April 11, 2018 at 9:04 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Considering Other Views
April 12, 2018 at 2:19 am
Every textbook on Typography from the year dot has given the rules for the size of a font. The rules are no different for screens, especially now that we are getting a reasonable pixel density. Nowadays designers are often insisting on going either too small or two big. There is no messing about with the text that you need to read. It has a 'natural' size to make it easy to read no matter the age or disability of the reader. We used to take accessibility seriously in IT.
Best wishes,
Phil Factor
April 12, 2018 at 2:49 am
I have a Samsung G3, gives me all the information I need and the text isn't that small. 🙂 I also think windows has quite a few accessibility options, including the magnifier. Wearable tech is designed for the younger generation, but consumer spend power still wins, so at least these days you can post on the companies facebook or twitter and someone will generally listen to any constructive feedback, who would have been able to do that 20-30 years ago?
April 12, 2018 at 4:13 am
“ordLnPrc”? Is that what that little black smudge on the screen says? ??
April 12, 2018 at 4:16 am
P.S. Speaking of usability in general, it would be nice if SSC’s login page took you back to the page that prompted the login.
April 12, 2018 at 5:06 am
phegedusich - Thursday, April 12, 2018 4:13 AM“ordLnPrc� Is that what that little black smudge on the screen says? 🙂
Ordinary login procedure or?
April 12, 2018 at 5:58 am
I go to the discussion from Steve’s article in email, and then hit the login link at the top of the discussion page. After login, I’m redirected to the SSC home page instead of the page I logged in from.
April 12, 2018 at 6:23 am
When I ordered a new laptop at work, I asked for a 4k screen. My reasoning was the higher pixel density would make for a sharper image for my aging eyes and Windows will let me set a scale factor. Well, yes, Windows will let me set a scale factor but the number of applications, even new applications, that take scale factor into account is disturbingly low. My current scaling on the 4k screen is 250% which gives me close to the amount of information you would see on a 1920x1080 screen. It's a beautiful and very sharp display, but here is what I found.
o Many applications applications only take into account the screen resolution and scaling of the main screen and when moving screens to another monitor (ie 1920x1080) does not cause the application to adjust it's scaling.
o Some applications become unusable. The first time I used SQL Prompt on this laptop, I could not see all the options on Edit Styles screen. Redgate was very responsive when I talked with support and this was fixed relatively quickly. Other companies responses to similar bug reports are, well, lacking in comparison.
o Some applications only scale parts of their screen but not others making it look very strange and hard to work with.
As much as I love the sharpness and color on this display, I would never get another 4k screen on a laptop. They're great if you under 30 and don't need to use scaling but it's been far too much of an annoyance using it with a scaling factor.
April 12, 2018 at 6:54 am
having passed a half century of living a few years back, the visual issues with screens, and UI design is definitely a bit of a problem, especially when it comes to handheld devices. It reinforces some of the Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt around just how marketable am I in my career at my age. What I hope for, is that some of the new research in Augmented and Virtual Reality can be used to improve the visual displays to be more flexible for those with impaired or aging eyes.
April 12, 2018 at 7:36 am
Fortunately, the norm is for the presentation tier to be entirely separate from the business logic and database tiers, and end users can choose what device, operating system and browser hosts the application. IT is a lot more accommodating today than it was 20 years ago. I too have reached the age where I struggle to browse the web or read email on my phone, but fortunately this isn't an issue on my work PC. I compensate using a pair of 3x reading glasses, which also comes in handy when reading the small print on packaging at the grocery store or trying to thread fishing line through a hook.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
April 12, 2018 at 8:45 am
This is a topic which has concerned me for a long time. In my previous job there were ladies who used the software we wrote to do their jobs. These ladies were in their 50's. I learned, watching them, that when they used our software, for whatever reason, they didn't want to wear their eye glasses. So we designed our software so that when you enlarge the window, the font would also enlarge. That made them very happy and they could continue to not use their eye glasses.
Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.
April 12, 2018 at 9:43 am
Considering other views is vital in the work we do and outside of work. For the longest time, I was squinting attempting to work on complex power shell power scripts. A co-worker showed me how to change the font size which was a great help. Outside of work, our television provider keeps changing their menu layout and one of the local television stations has gone "metro" with their graphics. My wife is losing her sight and each of those "improvements" have added to her frustration and at times isolation. Technology is merely a tool within the wider human experience.
"Concern for man and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavors. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations." Albert Einstein
John
April 12, 2018 at 9:49 am
Screen resolution is definitely an issue in many cases. I've also had the experience of dealing with certain applications which when scaled to 125% became completely unusable (labels overlapped fields in such a manner that users couldn't read, never mind actually use the form). When I asked the support team about the issue, they said, "oh it says right in the product documentation that you must run this in 100%". "What about users with vision issues?" answer: "get a bigger monitor". (as you can guess, the user was unimpressed with the response).
As for wearable tech, the screens are so small I can't read what they display...and I'd hate to have a much larger device because many of them are already rather large and heavy. I wonder if they'd ever come up with something equivalent to a virtual screen which could be resized to the equivalent of a 25" monitor? I'd use that.
Additionally, I've noticed that in bright sunlight, it's impossible for me to see anything on my phone screen. This does prevent me from texting while driving because I can't see anything on the phone's display, especially when wearing sunglasses, so that may be a secret "benefit" of the unreadable in sunlight screen. I usually have to find some shade & remove my sunglasses before I can interact with the phone.
April 12, 2018 at 9:51 am
phegedusich - Thursday, April 12, 2018 4:16 AMP.S. Speaking of usability in general, it would be nice if SSC’s login page took you back to the page that prompted the login.
It should. If it doesn't,, something is broken.
April 12, 2018 at 9:55 am
LadyRuna - Thursday, April 12, 2018 9:49 AMScreen resolution is definitely an issue in many cases. I've also had the experience of dealing with certain applications which when scaled to 125% became completely unusable (labels overlapped fields in such a manner that users couldn't read, never mind actually use the form). When I asked the support team about the issue, they said, "oh it says right in the product documentation that you must run this in 100%". "What about users with vision issues?" answer: "get a bigger monitor". (as you can guess, the user was unimpressed with the response).As for wearable tech, the screens are so small I can't read what they display...and I'd hate to have a much larger device because many of them are already rather large and heavy. I wonder if they'd ever come up with something equivalent to a virtual screen which could be resized to the equivalent of a 25" monitor? I'd use that.
Additionally, I've noticed that in bright sunlight, it's impossible for me to see anything on my phone screen. This does prevent me from texting while driving because I can't see anything on the phone's display, especially when wearing sunglasses, so that may be a secret "benefit" of the unreadable in sunlight screen. I usually have to find some shade & remove my sunglasses before I can interact with the phone.
Part of this is the polarization on sunglasses making the phone unreadable. I agree, a good side effect when driving.
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