The other influence has been watching my father come to terms with the 21st century. There isn’t really much choice about whether of not you are going to embrace the world of the internet any longer. Adverts no longer list a phone number, they show web addresses. Big companies don’t want to talk to you, they want you to read FAQs, send emailed enquires, etc.. My father dived in with both feet – on-line banking, national lottery, email, Facebook, the lot.

Watching his struggles has made me realise that the creators of such websites don’t give the slightest consideration for relatively inexperienced users. And the help desks assume knowledge that typical people simply don’t have – have you tried this, have you done that? Loads of jargon ridden gobbledygook – I understand what is being asked, but I think “How the hell is my father supposed to understand that?”

So, lets start with the National Lottery web site. What an user interface disaster. My dad simply wanted to pop in his regular numbers and wait for the winnings to roll in.

So, he has to create an account, and there are really complicated password complexity rules, and he needs a unique username. So, he takes about a dozen attempts to get a combination it accepts, neither of which is something he really wanted, so not surprisingly he forgot what it accepted within about two seconds – which of the myriad combinations was it again? In my opinion, the email address could have been the username, reducing the complexity by one step, and the password rules could have been a tad less intense.

Once you are in, it is not at all obvious how to put in your numbers – choices abound, menus down the left, menus across the top, and choices in the middle of the page. Eventually, dad stumbled on the direct debit configuration page, and puts in his details, then he goes to put in his numbers and he is prompted for a credit/debit card. Oh, and what is his password again, oh bugger, we forgot that, and we need to reset our account, and we have yet another password.

So, now dad is sat waiting for his winnings to roll in. He has emails galore. Direct debit this, direct debit that. A couple of weeks later, he goes to check whether he has won anything and finds that none of his numbers had been placed. One of those multitude of emails was to tell him his direct debit had been cancelled, but why? No-one knows. He has set it up again, and all seems ok now. But, why are these systems so complicated?

Now, my dad is a keen Lexulous player, and the version he got addicted to is embedded inside Facebook. So, he is also a Facebook user. He hates Facebook. He gets notification emails when people send him messages, which he can’t reply to. It makes total sense to reply to a message, but it doesn’t work (BTW, it works correctly on LinkedIn). The little notification counter in the bottom right of the screen always reads 99, no matter what he does because every time someone makes a move on Lexulous, every time someone messages him during a game, every time someone sends him a Facebook message, every time someone invites him to join some stupid game he’s not interested in the counter goes up, which is dozens and dozens of times per day. So, playing a nice relaxing game of Lexulous results in never ending stress.

Throwing all this shit in his face constantly isn’t going to make him sign up, join in, buy or anything else, but it is going to stop him from playing, one day. (I know there are ways and means of reducing the noise, but HOW IS HE GOING TO FIND OUT?). A simple notice on each annoying message saying “click here to never see one of these again” would help.

If you’re one of dad’s friends on Facebook, do him a favour, don’t invite him to play Farmville, Social questions, or whatever spam system that is stealing all your social network information this week because he isn’t interested, honest. (But do send him personal messages, we’ve got that bit sussed now).

Now, the banks get quite a thumbs up, mostly. Even the Spanish one has an English version of the site that is mostly understandable. But, quite regularly the HSBC online bank just refuses to let him log in. When he rings the help desk they say it’s because he has the web site in his “Favourites” (Hey, help desk people, not everyone has Internet Explorer, so don’t confuse my dad by mentioning something that isn’t even on his machine). Now, as a web developer I struggle to see how having a bookmark can break the authentication system, but if I found a way, I would make sure I fixed it so my site didn’t behave that way. I mean, why should someone have to always type in the web address? (Oh, and I checked, the bookmark was to the login page, not somewhere deep in the site). Now, that is crap.

My dad has done amazingly well to start using computers in his 67th year, and being able to do email, banking, play games, book flights, and loads of wonderful things, but I suspect he hates it, and all because there are so many bloody lazy developers. If you want to find out how crap your website is, drop me a line and we’ll arrange for my dad to do some web usability consultancy for you.Share

Why blog at all? My old blog ran out of steam. So, I could have let it die. It probably would have been a fitting end – all it seems to be these days is a sort of forum for people discussing issues with the brand of central heating I have (which I daren’t mention here, in case it becomes a surrogate!).

Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr all overlap greatly with the world of blogs – and for the sort of thing I used to post have replaced it – hence my old blog sliding into total abandonment. But, these places are all places for a quick recommendation, comment, or status update – not for long term mini stories. I had a few of those in my blog, but had stopped doing them.

Should it be a blog with a theme? It appears, if I want large readerships or advertising revenue I should have a theme. I should pick something that interests me and write exclusively about that. OK, I have a job already! I’ll write about what interests me, regardless of topic, and sod the audience… This is for me, in 10 years time, so I can wonder what I found interesting when I was young (hah!). If anyone else likes what I write, fine. Forget the advertising.

So? What is likely to end up here?

• I love my Apple Macbook Pro, so you are likely to find software reviews, or stuff I like about Macs (or iPhones, even).
• Grumpy old man syndrome (well, I have both hairy ears and a hairy nose, and not much hair where I want it, so I think I qualify). So, general moaning about the crap country we are in will likely make an entrance.
• Fitness (I dream). I am one of those people that claims that my weight goes up on it’s own, so dieting and fitness are an irregular topic of my life, trying to remove the blubber on irregular cycle to stop myself being moaned at, to avoid buying yet more clothes, to avoid breaking the office chair, etc..
• Programming. This may get mentioned (although, my work is usually fairly confidential, so I will always think twice).
• Working as a contractor. This is a big part of my life, and I would love to yap about some aspects of it, but the client confidentiality issues may actually stop me from saying anything (sad, but true).
• Future tech. I am fascinated with the way technology is going, and concepts such as the Singularity may get mentioned (at the risk of drawing ridicule and scoffing at the mad old geezer).
• Photography. I love taking pictures, especially of my family. I also like nice cameras, and my skills probably don’t deserve them – if you hang around here you will see the occasional photos or mention of photo kit.
• Finally (at least until it dies a death, due to things not going my way), I am apt to wax on aimlessly (and most likely boring you all to death) about my progress in emigrating to Australia.Share