Monday, August 30, 2010
QWERTY IS NOT THE STANDARD BECAUSE IT IS THE BEST. IT IS THE BEST BECAUSE IT IS THE STANDARD: Isn't it time for everybody who runs a blog to sit down and decide, once and for all, what the buttons that read "previous" and "next" (or "previous posts" and "next posts," etc.) mean? They could mean "[older/newer]" or "[previously/next] in the order in which you encounter them assuming that you started with the front page of this blog and are working your way deeper into the archives," but it shouldn't be both. And there should also be a standard about which button is assigned to which side of the bottom of the page, so you can always know whether the right-hand side takes you forward or backward in time. Whenever I'm catching up with a blog I haven't read for a few days and I see those buttons, I have a minor meltdown of anxiety about whether I'm going to get sent back to the page I just saw.
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Yes. And also? Can we agree that when entering, say, a SSN or phone number in blocks, we should all get together and decide whether the tab button will be needed?
ReplyDeleteFor that matter, even when not in blocks, can we standardize the use of dashes/dots/parentheses?
ReplyDeleteYES. Or standardize whether you can enter it all in one field or in separate blocks. But no automatic go-to-next-block things, because those never work quite right if you need to go back and fix a mistake!
ReplyDeleteNo. No one can ever agree on anything. Ever. I just saw a screen mock up where the developer used Comic Sans. For a financial application. You think these people care about your precious little buttons and your tab tabbity tabbing? Nooooo. THEY wrote the software, THEY know how it works, so it's YOUR fault if you can't intuitively intuit their misunderstood genius. And if it's maybe, ok just a little, unclear, then it can all be cleared up in the documentation. Basterds.
ReplyDeleteI also have the previous/next problem, but the best sites avoid that by using "Older/Newer"... such as this one. Can we make that the standard?
ReplyDeleteAnd the phone number thing in blocks has bugged me as I look for a better job and apply to dozens of places. How about standardizing dates? When applying, it always asks for the exact date I was hired for an internship I had five years ago. I don't know. I also don't know what exact day I left. Can't I just put "June 2006-August 2006" and call it good?
Amen to MA's second paragraph, which I found mildly annoying a few years back when I was looking at new jobs, but which was much more annoying to my wife this past year when she was looking to get back to a paying job after spending 8+ years being a mom. It's all because of the near total computerization of the hiring process; these developers of job application software are just making it harder on people who are already finding it pretty goddamn hard to find jobs. Standardize around month-year (or even just year for crying out loud) and give folks a break.
ReplyDeleteMe too! this is one of my biggest pet peeves....
ReplyDeleteI'm also looking for a better job, and the online job application process is one of the more soul-sucking things I've had to do as an adult. It bugs the crap out of me that I have to post a resume AND fill in all their ridiculous blanks with the exact same information. It bugs the crap out of me that the filling in of the blanks is actually MORE important, since their computer algorithm won't be able to tell if I'm qualified without it, but when it gets to an actual person, they only look at my resume. It drives me crazy that it takes hours and hours and hours and everyone's system is different. I miss the good old days of resume, cover letter, envelope, stamp, done.
ReplyDeleteRight. And some, but by no means all, of the software is designed to parse your resume and fill in the blanks....but even that often doesn't get it completely right, so you have to go back through.... and I'm getting aggravated again just writing about it. Fortunately, my wife starts her new gig next week, and hopefully neither of us will have to go through that again until long after better and more standardized algorithms exist.
ReplyDelete