I hate Big Blanks and I cannot lie...
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Why do so-called designers think that large areas of blank, white space is a good thing? Is this a plot by huge, High Definition screen vendors to drive sales? In the good old days the key thing about displaying information on a screen was to provide such information in a compact, readable form with interface fields glaringly obvious (such as text entry,buttons, etc.). Now it's all about using invisible scrollbars (once you guess where they are and hover over that area long enough) to plough through huge acreages of blank space just to read more than a couple of lines at a time. In addition, the text is squeezed between huge stock photos that are barely relevant and jump, scroll or wobble around the screen like that old April Fool's code that made dialog box buttons dodge your mouse when you tried to click on them. ..and half the time buttons are just some text you have to know to click upon. Example: The other day I went to UPS/FedEx/whoever to track a parcel. There was some huge text somewhere in the middle of a large blank area that said "Tracking #" (note the "#" instead of "number", despite the huge surround white space available). So I tried typing the tracking number - didn't work, I needed to click on the entry field to get focus. Where is the entry field? I clicked on the text, nothing happened; I clicked on the blank area immediately to the right of the text, nothing happened; I clicked on the blank area immediately below the text, nothing happened... hmmm. I clicked randomly in various places around the screen and then tried typing, nothing... ...until finally I found that if I clicked below the text about an inch (or a couple of centimeters) below the text and started typing, the number finally appeared! Yay! There was no flashing cursor, no text entry border or shadowed area, no different shade of grey or colour to give a clue where to type; you just had to click randomly until you found the area that responded. Hovering around to see the cursor change to a text entry cursor didn't work anymore - there was no cursor at all during text entry, the mouse pointer didn't change or even move to follow the entered text. What numpty thought that was a good user interface (sorry, User eXperience)? I'm surprised I didn't have to scroll down to find it! Actually, I would have had to if I was on a smaller screen or not running full-screen. To sum up: Grrrrr! Thoughts?
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me th
I couldn't agree more. User interfaces especially those of UK high street banks are appalling but nowhere near as poor as the UK government web sites. These have been designed to guide you through a process that you find it hard to circumvent. It's almost like someone took a script / flowchart out of a book and tried to turn it into a web based menu driven system. When I access the site I want to see a log on and log out button somewhere near the top of the page, nope, all of this is hidden until they have determined what you "might need to do today". Then it's a matter of answering 4 or 5 questions with button clicks which take you from one page to the next. Almost as though someone thought, "hey we'd better keep the pages small but lets have loads of white space to make it look clean". Shoddy beyond belief.
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dandy72 wrote:
If I can make it to retirement without ever having to do web development
I made it, just. Now looking at fiddling around with web design in my copious spare time, haven't touched any code in months.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity - RAH I'm old. I know stuff - JSOP
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Why do so-called designers think that large areas of blank, white space is a good thing? Is this a plot by huge, High Definition screen vendors to drive sales? In the good old days the key thing about displaying information on a screen was to provide such information in a compact, readable form with interface fields glaringly obvious (such as text entry,buttons, etc.). Now it's all about using invisible scrollbars (once you guess where they are and hover over that area long enough) to plough through huge acreages of blank space just to read more than a couple of lines at a time. In addition, the text is squeezed between huge stock photos that are barely relevant and jump, scroll or wobble around the screen like that old April Fool's code that made dialog box buttons dodge your mouse when you tried to click on them. ..and half the time buttons are just some text you have to know to click upon. Example: The other day I went to UPS/FedEx/whoever to track a parcel. There was some huge text somewhere in the middle of a large blank area that said "Tracking #" (note the "#" instead of "number", despite the huge surround white space available). So I tried typing the tracking number - didn't work, I needed to click on the entry field to get focus. Where is the entry field? I clicked on the text, nothing happened; I clicked on the blank area immediately to the right of the text, nothing happened; I clicked on the blank area immediately below the text, nothing happened... hmmm. I clicked randomly in various places around the screen and then tried typing, nothing... ...until finally I found that if I clicked below the text about an inch (or a couple of centimeters) below the text and started typing, the number finally appeared! Yay! There was no flashing cursor, no text entry border or shadowed area, no different shade of grey or colour to give a clue where to type; you just had to click randomly until you found the area that responded. Hovering around to see the cursor change to a text entry cursor didn't work anymore - there was no cursor at all during text entry, the mouse pointer didn't change or even move to follow the entered text. What numpty thought that was a good user interface (sorry, User eXperience)? I'm surprised I didn't have to scroll down to find it! Actually, I would have had to if I was on a smaller screen or not running full-screen. To sum up: Grrrrr! Thoughts?
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me th
I am new to Win 10 and I simply hate the design of the "Schedule my Updates for Later" dialog/application/panel. It would work well as a simple dialog with the nice time control and two buttons: "Schedule it", "Remind me later/Cancel". Instead they have a slider thingy and instructions on the page that you actually have to read to understand how to use what could have been a simple popup dialog. The old Microsoft used to be CUA compliant everywhere. Now they are trying to make Win10 look like a phone UI. Bring back CUA!
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dandy72 wrote:
scrollbars and control edges make everything look too busy
ms says that the scrollbars vanish to allow people to focus on their work (the morons actually use the word "focus"). Everyone else in the world says that they can't focus on their work because the f***ing scrollbars keep vanishing.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
This. I used to be able to position the mouse on the down arrow button at the bottom of a scrollbar and leave it there, so as I'm reading text, I can just keep hitting the mouse button to bring up the next couple of lines and keep reading. But since the scrollbars (and the button) now disappear, clicks register against the canvas, and not on the scrollbar, which is no longer there, so the click events do nothing. So, I have to move the mouse around to bring back the scrollbar, *then* reposition the cursor on top of the down button, *then* click it. Then a second later the button disappears again, so I have to repeat every time I want to scroll. Using the cursor keys isn't always an option, as you can have multiple levels of windows each with their own scrollbar, so the cursor down event might be going to the wrong target. Positioning the mouse on the button removes that uncertainty. Needless to say, this is not improving usability.
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Why do so-called designers think that large areas of blank, white space is a good thing? Is this a plot by huge, High Definition screen vendors to drive sales? In the good old days the key thing about displaying information on a screen was to provide such information in a compact, readable form with interface fields glaringly obvious (such as text entry,buttons, etc.). Now it's all about using invisible scrollbars (once you guess where they are and hover over that area long enough) to plough through huge acreages of blank space just to read more than a couple of lines at a time. In addition, the text is squeezed between huge stock photos that are barely relevant and jump, scroll or wobble around the screen like that old April Fool's code that made dialog box buttons dodge your mouse when you tried to click on them. ..and half the time buttons are just some text you have to know to click upon. Example: The other day I went to UPS/FedEx/whoever to track a parcel. There was some huge text somewhere in the middle of a large blank area that said "Tracking #" (note the "#" instead of "number", despite the huge surround white space available). So I tried typing the tracking number - didn't work, I needed to click on the entry field to get focus. Where is the entry field? I clicked on the text, nothing happened; I clicked on the blank area immediately to the right of the text, nothing happened; I clicked on the blank area immediately below the text, nothing happened... hmmm. I clicked randomly in various places around the screen and then tried typing, nothing... ...until finally I found that if I clicked below the text about an inch (or a couple of centimeters) below the text and started typing, the number finally appeared! Yay! There was no flashing cursor, no text entry border or shadowed area, no different shade of grey or colour to give a clue where to type; you just had to click randomly until you found the area that responded. Hovering around to see the cursor change to a text entry cursor didn't work anymore - there was no cursor at all during text entry, the mouse pointer didn't change or even move to follow the entered text. What numpty thought that was a good user interface (sorry, User eXperience)? I'm surprised I didn't have to scroll down to find it! Actually, I would have had to if I was on a smaller screen or not running full-screen. To sum up: Grrrrr! Thoughts?
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me th
Probably designed by a cousin of the guy who designed the hospital laboratory information system screens that now require lots of page flips to do routine work because the others were "too busy" ... skilled knowledge workers like busy screens, naive ones not so much.
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Why do so-called designers think that large areas of blank, white space is a good thing? Is this a plot by huge, High Definition screen vendors to drive sales? In the good old days the key thing about displaying information on a screen was to provide such information in a compact, readable form with interface fields glaringly obvious (such as text entry,buttons, etc.). Now it's all about using invisible scrollbars (once you guess where they are and hover over that area long enough) to plough through huge acreages of blank space just to read more than a couple of lines at a time. In addition, the text is squeezed between huge stock photos that are barely relevant and jump, scroll or wobble around the screen like that old April Fool's code that made dialog box buttons dodge your mouse when you tried to click on them. ..and half the time buttons are just some text you have to know to click upon. Example: The other day I went to UPS/FedEx/whoever to track a parcel. There was some huge text somewhere in the middle of a large blank area that said "Tracking #" (note the "#" instead of "number", despite the huge surround white space available). So I tried typing the tracking number - didn't work, I needed to click on the entry field to get focus. Where is the entry field? I clicked on the text, nothing happened; I clicked on the blank area immediately to the right of the text, nothing happened; I clicked on the blank area immediately below the text, nothing happened... hmmm. I clicked randomly in various places around the screen and then tried typing, nothing... ...until finally I found that if I clicked below the text about an inch (or a couple of centimeters) below the text and started typing, the number finally appeared! Yay! There was no flashing cursor, no text entry border or shadowed area, no different shade of grey or colour to give a clue where to type; you just had to click randomly until you found the area that responded. Hovering around to see the cursor change to a text entry cursor didn't work anymore - there was no cursor at all during text entry, the mouse pointer didn't change or even move to follow the entered text. What numpty thought that was a good user interface (sorry, User eXperience)? I'm surprised I didn't have to scroll down to find it! Actually, I would have had to if I was on a smaller screen or not running full-screen. To sum up: Grrrrr! Thoughts?
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me th
Agree. Hate, hate, hate, the "magic scrollbars" which only appear if you happen to move the cursor to the right place. Also, if you want me to input something, make it obvious where. Far too many sites where input area isn't set off from the background (or is something like light gray text on a white background). First rule of internet commerce: don't make it difficult for your users to give you money.
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Why do so-called designers think that large areas of blank, white space is a good thing? Is this a plot by huge, High Definition screen vendors to drive sales? In the good old days the key thing about displaying information on a screen was to provide such information in a compact, readable form with interface fields glaringly obvious (such as text entry,buttons, etc.). Now it's all about using invisible scrollbars (once you guess where they are and hover over that area long enough) to plough through huge acreages of blank space just to read more than a couple of lines at a time. In addition, the text is squeezed between huge stock photos that are barely relevant and jump, scroll or wobble around the screen like that old April Fool's code that made dialog box buttons dodge your mouse when you tried to click on them. ..and half the time buttons are just some text you have to know to click upon. Example: The other day I went to UPS/FedEx/whoever to track a parcel. There was some huge text somewhere in the middle of a large blank area that said "Tracking #" (note the "#" instead of "number", despite the huge surround white space available). So I tried typing the tracking number - didn't work, I needed to click on the entry field to get focus. Where is the entry field? I clicked on the text, nothing happened; I clicked on the blank area immediately to the right of the text, nothing happened; I clicked on the blank area immediately below the text, nothing happened... hmmm. I clicked randomly in various places around the screen and then tried typing, nothing... ...until finally I found that if I clicked below the text about an inch (or a couple of centimeters) below the text and started typing, the number finally appeared! Yay! There was no flashing cursor, no text entry border or shadowed area, no different shade of grey or colour to give a clue where to type; you just had to click randomly until you found the area that responded. Hovering around to see the cursor change to a text entry cursor didn't work anymore - there was no cursor at all during text entry, the mouse pointer didn't change or even move to follow the entered text. What numpty thought that was a good user interface (sorry, User eXperience)? I'm surprised I didn't have to scroll down to find it! Actually, I would have had to if I was on a smaller screen or not running full-screen. To sum up: Grrrrr! Thoughts?
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me th
No one else tried to find what site he was talking about? Both [Fedex ](https://www.fedex.com/apps/fedextrack/?action=track) and [UPS](https://www.ups.com/track?loc=en\_GB&requester=ST/) seem like fine Without the reference, first thought sounds more like UI issue not UX (im one of the a-holes that try to seperate the two - look of interface vs how user engages with interface) The abundance of white space might be a part of the transition away from the skeuomorphic designs. It takes time to figureout a balance and I think there is still wiplash effects of this change starting 10 years ago. A comment made when I was doing my degree sticks with me. You got this big screen (might have been 800x600 or 1024×768) and all your doing is typing text. There is no need to have the application full screen. So urks me when some devs have a notepad fullscreen while switching to a browser of some other application.
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Why do so-called designers think that large areas of blank, white space is a good thing? Is this a plot by huge, High Definition screen vendors to drive sales? In the good old days the key thing about displaying information on a screen was to provide such information in a compact, readable form with interface fields glaringly obvious (such as text entry,buttons, etc.). Now it's all about using invisible scrollbars (once you guess where they are and hover over that area long enough) to plough through huge acreages of blank space just to read more than a couple of lines at a time. In addition, the text is squeezed between huge stock photos that are barely relevant and jump, scroll or wobble around the screen like that old April Fool's code that made dialog box buttons dodge your mouse when you tried to click on them. ..and half the time buttons are just some text you have to know to click upon. Example: The other day I went to UPS/FedEx/whoever to track a parcel. There was some huge text somewhere in the middle of a large blank area that said "Tracking #" (note the "#" instead of "number", despite the huge surround white space available). So I tried typing the tracking number - didn't work, I needed to click on the entry field to get focus. Where is the entry field? I clicked on the text, nothing happened; I clicked on the blank area immediately to the right of the text, nothing happened; I clicked on the blank area immediately below the text, nothing happened... hmmm. I clicked randomly in various places around the screen and then tried typing, nothing... ...until finally I found that if I clicked below the text about an inch (or a couple of centimeters) below the text and started typing, the number finally appeared! Yay! There was no flashing cursor, no text entry border or shadowed area, no different shade of grey or colour to give a clue where to type; you just had to click randomly until you found the area that responded. Hovering around to see the cursor change to a text entry cursor didn't work anymore - there was no cursor at all during text entry, the mouse pointer didn't change or even move to follow the entered text. What numpty thought that was a good user interface (sorry, User eXperience)? I'm surprised I didn't have to scroll down to find it! Actually, I would have had to if I was on a smaller screen or not running full-screen. To sum up: Grrrrr! Thoughts?
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me th
yeah, teenagers using psychedelic stuff in the weekend, then hit the commit button monday at work after quickly adjust the ui to match what they have experienced in their trip. you are the problem ;) ! navigate to their site only when having some dmt stuff in your blood as well, and you'll be just fine :)
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Yeah, and they use Stock Photos of Their Jobs[^] :doh:
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
I like the coding one a few images down. The code projected on the dude sitting in front of the screen is readable. That means it's mirrored on the screen. He must be an elite programmer...
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No one else tried to find what site he was talking about? Both [Fedex ](https://www.fedex.com/apps/fedextrack/?action=track) and [UPS](https://www.ups.com/track?loc=en\_GB&requester=ST/) seem like fine Without the reference, first thought sounds more like UI issue not UX (im one of the a-holes that try to seperate the two - look of interface vs how user engages with interface) The abundance of white space might be a part of the transition away from the skeuomorphic designs. It takes time to figureout a balance and I think there is still wiplash effects of this change starting 10 years ago. A comment made when I was doing my degree sticks with me. You got this big screen (might have been 800x600 or 1024×768) and all your doing is typing text. There is no need to have the application full screen. So urks me when some devs have a notepad fullscreen while switching to a browser of some other application.
Am I the only one who misses skeuomorphic designs? I much preferred iOS before version 7. Jonathan Ivey is not on my Christmas card list...
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Why do so-called designers think that large areas of blank, white space is a good thing? Is this a plot by huge, High Definition screen vendors to drive sales? In the good old days the key thing about displaying information on a screen was to provide such information in a compact, readable form with interface fields glaringly obvious (such as text entry,buttons, etc.). Now it's all about using invisible scrollbars (once you guess where they are and hover over that area long enough) to plough through huge acreages of blank space just to read more than a couple of lines at a time. In addition, the text is squeezed between huge stock photos that are barely relevant and jump, scroll or wobble around the screen like that old April Fool's code that made dialog box buttons dodge your mouse when you tried to click on them. ..and half the time buttons are just some text you have to know to click upon. Example: The other day I went to UPS/FedEx/whoever to track a parcel. There was some huge text somewhere in the middle of a large blank area that said "Tracking #" (note the "#" instead of "number", despite the huge surround white space available). So I tried typing the tracking number - didn't work, I needed to click on the entry field to get focus. Where is the entry field? I clicked on the text, nothing happened; I clicked on the blank area immediately to the right of the text, nothing happened; I clicked on the blank area immediately below the text, nothing happened... hmmm. I clicked randomly in various places around the screen and then tried typing, nothing... ...until finally I found that if I clicked below the text about an inch (or a couple of centimeters) below the text and started typing, the number finally appeared! Yay! There was no flashing cursor, no text entry border or shadowed area, no different shade of grey or colour to give a clue where to type; you just had to click randomly until you found the area that responded. Hovering around to see the cursor change to a text entry cursor didn't work anymore - there was no cursor at all during text entry, the mouse pointer didn't change or even move to follow the entered text. What numpty thought that was a good user interface (sorry, User eXperience)? I'm surprised I didn't have to scroll down to find it! Actually, I would have had to if I was on a smaller screen or not running full-screen. To sum up: Grrrrr! Thoughts?
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me th
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Why do so-called designers think that large areas of blank, white space is a good thing? Is this a plot by huge, High Definition screen vendors to drive sales? In the good old days the key thing about displaying information on a screen was to provide such information in a compact, readable form with interface fields glaringly obvious (such as text entry,buttons, etc.). Now it's all about using invisible scrollbars (once you guess where they are and hover over that area long enough) to plough through huge acreages of blank space just to read more than a couple of lines at a time. In addition, the text is squeezed between huge stock photos that are barely relevant and jump, scroll or wobble around the screen like that old April Fool's code that made dialog box buttons dodge your mouse when you tried to click on them. ..and half the time buttons are just some text you have to know to click upon. Example: The other day I went to UPS/FedEx/whoever to track a parcel. There was some huge text somewhere in the middle of a large blank area that said "Tracking #" (note the "#" instead of "number", despite the huge surround white space available). So I tried typing the tracking number - didn't work, I needed to click on the entry field to get focus. Where is the entry field? I clicked on the text, nothing happened; I clicked on the blank area immediately to the right of the text, nothing happened; I clicked on the blank area immediately below the text, nothing happened... hmmm. I clicked randomly in various places around the screen and then tried typing, nothing... ...until finally I found that if I clicked below the text about an inch (or a couple of centimeters) below the text and started typing, the number finally appeared! Yay! There was no flashing cursor, no text entry border or shadowed area, no different shade of grey or colour to give a clue where to type; you just had to click randomly until you found the area that responded. Hovering around to see the cursor change to a text entry cursor didn't work anymore - there was no cursor at all during text entry, the mouse pointer didn't change or even move to follow the entered text. What numpty thought that was a good user interface (sorry, User eXperience)? I'm surprised I didn't have to scroll down to find it! Actually, I would have had to if I was on a smaller screen or not running full-screen. To sum up: Grrrrr! Thoughts?
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me th
