More Vista

Well, after using Vista a bit more on the new laptop, I wanted to comment on two new features that I really like from an interaction standpoint.

First is the subtle tweak to the file renaming process - before, when a user wanted to rename a file the whole filename (including extension) would highlight, and typing would wipe out both the existing name and the extension. For most renaming tasks the file extension isn't going to change, so this just caused needless keystrokes and a possible short-term memory issue. Now, only the file name is highlighted, so it saves time and makes renaming things a bit more pleasant.

Second is a pop-up preview the user sees when hovering over a window on the taskbar. As of yet, I can't wrap my head around how this will really increase my productivity, but I know I have a strong visceral attraction to it (garlic press round 2).

So far the interaction designer in me likes Vista, except for the horrid user access control. We'll see how my feelings evolve as I become more expert with it. =)

Is I Or Isn't I?

So I have this nice new laptop with Vista on it, and for the most part, I'm pretty happy with it. I like the new look and feel of the interface elements, and I'm finding some of the new features to be more usable than the XP stuff that I'm used to.

However, Vista is doing one thing that's blowing my mind. My default account is an administrator one, but many programs will not "run as administrator" unless I specifically open them that way via a right-click context menu at run-time. The issue here is that when the programs don't run "as administrator," they're sometimes denied write access, so they may work in unexpected ways (or not at all). What kills me about this is that I'm logged onto an administrator account -- all my programs should run in administrator mode automatically! It's like my computer doesn't trust me, and it's a very frustrating experience.

Emotionography

Well if you saw the post title and thought I was talking about the Big Bud track, too bad! Given our recent class discussion in HCI 470 and the continuing relevance of emotional design, I wanted to talk about my experience with a gift I recently received: a garlic press by Michael Graves!

Now I haven't used this product to press any garlic yet, so my reaction to it is so far completely visceral. When I first picked up the press, I noticed it had a definite heft to it; this sense of weight gave me the feeling that it could really... press some garlic (heh). The handles have a very pleasant texture - a kind of soft, grippy rubber. Aesthetically, I like the object; the actual pressing of the garlic involves spinning one of the handles in an arc, which creates a pleasing symmetry.

So without having actually used this thing, I'm already a bit infatuated with it. But, as Norman says in his book, visceral is only one layer of the emotional experience. When I actually do press some garlic, the behavioral component will become a second contributor to my emotional response. Will the press save me time and effort over peeling and dicing the garlic with a knife? Will it be easy to use and clean?

Together, the interaction and aesthetic characteristics have the potential to make this one of my favorite kitchen tools (although I doubt it will ever eclipse my dear knife). But even if the interaction is sub-par, my visceral response has earned the object some "credit," where I may be more forgiving of a troublesome behavioral layer.

Disaster Recovery

The topic today is kind of personally motivated for me, since my desktop PC just had a catastrophic hardware failure on Monday of project week... In all the free time I have with no computer to occupy myself, I've been giving the topic some serious thought.

I'll start out by saying the hardware failure happened when I was trying to install a new component, and I was very lucky that I took the time to back up my class files and personal documents before I cracked open my case. I'm finishing my projects downtown at the CTI labs, but if I hadn't backed up, I'd be up the creek something fierce, with only a few days to recreate what was essentially a quarter's worth of work.

I think this ties into HCI because we as designers are supposed to provide a safe environment where the user feels free to experiment, and can easily diagnose and recover from errors. Now although a hardware failure can be difficult/impossible for software to predict or deal with, I think there are still steps the system can take to assist in recovery from these types of errors. One thing might be some sort of timed, automated backup to external media. I know this capability exists now, but as far as I know it's something mostly employed by users that have a high awareness of data safety issues. Shouldn't we work to make this type of recovery ubiquitous?

Maybe computers could have some sort of built-in removable memory that could act like the extra house key you hide under a plant (try to work with me on that analogy, heh). Specify which files are important, and the system backs them up every night for you. Then when your motherboard melts, all you need to do is open the small panel inside your case and pop out the emergency memory (see, like grabbing the key from under the plant! I knew that analogy would come together...). Then you could go easily finish your class projects at another machine instead of committing seppuku over the shattered corpse of your computer.

TL/DR summary: Disaster recovery is this is a topic I didn't think about much until I had to deal with it myself. And as a user-centered designer, I'd like to help other people not to have to think about it either. What about you all? Has anyone seen a cool technology or method for helping people get back on their feet after a computerboom?

Credit or Debit?

At CVS today I bought some stuff (frozen pizza and coke cause it's homework time tonight), and as usual, I used my Visa check card to pay. Now even though this isn't an "actual" credit card, I earn rewards if I run it as credit instead of debit (no idea why, but I like rewards).

So as usual, I swiped the card and punched "Credit" to start the process, and then got the annoying "Enter your PIN" prompt. But I don't have to enter my PIN... because I want to run it as credit. The (secret) method to continue running the card as credit is to hit cancel or clear on this screen... and the cancel or clear button is someplace different in every store. Plus, how horrible is it to force the user to mentally re-map the cancel button to "Move forward in the process please?"

So my question is, is there some kind of credit card with a pin that I'm just ignorant of? Or is this just an oversight by the manufacturers of these terminals, who are not updating the task flow to accomodate users with cards like mine?

Going back to edit in this final note: I've seen less experienced card terminal users become absolutely flustered when this screen comes up. For a novice user that may have trouble adapting to unexpected steps in the task flow, this interruption is catastrophic -- especially when the instructions on how to complete the intended operation are unclear.