.
Good UI design is humble.”
2 weeks ago
“If the stuff you accumulate isn’t actively helping get you closer to a life you truly want, then it’s getting in the way, and it needs to go. Period.
The biggest change in attitude this book made in my life was to teach me not to generate false relevance by “organizing” stuff I don’t want or will never need. Organization is what you do to stuff that you need, want, or love - it’s not what you do to get useless stuff out of sight or to manufacture makebelieve meaning.”
1 month ago