Users Tripping Over an Ancient Usability Problem

Guy came to me at work today, desperate. He said he often couldn't open files that were emailed to him. He said he'd change the file name. Right away I figured out that he was changing the whole file name including the file extension, so the computer couldn't figure out which program to use to open the file. I renamed the file so it had '.pdf' at the end and his file opened. He was so relieved and thanked me over and over. Seems like a simple thing to us computer types. The guy called me a genius, but many of my techie friends would probably think unkind things about someone making such a simple mistake. Thing is, they'd be wrong. This is an example of a technical solution that was made a long time ago, and forcing non-technical types to jump through hoops that they shouldn't. Thing is this is really silly when you think about it. When you rename a file you really shouldn't be able to change a file's type. You shouldn't be able to rename MyPuppy.jpg into MyPuppy.doc, it's a Jpeg image not a Word doc. It doesn't make sense and it's wrong. It's a legacy issue that we've just accepted, it's a huge usability no-no and it's flat out wrong. As computers are becoming more and more embraced by the non techie public at large this kind of thing will be less and less acceptable.

It Exists! MIT Creates Tech For Moving Files Across Devices With A Swipe

Swÿp--pronounced “swipe”--lets users drag files from one device to another by swiping their finger. And it isn’t just a cool idea. It’s reality. More>

Elevator Usability FAIL

After months of construction the downstairs lobby in my office building is done. They've gone with a slick minimalist style, marble and glass. First day it's open I go to use the elevators, there’s four of them. I hit "up", another person hits "down". An elevator shows up, dings, and we are confronted with this:

 It appears the light is saying "Hi, I'm here", but refuses to tell us which way it's going. The stranger and I look at each other with quizzical looks on our faces. We both decide to take a chance and get on. Elevator starts going up, the stranger sighs. A few days later, several people are waiting for the elevator, the elevator shows up, it dings, and then it looks like this:

Ah.. a red light and a white light. So, red is down (hell?) and white is up (heaven?). A person would have to use the elevators more than once for it to be blatantly obvious what was going on. Luckily on my second use, the red light appeared. So, in their effort to be slick and minimalist they violated simple usability rules. They haven't followed the convention of arrows, something that people are used to. You have to use the elevator more than once for it to dawn on you that white means up and red means down. The first time you see the light, there's no context. I've been observing people's reactions to this high use bank of elevators and as expected there's a ton of confusion and people getting on the wrong elevators. With an elevator there should be zero learning curve.