When low-tech is the right tech
Overzealous use of new technology has been behind some of the worst usability atrocities known to man! In preparation for our FOWA presentation, Des and I had a lot of fun with our train bathroom lock example. These trains were built in 1994 and I’m sure their designers believed the solution they brought to production was a step-forward from the boring mechanical locks that we’ve been using for centuries.
High-tech problems
But of course, this dramatic departure from convention was not only completely pointless but actually introduced a whole slew of new problems. Like a lack of transparency about whether or not the door is actually locked. Hence the indicator lights! For a toilet lock!
Side-rant: They used red, the colour of “danger” and “incorrect”, to indicate that you’ve safely and correctly locked the door! Which clearly wasn’t clear enough because they also have two big signs asking if the door is locked.
Anyway… I’m very interested to see if we’re maturing as a new-technology-empowered race or if we’re still in a honeymoon phase. My guess is that recently-created technology will always be used inappropriately and over-enthusiastically while it’s still fresh and sexy and while everyone’s looking for an excuse to play with it.
Low-tech solutions
At least in the fast-moving world of train bathroom locks, these new, otherwise super-high-tech trains built in 2007 have settled on a simple, elegant, hassle-free mechanical solution. This low-tech approach quite clearly trumps the high-tech one. And I bet it’s easier and cheaper to produce too!
Lessons for the web
So what does this teach designers for the web? We’ve always jumped head-first into new web technologies just for the sake of it because it’s so easy to do and even easier to roll back. AJAX, Javascript animations, Flash and way back to animated GIFs; most of us have abused these technologies at some stage. But there’s no doubt that each of them can be useful. The real challenge is knowing when they’re not.
How important is it that your visitors can change the layout of your site? Is it useful or is it just cool? I think it’s cool, but then again, I’m a web geek and represent a minority of the web population. So why are you trying to impress me? And is it really that cool?
The effective use of new technology is a beautiful thing. But even more beautiful are simple, responsible, low-tech solutions in an over-tech’ed world. So go forward and roll back, de-tech and be happy!