Comments on: Useful Links: CSS3, Silver Surfer Humbug

By: vdebolt

vdebolt — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 13:03:09 +0000

Henny, I’m on my way to your blog to leave a comment for you now.

By: Henny

Henny — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 06:57:11 +0000

Thanks for flagging the “Where’s my Googlebox?” article.

I was part of the team that carried out the testing and agree that this is an issue that relates to many beginners and not just silver surfers. The point is however is that the testing was done with silver surfers.

There has been some discussion on my blog about this as will as over Twitter and is something that I’ve fed back to Opera. It would be great if you could leave a comment sharing your views as I think you’ll find myself (and others) would wholeheartedly agree!

The comment that these things can be taught in 20 seconds is, in my view, extremely misguided. Further down I do flag that users should not have to rely on assistance to work out technology – this is a usability fail. Our job as technologists is to do what we can to make it useable to all users intuitively.
.-= Henny´s last blog ..“Where’s my Googlebox?!” – adventures in search for silver surfers =-.

By: Masha

Masha — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:35:24 +0000

That silver surfer article is very interesting -although I agree with your comment on that these issues dont necessarily count for older people more than any other.
Although one commenter says:
“The problem was not a lack of sophistication, but a rational assumption that the technology should be as robust and predictable as technology in other areas of their lives.”

I also wonder about the idea that “you can teach any of these things in 20 seconds” Spoken like somebody who has never tried teaching basic computer skills!
.-= Masha´s last blog ..A wart snake in a fig tree! =-.