tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69706047017165008372011-11-22T21:26:02.321-08:00Interfaces around the worldWukkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00330121366156169906noreply@blogger.comBlogger21100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6970604701716500837.post-31251086748310355562011-11-22T21:20:00.000-08:002011-11-22T21:26:02.331-08:00...is good UI on other machines.<br /><br />I find it amazing that some of the most complex things in existence, personal computers and smart phones, are supposed to be easy to use, whereas things like copy machines present arcane interfaces for much simpler functionality. Today I attempted to scan some stuff at the business center in my residential area. I'm probably dumb since I didn't manage to get anything across despite typing my email address correctly on a numerical keypad for more than 10 times. Why, though, do you have to be smarter with a thing like this than a computer?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6970604701716500837-3125108674831035556?l=wukailong.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Wukkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00330121366156169906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6970604701716500837.post-49345593609663596632011-11-03T22:37:00.001-07:002011-11-03T22:57:13.658-07:00<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wjaNOW2vvXk/TrN8u-PcFII/AAAAAAAAAB4/hN_vEhQGg9Y/s1600/3737055774_0d23d4aa5a.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wjaNOW2vvXk/TrN8u-PcFII/AAAAAAAAAB4/hN_vEhQGg9Y/s320/3737055774_0d23d4aa5a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5671013502213166210" /></a><br />One of the things that haven't changed much since I was a kid are the airport arrival boards. They usually show the names of the origins of the flights, a time and an indication whether the planes have landed or not (often flashing green lights). If you're receiving someone, which I do pretty frequently, you tend to arrive according to schedule, look for the sign that the plane has landed, and wait. For international flights, I tend to expect forty minutes between landing and reception.<br /><br />For the arriving person, there are a number of things that has to be done before he or she can show up in the arrivals hall - get off the plane, clear immigration, gather luggage and (optionally) declare stuff. Sometimes the order of these actions are reversed (in the US, for example, you usually collect your luggage before you clear immigration) but the main idea is the same. I know an airport is a very complex beast in logistic terms, but it still ought to be possible to show more exact information on that arrivals screen. How about the following phases?<br /><br />* The airplane has landed<br />* All passengers are off<br />* The luggage is appearing on the baggage carousel<br />* All luggage has been delivered<br />* All passengers have registered with immigration<br /><br />Especially the luggage thing is key because if I know it hasn't arrived and I'm waiting for someone, I can spend that time on anything else. This might seem like a small win but most time is better spent on something else than waiting, and information in other areas tends to be clearer, so why not airports?<br /><br />NOTE: The embarrassing sign above is from Stockholm Arlanda Airport. I know Chinglish as a phenomenon has to go both ways and we have to expect more bad Chinese in the future, but couldn't they have checked with some Chinese person beforehand?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6970604701716500837-4934559360966359663?l=wukailong.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Wukkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00330121366156169906noreply@blogger.com0