[WEB4LIB] RE: The Bad Design Election

[Jerry Kuntz]

After watching my 9 year-old son figure out game intefaces that I still
can't even exit out of, this doesn't surprise me; but missing from this
report are indications as to how large the layout space was between option
choices, whether they were graphic or text choices, how large this class
size was, what instruction there was and the size and placement of the
instructions, whether there was supplemental verbal directions, how the
results might compare to alternate designs, etc--and, as Hillary
suggests--whether user age makes a difference in navigational design. In
other words, it's a cute anecdote, not a usability study. This wasn't
reported on a radio talk show, by any chance, was it?
Jerry Kuntz
Ramapo Catskill Library System
jkuntz at rcls.org
----- Original Message -----
From: "HTheyer" <htheyer at pacbell.net>
To: "Multiple recipients of list" <web4lib at webjunction.org>
Sent: Friday, November 10, 2000 6:18 PM
Subject: [WEB4LIB] RE: The Bad Design Election


> I just heard on the radio that a school had kids elect their favorite
Disney
> character using the same butterfly and punch card design.  The report said
> is wasn't to make a political point, but the kids all used it correctly
and
> didn't vote for a different character than they intended.
>
> Could it be that adults don't read directions and kids do?
>
> Hillary Theyer
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Richard Wiggins" <wiggins at mail.com>
> To: "Multiple recipients of list" <web4lib at webjunction.org>
> Sent: Friday, November 10, 2000 2:10 PM
> Subject: [WEB4LIB] RE: The Bad Design Election
>
>
> > The only good thing to come of this is the the wonderful lesson that
user
> interface design classes and textbooks will use this for for years to
> come...
> >
> > The New York Times had an interesting article quoting folks in the punch
> card election industry; this was indeed an interface design error even
> within their contraints.  You never put opposing candidates on opposite
> pages in butterfly formation.  See:
> http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/10/politics/10MACH.html
> >
> > I feel very, very sorry for the Palm Beach County elections supervisor.
> She actually made this design choice to make the font size larger so the
> elderly could read the ballot better.  In so doing she made it much more
> confusing. Imagine making a user interface design error that changes the
> course of history!!!
> >
> > The broader lesson, I think, is that the punch card was never intended
to
> be something that human beings directly "mark."  The states that use them
> like the fact that there is a paper object for each vote cast and they can
> be machine counted.  But one Florida county supervisor said that every
time
> you run the cards through the count is different due to loose "chad"
falling
> out. A voting machine (mechanical or electronic) can also easily be
> programmed to make it physically impossible for a voter to make an illegal
> choice.
> >
> > /rich
> >
> > ------Original Message------
> > From: "Robert J. Tiess" <rjtiess at warwick.net>
> > To: Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at webjunction.org>
> > Sent: November 10, 2000 8:39:08 PM GMT
> > Subject: [WEB4LIB] RE: The Bad Design Election
> >
> >
> > At least if the candidates/options are displayed as
> > radio button input types, problems with "double-punched"
> > holes on virtual ballots would be totally eliminated ;-)
> >
> > Robert
> >
> > "GRAY, PAUL" wrote:
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: Jerry Kuntz [mailto:jkuntz at rcls.org]
> > > > Sent: Friday, November 10, 2000 10:48 AM
> > > > To: Multiple recipients of list
> > > > Subject: [WEB4LIB] The Bad Design Election
> > > >. . .
> > > > Should we feel fortunate that it would take some tortuous
> > > > HTML/CSS coding to
> > > > reproduce a web-based "butterfly" layout of alternately-aligned menu
> > > > options?
> > >
> > > Yes
> > Richard Wiggins
> > Consulting, Writing & Training on Internet Topics
> > www.netfact.com/rww         wiggins at mail.com
> > 517-349-6919 (home office)  517-353-4955 (work)
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