> and the couple of firefox security updates that they put out (and very > quickly) were do to the crappy os (xp) not the browser > > the other big PITA is all the crap AOL installs even when u tell it > NOT to, i swear they are owned by m$ (like weatherbug), not to mention > all thier popups that install crap with telling. Personally, AOL users > get so used to just clicking yes to get the damn screens to go away > that they do it for everything
This is hardly specific to AOL users. "Default Button Blindness" is a huge problem in usabilty. It tends to affect advanced users much more often than newbies (who tend to carefully read dialog boxes). (As a geek haven't you even supplied phone support to a person who insists on reading every word of all the dialogs as you're repeating, like a mantra, "just click OK!") It's really interesting from a human-factors point of view and truly needs to be considered when designing software. Most often it's ignored however. This is actually one of the biggest benefits to XP SP2: the installation routine FINALLY defaults to "no, don't install" rather than "OKay". Yes, this is a slight issue with interface standards (which say that "OKay" should be the default) but helps immensly to prevent unwanted clicks. The old paradigm of "always to default to OK" is changing (for the better) to "always default to the least destructive option". This is actually annoying advanced users who can be heard yelling "Yes, delete! I said delete, damn you!" ;^) Yes, there are a lot of technical solutions offered in the service pack as well, but I feel that the interface improvements are where the real win is. The alert bar; the new acceptance dialog; the ability to (FINALLY!) say "never install this damn thing" and so forth. These are not technical changes or hardening: they're simply changes in the way the same old capabilities are shown to the user and have made worlds of difference. As a set they're definately similar to other groundbreaking enhancements like IE's "Go" button, Win95's "Start" button and the Apple Key. OKay - Human Factors advocacy hat off. ;^) Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Special thanks to the CF Community Suite Silver Sponsor - RUWebby http://www.ruwebby.com Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:186331 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
