Facebook, that time gobbler that so many can't do without and so many hate, is at it again changing the way it works.
Yesterday I posted a picture on Flickr and then wrote a note on Facebook with a link to the picture. When I clicked return, the picture was showing on my message list. A few friends commented on it and I saw the picture above their comments.
Today as I scrolled through my list of messages, the picture was gone but the text remained. I left a comment about it, and one friend said she hadn't seen it before and now she did.
One of the first rules of good human interface is consistency. If I do a certain thing in a certain set of circumstances, I should be able to get a similar result each and every time.
Facebook is not alone in inconsistent user interfaces. Microsoft, Apple, and many others confuse users time after time.
Through iTunes I download Wisconsin Public Radio's "To the Best of Our Knowledge" podcasts, receiving two each week. Suddenly, about four weeks ago I was getting only one. Last week I got none. This week I got one. With a little email help from the TTBOOK host, Jim Fleming, I figured out that iTunes or somebody has decided that I don't need podcasts that I've already downloaded, even if they were from two or more years ago. TTBOOK does rebroadcast programs and thus republishes the podcasts. But shouldn't I be the one to decide that I don't want to listen to an old program again?
Microsoft Office 2004 for the Mac had programmable macros with an extensive, easily used description for each available function. Microsoft decided to take macros out in Office 2008. They said users should write AppleScripts instead. I'll just say that AppleScript is a byzantine programming language. Microsoft decided to put macros back in Office 2011, but many old macros don't work or only work erratically. And the descriptions of the functions are often incomplete.
I'm sure many readers have their own tales of frustration about how software, computers, cars, and customer service departments work. So many of what we depend on may be produced efficiently, but do we get effective results using them?
