Friday, March 07, 2008
Simplify
I've been noticing that most tech items are built with more options and features than most people could even discover in their lifetime, let alone use regularly. It makes you wonder how much R&D time and effort is spent on developing those features that most people don't use. And in contrast, how much better could the basic functions be if that time was spent on them. Here's just a couple of examples.
Word Processors. I'm a professional writer and probably don't use 80% of what most processors, like Word have in them. Since being forced to switch to Word 2007, I can't even find most of those features anymore. I just checked and my Word has roughly 200 fonts listed in a dropdown. Most of them border on the unreadable. How many do you think I use regularly? Maybe three or four? One of the guys in our office seems to have just discovered his font pulldown and consequently, I now get nearly unreadable content from him a couple of time a week. Usually, I ctrl+a the doc, then select Times to print or Verdana for screen use. I also get docs that try to use every formatting option in the package - usually with disastrous results.
Video. My video tastes are pretty simple. I have rabbit ears to watch the four networks and PBS, and a DVD and VCR player. So basically, I turn it on, select a channel, and adjust the volume. For the DVD or VCR I will check the time on boring movies and sometimes fastforward or reverse. The above describes 98% of my video actions. Do you know what sits on my coffee table just to let me do that? Four remotes with about 100 buttons on each. And even though I've spent the last thirty years fiddling with computers, radios, televisions and other high-tech devices, I still don't have a clue about what three-quarters of those 400 buttons do. I understand there are remotes for home theaters now that run Windows and the installer has to give you a class just so you can turn on your TV. What's wrong with on/off, play/rewind, louder/quieter, and which channel. Instead of spending all that R&D on features I'll never use, how about designing a system that knows that when I click ON, I want everything on. And if I have a DVD in the player, when I click PLAY, the DVD, not the VHS tape or the stereo or my neighbor's garage door should do its thing automatically.
Phone. I have a remote phone at home with twenty or so buttons on it, most of which don't make a lot of sense to me. If someone calls me, I have to press TALK, even though I'm going to listen. When I type in the phone number, I also have to press TALK, even though I'm dialing, not talking. And even though the info screen lights up, the buttons don't, so I have to turn on the lights just so I can figure out which button I need to press to dial a number. And with all its buttons and power, it won't stop some cretin from calling in at eight in the morning to sell me a septic tank cleaner or some such bullshit.
See, even I can manage to turn a simple rant about simplifying into a multiparagraph complicated document that covers far more than it needs to. Oh, one more thing about word processors. In the preceding line I originally spelled manage, with an extra r as in manager . And though that makes absolutely no sense at all, the $400 word processor's spell checker didn't catch it. Due eye make me gravel downloading?
Labels: computers, gripes, tech
