"Zero knowledge user" machines are a GOOD GOAL

From: Mark Henderson (mark.henderson@asu.edu)
Date: Tue Apr 14 1998 - 19:15:39 EEST


To Larry Blasch, etc.

Regarding "friendly designs" in general, according to Don Norman in
his book "The Design of Everyday Things" the one sign of a good design
is the ability to use it correctly without any instruction. For example,
those solid glass hotel doors that don't have a handle require you to
push on one side or the other and you have a 50% chance of being wrong...
those are bad designs. It should be obvious how to use the device. There
should be no need to be a techie. And, I believe that applies to RP
as well. As long as we are shooting toward this "user friendly" goal
then we have a chance to make the machine usable by everyone. When we
use the excuse that other machines are hard to use, we miss the point. They
are bad designs.....Let's not emulate them.

Mark

At 09:17 AM 04/13/98, lblasch@opw-fc.com wrote:
>
> Concerning 2k machines...Martti Huolila wrote:
> "Even the need of considering the correct build orientation is extra
> work that has very little to do with the end product and there for is
> unproductive time."
>
> Ever attempt to use a TV remote control without orienting the thing to
> point at the TV? How about making Microwave popcorn? "This side up"
> You don't just throw the paper at your "push-button" printer and
> expect it to load properly do you? The document you are printing must
> first be setup with the proper margins and fonts and thats just 2D
> data, so at what point did it become just a push button device?
>
> Until an RP device is capable of producing feature definition on a
> molecular level it will be necessary to orient the part to optimize
> the surface finish and features.
>
> PS: Did you instinctively know how to use the software you are
> creating you designs in, or were you trained?...self taught? Is there
> some skill level required to use it? Why do you see RP as different?
>
> Larry Blasch
> System Administrator
>
> OPW Fueling Components
> P.O. Box 405003
> Cincinnati, OH 45240-5003 USA
>
> Voice: (513) 870-3356
> Fax: (513) 870-3338
> **********************************************************************
> Disclaimer...The views expressed are personal opinion and not those of
> OPW Fueling Components.
> **********************************************************************
> * "Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else." *
> **********************************************************************
>
>
>For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
>
>
Mark Henderson
Co-Director, PRISM
Professor of Engineering
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-6106

(602)965-2899
FAX: (602)965-2910

For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Tue Jun 05 2001 - 22:45:18 EEST