Comments on: Design …

By: joel garry

joel garry — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:12:12 +0000

I can just hear it - "Lentil soup? You idiot, this is hex 018!" Other solutions.

By: mwidlake

mwidlake — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 19:19:08 +0000

Having dwelled long and hard on the issue, and very much enjoyed the rest of the input – I’ve come down on the side that it’s bang-on-topic. It’s like clicking many steps through a poor GUI interface to see a table description, rather than just typing “DESC EMP”. It’s not being a GUI that is wrong, it is the implementation.

Maybe one of your talks at the next UKOUG conference should be about coffee machines and useful user interfaces, rather than all that performance stuff you go on about ;-)

By: Jonathan Lewis

Jonathan Lewis — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 10:37:36 +0000

Colin,

Yes – the concept is useful, the implementation is bad, and the customer is the beta-tester.
Which takes us back to Martin’s first comment – was I on-topic or not ?

By: lascoltodelvenerdi

lascoltodelvenerdi — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:11:23 +0000

Yes, but it’s more geek when you say: give me a 018!

By: coskan

coskan — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:25:30 +0000

Quick codes are also very handy if you are bringing coffee to your cubicle friends. It was way easier for us to list the codes in a small paper and stick it to tray than current option which is trying to remember “coffee no sugar bean to cup” kind requests for 5 guys.

By: Colin 't Hart

Colin 't Hart — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 09:59:53 +0000

Methinks the feature might be useful in office situations where colleagues get drinks for each other. You can be more certain of getting something halfway drinkable by giving them the code rather than instructions on exactly how much sugar and milk you want in your exactly-right-strength coffee…

But yes, the interface is broken. There’s no reason why you can’t design it in such a way that a quick code can be entered immediately. And a 2-digit code (100 combinations) should be plenty.

By: joel garry

joel garry — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 22:50:33 +0000

Well, are there other attributes of the design? Is there a standard ten-key pad, where those experienced with such things can enter known codes much faster than reading and selecting arbitrary words? Is the design relational and extensible? Is there a limit to varieties of coffee, tea and other drinks? Does it have a USB or a network connection? Are there legal implications to making coffee? Are there sociological ramifications? Woot?

By: mwidlake

mwidlake — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 21:54:28 +0000

Was that off-topic or dead on-topic? :-)

Cool features and abilities sell. “Cool” meaning they sound like a good idea.

“easiest to live with”. Well, they decide if you go back to the supplier or not. That is, if the supplier decision is influenced at all by the end user rather than by some disassociated buying decision maker.

But the main question, Jonathan, is “was the coffee drinkable”?
And did you dare try the tea?
(as Mr Douglas Adams pointed out, you can spend a lot of effort making a drink that is almost completly unlike tea)