Topic: Unforgivable Sins of UI Design (Read 25823 times)

Thad · « **Reply #140 on:** February 14, 2012, 01:28:42 PM »

Hey Lenovo, I've got a question.

Why the FUCK do I need the latest version of .NET to install a fucking audio driver?

Thad · « **Reply #141 on:** February 26, 2012, 01:16:55 PM »

Oh, you don't have a spot on your website to download your program anymore; I have to get it from the Mac App Store.

Soooo WHY the fuck do I need a login and password to download a FREE APP, again?

Thad · « **Reply #142 on:** March 30, 2012, 07:36:52 AM »

So okay, another one for Lenovo's driver section.

Hey Lenovo.

You know how you've got an ActiveX control that detects what model computer I'm running so it can take me to the driver page?

Yeah.

So if you're already running a program that detects my system configuration, why does it put me on a page that's cluttered with 3 different versions of every driver instead of just showing the ones for the OS I am actually using?

I mean, you know, it would be NICE if you could detect whether I've got the model with the nVidia onboard graphics or the Intel, instead of leaving me to figure it out for myself or just download both, but at this point I'd settle for just not giving me 2 different sets of Win7 drivers when I am running XP. (Or 2 different sets of 32-bit drivers when I am running Win7/64.)

Thad · « **Reply #143 on:** April 11, 2012, 08:52:26 AM »

Has MS changed its "add printer" menu since Windows 95? Because it doesn't look like it. Other than the fact that it's now called "Devices and Printers", because apparently printers are not devices.

The default port is still LPT1 -- because yeah, THAT'S the likeliest place I'll be plugging in a printer in two thousand and goddamn twelve -- and if I want to add a network printer, I am supposed, inexplicably, to choose "Add Local Printer".

(Also, note to HP and the rest: the ready availability of high-speed Internet is no goddamn excuse for 150MB fucking driver files. Fuck you.)

Brentai · « **Reply #144 on:** May 21, 2012, 10:15:09 AM »

I know I've complained about this before, but seriously.

The specific lack of multiple monitor support in fucking Office.

How do you even be the standard for professional productivity software?

Thad · « **Reply #145 on:** May 22, 2012, 11:03:16 AM »

So okay.

I've complained at some length about oversized driver files -- you know the type. 150MB for a goddamn printer driver, even though the fucking thing should weigh in at maybe a couple of megs, tops.

And I've even seen drivers that won't install unless you install .NET first.

But this one really takes the goddamn cake:

An ethernet driver for Vista that won't install unless you've got SP1.

So how the FUCK am I supposed to download the service pack without a FUCKING ETHERNET DRIVER, YOU ASSHOLES?

The company responsible is Marvell. I'm sure they're already a company nobody would ever intentionally buy anything from, but seriously, before you buy a computer make sure that the onboard ethernet is not them.

EDIT: Fortunately, yes this IS entirely a UI problem; I discovered, before bothering to download SP1 to a goddamn jump drive, that if I just pointed Device Manager at the driver folder it installed the (1.4MB inside an 88MB setup file) inf just fine.

So at least this incredibly fucking stupid thing is easily circumvented. But that doesn't make it less stupid, it just makes it less inconvenient.

In fact I'd argue it makes it MORE stupid. Because it refuses to allow you to do something it should not refuse to allow you to do.

Thad · « **Reply #146 on:** June 13, 2012, 06:46:34 AM »

Jesus, MS, is it too much to ask for a bundled text editor that gets the job done and doesn't completely suck?

I'm getting ready to image some laptops. I'm putting together a csv that pairs asset tags with MAC addresses.

The MAC address is printed as a barcode on the box, so I scan that in.

Sometimes I scan the wrong barcode, so I hit Ctrl-Z.

And for some fucking reason, Notepad thinks that means I want to undo EVERY SINGLE THING I HAVE PUT IN THE DOCUMENT and leave me with a completely blank window, instead of, you know, doing something remotely fucking useful.

...I hear TextPad Pro's pretty good. And NotePad+? Isn't there one called NotePad+?

(It really is kind of astounding, the disconnect of what you get out of the box from one OS to another. Windows: not a whole hell of a lot, but don't worry, you probably bought from a vendor who loaded your shit up with crapware. MacOS: really quite a wide array of pretty good software, but for some reason no simple paint program anywhere to be found. The Linuxes/BSD's/what-have-you: pretty much whatever the fuck you want; if it's not on the disc it's in the repos, and if it's not in the repos you can compile it yourself. The idea of a Linux distro without a decent text editor is contradiction in terms; I can't say I've ever used one whose default installation came with fewer than five.)

François · « **Reply #147 on:** June 13, 2012, 02:42:05 PM »

Years ago I started looking for a Notepad replacement, found Metapad, and stopped looking. So I don't know how it compares to its alternatives, but it's small, it's free (and open source since the last version), and it's been getting the job done so far.

jsnlxndrlv · « **Reply #148 on:** June 13, 2012, 02:50:21 PM »

What's the problem with WordPad, again?

Shinra · « **Reply #149 on:** June 13, 2012, 02:51:21 PM »

Quote from: Thad on June 13, 2012, 06:46:34 AM

Jesus, MS, is it too much to ask for a bundled text editor that gets the job done and doesn't completely suck?

I'm getting ready to image some laptops. I'm putting together a csv that pairs asset tags with MAC addresses.

The MAC address is printed as a barcode on the box, so I scan that in.

Sometimes I scan the wrong barcode, so I hit Ctrl-Z.

And for some fucking reason, Notepad thinks that means I want to undo EVERY SINGLE THING I HAVE PUT IN THE DOCUMENT and leave me with a completely blank window, instead of, you know, doing something remotely fucking useful.

...I hear TextPad Pro's pretty good. And NotePad+? Isn't there one called NotePad+?

(It really is kind of astounding, the disconnect of what you get out of the box from one OS to another. Windows: not a whole hell of a lot, but don't worry, you probably bought from a vendor who loaded your shit up with crapware. MacOS: really quite a wide array of pretty good software, but for some reason no simple paint program anywhere to be found. The Linuxes/BSD's/what-have-you: pretty much whatever the fuck you want; if it's not on the disc it's in the repos, and if it's not in the repos you can compile it yourself. The idea of a Linux distro without a decent text editor is contradiction in terms; I can't say I've ever used one whose default installation came with fewer than five.)

Notepad+ and Notepad2 are both great.

edit: hey thad, try Notepad++. It has tabbed editing and is only slightly more memory intensive than notepad is, and not appreciably slower.

Shinra · « **Reply #150 on:** June 13, 2012, 02:51:56 PM »

Quote from: jsnlxndrlv on June 13, 2012, 02:50:21 PM

What's the problem with WordPad, again?

It's somehow almost as slow as MS Word, and it's not a plaintext editor. I don't need font support for a scratchpad.

Thad · « **Reply #151 on:** June 13, 2012, 02:58:45 PM »

Right, what Shinra said. It's just not designed for simple text editing.

I don't WANT to specify plaintext, and then get an "Are you really, really sure you want plaintext?" popup, every single fucking time I create a new plaintext document. I don't want a giant chunk of the window taken up with formatting shit when I am creating a plaintext document.

I want a text editor. As in, let me edit text and get the fuck out of my way.

Anyhow, thanks for the suggestions; I will look into them.

Thad · « **Reply #152 on:** September 15, 2012, 05:17:26 PM »

Oh hey, have I complained about windows that render taller than 720 pixels even if your resolution is set to 1280x720 yet?

Zaratustra · « **Reply #153 on:** September 16, 2012, 07:18:19 AM »

even exactly 720 is bad, since your taskbar gets in the way. Similarly, having important info at the bottom of the window if it can't be maximized is bad.

Thad · « **Reply #154 on:** September 22, 2012, 02:40:01 PM »

So why can't autocorrect have a setting where it still suggests words but the default suggestion is always the thing you actually typed? Like, so if you fat-finger it there IS a list of approximate matches you can choose, but if no in fact you DID mean to type that word it doesn't default to something different?

I would like a setting somewhere between "automatically go with some bullshit instead of what I actually typed" and "turn off completely", please!

Thad · « **Reply #155 on:** October 09, 2012, 07:53:59 AM »

I have previously noted that usability is not even a consideration in MMC.

So here's a fun one I keep hitting: SCCM does autocomplete ON A BACKSPACE.

When you backspace something, it AUTOMATICALLY REINSERTS THE CHARACTER YOU JUST BACKSPACED.

sei · « **Reply #156 on:** October 09, 2012, 04:49:29 PM »

Quote from: Thad on November 15, 2011, 04:41:44 PM

Anybody else noticing a severe fucking decline in the quality of Google search results?

It's gone from the "Did you mean [...]?" to just automatically assuming you meant [...] to completely ignoring the plus sign to tell it that no I goddamn well did not mean [...]
...
How's Bing looking these days?

Bing is a fucking turd.

Google snatched +Name as a convention for Google Plus users, so you're now stuck searching for "term" to replace +term, even if it's not a phrase.

JDigital · « **Reply #157 on:** October 11, 2012, 06:55:22 AM »

I blame SEO. People have worked out how to game the system and there's big money in selling that. Why buy ads in the age of adblock and ad blindness, when you can pay for higher search placement?

Lately I see an awful lot of blog and news results. If you search for a problem in a video game, you get news stories from a year ago previewing the game's features.

Thad · « **Reply #158 on:** October 11, 2012, 02:41:52 PM »

Quote

< PRESS HERE FOR CREDIT
< PRESS HERE FOR DEBIT

(I press the button for credit.)

Quote

PLEASE SWIPE CARD

(I swipe my credit card.)

Quote

DEBIT?
< YES
< NO

What the fuck? Why are you asking me twice? Who coded this shit, a 1990's JRPG developer? If I give you the same answer a third fucking time, do I get a Genji Glove?

Mongrel · « **Reply #159 on:** October 11, 2012, 04:23:56 PM »

Speaking of the SEO thing: You know things are going to crap when you drive by shitty industrial strip malls in the middle of nowhere and see one of those trailer-signs out front announcing "WE DO SEO!!!!1"

News:

Author Topic: Unforgivable Sins of UI Design (Read 25823 times)