The Lack of Affordance Problem

I've often said that the hallmark of good engineering is designing your error cases: of the cases where something goes wrong being pleasant and non-disastrous. The issue is that optimizing some known quality, even one as subjective as aesthetics, is a lot easier than optimizing unknowns, which is what designing failure cases requires. That's why it's hard, why it requires deep and broad domain knowledge, and why it requires knowing your users. It's hard, really, to point to software or hardware that does this well, but it's easy to point to bad examples, such as the OP. But consider things like undo, version control and versioned file systems; think about TCP's recovery abilities, about the fact that Google 2-factor auth gives you lock-out codes and application-specific passwords, the X~ and #X# files Emacs dumps all over your harddrive (they've saved me more than once), and the recovery page you get when Firefox crashes. Or consider the HTML5 parsing algorithm, character set detection, and Google's spelling suggestions. Each of these required identifying a class of problems and specifically designing in features that protected against them.

Please, when designing a project, think not just about your features, usability, and similar features. They're important, crucial even. But also spend time thinking about what problems users will have. What bugs are you likely to have, what misbehavior of your program will be most damaging? Implement a common format because that'll make debugging and workarounds easier, add a little diagnostic console or log in case your users have a problem you didn't expect, make backups of data you destructively modify, and so on. We all idolize Mac Airs now, for beautifully-designed and slick software. But there's something to be said for hardware and software that works through thick and thin, where there's some workaround or safety measure for every failure.

The criticism of Apple's USB drive was insightful, and showed a definite flaw in the design of the unit. However, these two examples are just petty. First, any time you need your serial number you will be told how to get it, and clicking Apple -> About This Mac -> More Info is not an exceptional amount of work. Compare this with what you have to do on Windows:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/558124

Also, though this is not obvious when the unit is purchased, the serial number is etched into the bottom of the casing, not painted as the rest of the text is. I only discovered this when the rest of the text rubbed off of my MacBook Pro. This means that it can't be printed in a different color, but I'd rather have the permanence of etching over paint that can be scratched off.

Finally, the USB extension cable cannot be bought alone - it only ships with an Apple keyboard. It's been designed for the electrical requirements of the keyboard and not all USB devices, so it's understandable that Apple limits its use to the device it's manufactured for.

Good points. And the connector chaos is a thick thorn in the eye of Apple simplicity.

The thing is, design is always a question of compromise. In order to make something truly simple and minimal, you have to sacrifice some affordances. And in order to make something truly easy to use, you have to sacrifice minimalism (think of children's toys). It's a balancing act. If you get it right, people will love your products. If you tip just a little too much to the wrong side you fall, and you end up with Vista security prompts or Apple Keyboard USB extension nonsense.

JGC uses the example of the DVD-drive and the serial number as problem cases. But I'd argue that only the DVD-drive suffers. The serial number will not be relevant in 99,9% of daily computing for normal people. Non-hackers don't care about serial numbers. If something goes wrong they call Apple support (or do the Google routine). Of course it's a matter of focus. Do you want people to easily find the serial number, then by all means, make it easier to spot. Clearly Apple don't. The drawback is not just aesthetics but continuos reminding people that a serial number is important (which it isn't in normal use).

The DVD-drive, however, could be better. But think of your hard drives or SD-cards. None of my 5 USB hard drives have physical buttons to eject them. I still need to 'eject' it, which means I'll have to drag it to the bin! How's that for an affordance. It's a legacy UI behavior which is hopelessly misconstrued. Putting things in the bin DELETES them - that's the behavior we've taught generations of users. It's even worse than clicking "Start" to turn off your computer on Windows. If you have a HD full of pictures of your loved ones would you risk putting them in the bin if you didn't know any better...? Probably not.

Physical affordances have their place. Especially in a world of touch interfaces a button becomes a powerful switch (think the silent ringer on the iPhone). But they are like Tabasco sauces - add a little and it can make the dish, add a lot and it ruins it. It's a never-ending struggle.

As for the USB extension cable, I use it just fine with my ubuntu mouse. I just forced it right on in there. the indentation clip bent slightly, but other than that it's fine. Still works with the keyboard too.

Surprised you didn't mention that the Macbook Air superdrive is hardware locked to only Airs, Mac Minis without optical drives, etc. You can't use them with PCs or even Macs that came with internal drives. It's ridiculous.

This makes me think of how Facebook removed the "Sumbit/Post Comment" button from comment forms. I'd argue it's not obvious that hitting enter will do the trick because enter is for starting a new thought on a new line. They've replaced the natural enter-for-newline with the shift-enter (even more un-intuitive). This has caused me no end of frustration as I accidentally submit unfinished comments and can't submit them at all on the numerous occasions when I repeatedly hit enter with no effect whatsoever. What was wrong with having a button there? Please can we have it back?

One thing I've noticed on my Windows-based laptops is that I accidentally eject the DVD tray more frequently than intentionally ejecting it. In this case I prefer the lack of a discrete eject button.

Is it just me or does it seem that people are a bit more upfront criticizing Apple design now that Steve is gone?

Sounds like he wants a Dell laptop with some stickers on, not something that's lovely to look at.