The Underscore Archives

Hmmm - I don't agree with you either, sorry Joel

I don't think being able to enter any old sh!t is being on to something.

I don't think that it will make for a better user experience. Also ensuring
the accessibility of such a system could be a right nightmare.

In your second/other email on this subject tonight, (responding to Rich
Davey) if you have an account manager who is promising a client the moon on
a stick as you put it, and this is putting the developer under pressure to
move on to something else - how does this makes it the developers fault!?

And why would leaving it to the poor sod who has to code the promises of
said account manager, equate to a fox guarding chickens? 
Are you kissing @rse for the sake of it or am I missing something obvious? -
cos I don't get your point/s ;-)

Wouldn't your scenario be more of a self fulfilling prophecy and indication
of the account manager / project managers poor management and attitude to
the developer - ie if you don't give your developer/s enough time to come up
with a suitable solution, and have been promising the client a moon on a
stick, it's the account manager/project manager that needs a damn good slap
- and not the developer who needs insulting?

In 13 years in this industry I have seen more account managers and project
managers screw up projects and strategies because they want to change things
for changes sake and make some *cool* way of doing every day things just to
get a name for themselves. 
Usability is not about creating new ways of doing things people have done a
certain way for years - it is about making things clear and obvious - that's
all. 

Seriously - its just a frickin date field! Why would you make the spec so
that you have to code for every eventuality just to allow any old sh!t in a
field. Sounds like an excuse for a huge budget a client doesn't need, run by
people with no f at cking clue!

Just my not so humble opinion! :)

Sam



-----Original Message-----
From: Joel Hughes (the elder) [mailto:underscore at jojet.com] 
Sent: 28 March 2008 20:16
To: underscore at under-score.org.uk
Subject: [POSSIBLE SPAM] Re: [_] form fields

Sam Mignano - Analyst wrote:
> But I guess on your *solution* I should be able to enter any old sh!t - I
> mean input what I want - and you will solve it "programagically" I mean
> programmatically?
> 
> I look forward to that....
> Sam
> 

lol! Sam,
I really sympathise with your response but I think Laura is on to 
something here.

Also, where you say "I should be able to enter any old sh!t" - I 
honestly don't think your a 1,000,000 miles wide of the mark.

Case in point, Google Calender...

- open the calender
- click somewhere to create a new event, what comes up?

a single text field which says "what" - not DATE, TIME, START, DROP DOWN 
THIS, RADIO BUTTON THAT (not in the first instance anyroad).

The single text field tries its damndest to work out what you/i as a 
typically crappy user enters (i.e. any old sh*t) e.g.

"lunch tomorrow 12-1", "breakfast sunday 9-10"

That's clever because someone has twigged that us humans can't stand 
forms/rules etc are more free format than that. It thinks, grab-the-info 
-we'll-try-our-best-to-sort-it-out-and-anyway-the-user-can-always-edit-it

More effot? yes. Better user experience? I reckon


Joel Hughes (the elder)





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