Headbanging

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On the perils of car UI/UX.

Sometimes, I really feel like Matthew Perry as “Oz” in this excerpt from “The whole nine yards”.

Well, not for the same reason, as my wife is the most beautiful and marvellous She I can imagine – a “perfect fit” to me. ;)

No, I’d love to bang my head against the dashboard of my non-existent car, because in this very 21st century, some software exists that is worse than Word, worse than “Neanderthal Technology”. An UI dating back to the very debut of UNIX/X11 GUIs. A software you barely can compare to anything existing. (with the exception of the xman GUI, maybe)

Here are some of the highlights:

  • Inconsistent shortcuts. Use “Meta-a” to select all objects here but “Ctrl-Shift-a” there.
  • Three tools for one task. With different placement of UI elements. Each!
  • Preferences auto-save per default. In a concurrent multi-user environment! Ouch. Get up early or leave late to influence this!
  • Rocket-science: Every here and then, the tool will part like a rocket: a big bang, smoke – and a crash-dump.

A nightmare in terms of Apple’s UI Design Guidelines. And I’m used to the Mac.

Please bear with me until I finish that current design.

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