Dear Programmers, Why do you hate me?
-
There are times I've taken a picture of a document on my phone, slopped it over to my PC, and zoomed in 1000% to make sure I've read the numbers / letters correctly. :rolleyes:
Latest Article:
Create a Digital Ocean Droplet for .NET Core Web API with a real SSL Certificate on a DomainI'm a developer with a vision problem. I was where you are now when I was 25. I've been waiting for somebody else to finally say fonts and displays had gotten too small, even for people with normal eyesight. Getting a bigger magnifier isn't the solution. Printing things in a readable font in a readable point size is.
-
... and all humans? When I pay a bill on line I have to enter my account number. The invoice I received shows this account number in a 4pt font as: 10000000002987421000331 or something ridiculously long with no breaks and an indeterminate number of zeros stuck in just for funsies. Sometimes there are alpha characters that include the letters "I" and "O" to guarantee I can't get it right on the first try. For the love of Dog, and my failing eye sight, could you please break this up into 3 or 4 character sequences, and drop all the 0s out? And if you allow "I" and "O" into the mix, could you please find some other form of work where your clients enjoy being tortured? Oh, and stop using 4pt fonts, too. As I struggle to enter my account number I assuage my frustration by imagining which of the circles Dante would put you in.
I agree that you shouldn't have to deal with it, but you can hold CTRL and use your mouse scroll wheel, or CTRL and the +/= and -/_ keys (the ones on the top row of the keyboard, not the numeric keypad) to zoom in and out in some apps (including most web browsers that I know of). Windows also comes with a Magnifier tool to zoom in on apps that don't support a zoom function. I say this because of experience. My eyes aren't what they used to be (which may be a result of years of staring at 4pt fonts on screen).....
-
... and all humans? When I pay a bill on line I have to enter my account number. The invoice I received shows this account number in a 4pt font as: 10000000002987421000331 or something ridiculously long with no breaks and an indeterminate number of zeros stuck in just for funsies. Sometimes there are alpha characters that include the letters "I" and "O" to guarantee I can't get it right on the first try. For the love of Dog, and my failing eye sight, could you please break this up into 3 or 4 character sequences, and drop all the 0s out? And if you allow "I" and "O" into the mix, could you please find some other form of work where your clients enjoy being tortured? Oh, and stop using 4pt fonts, too. As I struggle to enter my account number I assuage my frustration by imagining which of the circles Dante would put you in.
... and if you don't enter it right, we'll clear the "whole screen" and make you start over.
"Before entering on an understanding, I have meditated for a long time, and have foreseen what might happen. It is not genius which reveals to me suddenly, secretly, what I have to say or to do in a circumstance unexpected by other people; it is reflection, it is meditation." - Napoleon I
-
I agree that you shouldn't have to deal with it, but you can hold CTRL and use your mouse scroll wheel, or CTRL and the +/= and -/_ keys (the ones on the top row of the keyboard, not the numeric keypad) to zoom in and out in some apps (including most web browsers that I know of). Windows also comes with a Magnifier tool to zoom in on apps that don't support a zoom function. I say this because of experience. My eyes aren't what they used to be (which may be a result of years of staring at 4pt fonts on screen).....
I use Ctrl+Mouse Wheel and Ctrl+0 all the time. My problem is when I get a bill in the mail from a provider and go to their website to "Pay My Bill" I have to enter an account number and an invoice number from the paper bill into their webpage. The numbers on the paper bill are hard to see and parse, and entering them on the website is pass fail. Get the wrong number of 0s in a long string of digits.
-
Does copy/paste not work? do they include QR codes you can scan on the phone? And finally... you can store much of that in your password manager, so it is handy. Of course, if you are dealing with unique systems each time, it gets harder. But then I pay THOSE bills with paper checks. And if they contain a barcode for only them... I damage it, so they feel my pain. And I write QR Code Plz on the check and the bill. Since most companies are forced to MANUALLY process the payment and review why... Ie, make THEIR problem a problem for them. FWIW, Discover has a note to NEVER give me a card again b/c they pissed me off! LOL
-
... and all humans? When I pay a bill on line I have to enter my account number. The invoice I received shows this account number in a 4pt font as: 10000000002987421000331 or something ridiculously long with no breaks and an indeterminate number of zeros stuck in just for funsies. Sometimes there are alpha characters that include the letters "I" and "O" to guarantee I can't get it right on the first try. For the love of Dog, and my failing eye sight, could you please break this up into 3 or 4 character sequences, and drop all the 0s out? And if you allow "I" and "O" into the mix, could you please find some other form of work where your clients enjoy being tortured? Oh, and stop using 4pt fonts, too. As I struggle to enter my account number I assuage my frustration by imagining which of the circles Dante would put you in.
You should already know that most corporate apps/sites (and the programmers that write the code) are lorded over by people who have no UI design skills, and even worse, don't have the skill but think they do. Programmers are often self-admittedly either bad at UI design, or don't want to do it, and therefore don't bother with that kind of programming minutia.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
-----
You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
-----
When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013 -
There are times I've taken a picture of a document on my phone, slopped it over to my PC, and zoomed in 1000% to make sure I've read the numbers / letters correctly. :rolleyes:
Latest Article:
Create a Digital Ocean Droplet for .NET Core Web API with a real SSL Certificate on a DomainI find I have to do the document zooming trick on 99% of all things I enter these days, it's a royal pain in the a55
-
... and all humans? When I pay a bill on line I have to enter my account number. The invoice I received shows this account number in a 4pt font as: 10000000002987421000331 or something ridiculously long with no breaks and an indeterminate number of zeros stuck in just for funsies. Sometimes there are alpha characters that include the letters "I" and "O" to guarantee I can't get it right on the first try. For the love of Dog, and my failing eye sight, could you please break this up into 3 or 4 character sequences, and drop all the 0s out? And if you allow "I" and "O" into the mix, could you please find some other form of work where your clients enjoy being tortured? Oh, and stop using 4pt fonts, too. As I struggle to enter my account number I assuage my frustration by imagining which of the circles Dante would put you in.
Sorry. Out of scope.
Mr Kimble
-
Show me how to copy from a paper bill I got in the mail to their web page on my computer and I'm golden. I get a bill from a doctor or medical provider I'll hopefully never see again, so I don't set up an account.
Yep, those people get paid with PAPER Checks, via Snail Mail! Don't worry, eventually they will come around. STOP paying them online! That will LEARN THEM!
-
... and all humans? When I pay a bill on line I have to enter my account number. The invoice I received shows this account number in a 4pt font as: 10000000002987421000331 or something ridiculously long with no breaks and an indeterminate number of zeros stuck in just for funsies. Sometimes there are alpha characters that include the letters "I" and "O" to guarantee I can't get it right on the first try. For the love of Dog, and my failing eye sight, could you please break this up into 3 or 4 character sequences, and drop all the 0s out? And if you allow "I" and "O" into the mix, could you please find some other form of work where your clients enjoy being tortured? Oh, and stop using 4pt fonts, too. As I struggle to enter my account number I assuage my frustration by imagining which of the circles Dante would put you in.
99% of the time it's not the programmers, it's "Management/Legal"
-
I agree with you and with the OP and others who complained about lack of contrast and other egregious problems. However, I found that the GOV.UK site for reporting Covid test results was a model of accessible design. Text and data entry controls were adequately large and readable, even on tiny screens, and contrast was always good. Previous entries were remembered where relevant and entering the test number was a piece of cake by pointing the phone camera at the data matrix on the test. They deserve some kudos for all that.
Phil
The opinions expressed in this post are not necessarily those of the author, especially if you find them impolite, inaccurate or inflammatory.
//www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Understanding/contrast-minimum.html A contrast ratio of 3:1 is the minimum level recommended by [[ISO-9241-3]] and [[ANSI-HFES-100-1988]] for standard text and vision. The 4.5:1 ratio is used in this provision to account for the loss in contrast that results from moderately low visual acuity, congenital or acquired color deficiencies, or the loss of contrast sensitivity that typically accompanies aging.
"A little time, a little trouble, your better day" Badfinger
-
... and all humans? When I pay a bill on line I have to enter my account number. The invoice I received shows this account number in a 4pt font as: 10000000002987421000331 or something ridiculously long with no breaks and an indeterminate number of zeros stuck in just for funsies. Sometimes there are alpha characters that include the letters "I" and "O" to guarantee I can't get it right on the first try. For the love of Dog, and my failing eye sight, could you please break this up into 3 or 4 character sequences, and drop all the 0s out? And if you allow "I" and "O" into the mix, could you please find some other form of work where your clients enjoy being tortured? Oh, and stop using 4pt fonts, too. As I struggle to enter my account number I assuage my frustration by imagining which of the circles Dante would put you in.
my mini-spec: Base32 Encoding for IDs essentially just [A-Z 0-9] but without '1', 'I', '0', or 'O'. so, ([A-H]|[J-N]|[P-Z]|[2-9]) case sensitivity: no a uint64 can be represented in 13 chars .. a 128-bit GUID in 26 chars everyone please ratify and adopt my proposal as a worldwide standard, asap kthx
-
... and all humans? When I pay a bill on line I have to enter my account number. The invoice I received shows this account number in a 4pt font as: 10000000002987421000331 or something ridiculously long with no breaks and an indeterminate number of zeros stuck in just for funsies. Sometimes there are alpha characters that include the letters "I" and "O" to guarantee I can't get it right on the first try. For the love of Dog, and my failing eye sight, could you please break this up into 3 or 4 character sequences, and drop all the 0s out? And if you allow "I" and "O" into the mix, could you please find some other form of work where your clients enjoy being tortured? Oh, and stop using 4pt fonts, too. As I struggle to enter my account number I assuage my frustration by imagining which of the circles Dante would put you in.
I hate myself sometimes too since I've done it to myself :-D A good human interface, for us pathetic humans :) , requires a lot of thought and often, coding. It often starts with database design; no spaces in credit card numbers, no dashes in SS#s and phone number requirements for SMS that accept 18005551212 as the only format. I love the "Enter your SS#" so you type in xxx-xx-xxxx and then get a popup saying only numbers are valid. Why didn't you set it to accept only numbers or drop the dashes, turkey? Forgot to do it, ran out of time, or maybe even some hate, lol. It's getting a bit better as more tools have easier formatting settings available prior to running data validation on the good ole submit button. But there remains a lack of data standardization in the industry and allowing il0O or even things like nw next to each other in some fonts is ugly. But often, it's the deck we're forced to play with.
-
I hate myself sometimes too since I've done it to myself :-D A good human interface, for us pathetic humans :) , requires a lot of thought and often, coding. It often starts with database design; no spaces in credit card numbers, no dashes in SS#s and phone number requirements for SMS that accept 18005551212 as the only format. I love the "Enter your SS#" so you type in xxx-xx-xxxx and then get a popup saying only numbers are valid. Why didn't you set it to accept only numbers or drop the dashes, turkey? Forgot to do it, ran out of time, or maybe even some hate, lol. It's getting a bit better as more tools have easier formatting settings available prior to running data validation on the good ole submit button. But there remains a lack of data standardization in the industry and allowing il0O or even things like nw next to each other in some fonts is ugly. But often, it's the deck we're forced to play with.
-
You nailed it. I've had a lot of fun writing parsers that accept as much variation in user input as possible and still maintain accuracy. The SS#, phone number are perfect examples. Time entry is another good one.
Oh no, the dreaded "Time", lol. That is so true. Whenever possible, I'll load time into a combo if I need blocks like 15 minutes. On the desktop side, using visual studio date and time widgets helps muchly. Last names are another tough one as they are usually critical lookup fields. O'Reilly, Oreilly, and O Reilly. And depending on your SQL, you need to watch the apostrophes.
-
my mini-spec: Base32 Encoding for IDs essentially just [A-Z 0-9] but without '1', 'I', '0', or 'O'. so, ([A-H]|[J-N]|[P-Z]|[2-9]) case sensitivity: no a uint64 can be represented in 13 chars .. a 128-bit GUID in 26 chars everyone please ratify and adopt my proposal as a worldwide standard, asap kthx