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Comment by speeder | Hacker News Reader

And I think some people will STILL crash on the tunnel anyway.

I made a arcade game once: www.abril.com.br/blog/campus-party/2011/01/19/fanatico-por-jogos-leva-seu-proprio-fliperama-para-a-arena/

It has instructions printed on the sides of the screen... It was VERY, VERY, VERY common to someone ask people around them what a button do (sometimes to even random passerby people, or for example a couple arrived at the machine, and the guy would start to play and ask stuff to his girlfriend), and then the asked either looked confused, or pointed to the instructions, and the people asking would behave surprised, confused and shamed.

Why people ignored the instructions and asked for example their girlfriends, random people and so on instead?

Why people see a huge sign blocking the way to a ATM saying it is out of order, they remove the sign from the way and attempt to use it anyway?

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http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000062....

When you design user interfaces, it's a good idea to keep two principles in mind:

1. Users don't have the manual, and if they did, they wouldn't read it.

2. In fact, users can't read anything, and if they could, they wouldn't want to.

This is so very true, thanks for showering me with this wisdom!

You should talk to my mum about it. When anything comes up on her computers' screen, she will just panic and call me or my dad or anyone else, BEFORE even reading what is says. Most conversations look like this: "Hi son, my computer just broke, something came up on the screen and it won't go away" "ok mom, what does it say?" "I don't know, I haven't read it"

People are exceedingly good at ignoring information if they don't want to get involved....

http://lesswrong.com/lw/21b/ugh_fields/

You mean, 'I don't know, I closed it.'

Yes, that happens as well.

Designers are often burdened with creating a design that doesn't require additional interaction by the user. To create something where the user needs to consult instructions or a help file often deters new users from getting past the initial discovery stage.

Even then though there are those "special" users who are beyond help and ignore all rational signs and hints along their path to self destruction. My first job was pumping gas and we had one set of pumps that had a smaller tank than others: it ran out very quickly. So when it was empty we'd put "Out of order" bags over the pump (clearly displayed and labelled) only for people to drive up, remove the bag then complain the pump is dysfunctional.

its because most instructions are unhelpful and a waste time to read, so we're conditioned to ignore them.

bingo

Even when you make great, easy to understand documetation, people are fucking lazy. That fact keeps the most of people in our support department employed.

I don't think you read the parent comment.

An important customer once told me "Yes, I have read about the manual, but it is so much easier to call you." - the problem with lazy customers is that they will make false assumptions about what the software does (everyone will probably do this at one time, but not reading the manual / instructions is much more dangerous).

She also refused to upgrade from a 15" monitor to a larger model, so we had to keep the screen layout in accordance with her outdated screen format. (The cost of a new screen would have been negligible compared to the profits).

That's probably true, I'm always surprised when I find the answer to a problem is in the manual.

Or alert boxes: Don't assume people read them. Most don't. They just click them away. Even if given several choices.

From their perspective, they can't really know whether the sign is accurate or out of date.

When you get somewhere and ask "Is this the address X?", it's not because you have absolutely no idea where you are, but rather because you're only 97% sure and hence would like a simple "yep" confirmation to reassure yourself.

So damned true. In one of my apps, I literally had to hide everything else on the screen to keep people focused on the tasks at hand, one field at a time.

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