Balcells Blog Home

NY cab drivers have this bad habit of being on their cell phones all day. I understand it's a boring job, but then they shouldn't have it in their own rules that they aren't supposed to be on the phone, except for emergencies. It even says on the passenger rights posted inside every car . I have to say it is kind of annoying, they don't pay enough attention to the driving.

I actually saw 2 cabs collide yesterday for the first time ever. It was a small thing though.

I was in a hurry today, and forgot to drop off my Netflix movies, I'll do it tomorrow.

Here's something I've long suspected: most drivers don't signal when changing lanes. I've often pointed it out (Bill has heard me complain plenty of times about it.) Now there is an actual study proving it. They found the main reason is because most people are "too lazy", unbelievable. Here's a link:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/AUTOS/03/15/signal_survey/index.html?cnn=yes

Flying out to Cinci tomorrow evening. Better go to bed soon or I won't be able to get up.

Actually, one last thing for today (it's Tue already.) I recently read this book about user interface design, quite interesting. Initially I thought I would know everything the author would have to say, but as it turns out, it still contained tons of factoids and useful info, plus it made me think a couple times about why users behave the way they do. Here's a snipet:

...

Why People Have Trouble with Computers

Although system design and its behavioral implications have come under intense scrutiny in the last decade or so, as we have seen, this has not always been the case. Historically, the design of business computer systems has been the responsibility of programmers, systems analysts, and system designers, many of whom possess extensive technical knowledge but little behavioral training. In recent years the blossoming of the Web, with its extensive graphical capabilities, has found graphic artists being added to design teams. Like those who have come before them, most graphical artists also possess extensive technical knowledge in their profession but little training in usability. Design decisions, therefore, have rested mostly on the designers' intuition concerning the user's capabilities and the designer's wealth of specialized knowledge. Consequently, poorly designed interfaces have often gone unrecognized.

The intuition of designers or of anyone else, no matter how good or bad they may be at what they do, is error-prone. It is much too shallow a foundation on which to base design decisions. Specialized knowledge lulls one into a false sense of security. It enables one to interpret and deal with complex or ambiguous situations on the basis of context cues not visible to users, as well as a knowledge of the computer system that users do not possess. The result is a system that appears perfectly useful to its designers but one that the user is unable or unwilling to face up to and master.

What makes a system difficult to use in the eyes of its user? Listed below are several contributing factors that apply to traditional business systems.
...

Recommended. If you think you may have the time to check it out, I put a copy here:

The Essential Guide to User Interface Design
An Introduction to GUI Design Principles and Techniques,
Second Edition
Size: 17 Mb, 760 pages, Microsoft's HTML Help (.chm) format

On standby for an early flight back to NY. Let's see if I can make it. It is going to be a busy week.