We have experienced the incredible transformation from the era of industrialization, mechanical products to digital, information object era. This change has just begun, and the speed will be faster and faster. Compared with the changes in social experience in the information age, industrial changes will be relatively small.
Mechanical Age Methods We are naturally used in the past era, we are already familiar with the metaphor and language, to set on a new, less defined thing. As in the history of the industrial revolution, new technical achievements have initially expressed in the old language language. For example, the train head is called iron horses and the car is called a horse horse. Unfortunately, these metaplines will distort our thinking than we hope. Naturally, we will use the old performance method in a new environment. Sometimes this use is effective because the function is the same, although the technology supports it is different. For example, when we convert the printer's processing process to computer word processing, we use the performance method of the mechanical age to the same task. Typewriter with a small metal (Tabs) to quickly let the bracket slide through several spaces to a certain column. As a result of this technique, it is natural this process called Tabbing or Setting Tabs. Word processing also has a tab (tabs) because the function is the same, whether it is the image on the roller or on the screen, you have to quickly switch over a continuous space. However, some time, the performance method of the mechanical age cannot transform the transition to the digital world. We will not use the reins or rudder, although these two methods have been tested in early cars. It has been developed for automotive driving for many years. In the word processing software, although the document scrolls, you can see the paging tag, but we don't need to load new white paper after writing.
New technologies require new performance methods Some time, tasks, processes, concepts and achievements are completely due to new technology make them possible. Because they are in this past, they are not intended to be pre-envisioned. For example, when the phone is originally invented, it is touted as a means of broadcasting music and news, and it has become the most popular and universal personal communication tool. At that time, no one could think of the telephone will become a common item, people will put them in the pocket or handbag, and the annoying ringtone is annoying in the theater performance. Due to our mechanical era, we have a difficult time to understand the appropriate performance method of the information age at the beginning. The true advantage of our creation is often invisible until they have a certain number of users. For example, the advantage of e-mail is not simple than letters - this is the viewpoint of the mechanical age, but it promotes modern flat democratic enterprise organization - from the perspective of the information age. The advantage of the Web is not inexpensive and more efficient communications and distribution - this is the viewpoint of the mechanical age, but because it creates virtual society - from the perspective of the information age. This advantage is only available after we can master it. Because there is a difficult time to understand how digital products are used, we are always too dependent on past, mechanical age.
The performance method of the mechanical age allows the user to degrade if we will encounter problems when the familiar mechanical time will change to the computer. Simplely put into the process and performance method of the mechanical age, often causes degradation of user interaction in the information age product. Handmade mechanical products is more convenient to use the computer. For example, print a single person's address to the envelope requires more than a pen and ink write a letter of envelope (although printing will look clean). This situation has improved only when automatic processing is large. For example, it is necessary to write 500 envelopes. Then use the address book on the computer as an example. If it is the same as a small binding, it is more complicated than the address of the object, inconvenient and difficult. For example, the address of the object is arranged in alphabetical order. But what if you want to find a person through the name? Products in the mechanical age are can't help you: You have to view it by page. Then you can't find names for the digital versions of loyal replication. In other aspects, there are these differences. On the computer screen, you lose the visual information (corners record, pencil write down) in many paper books. At the same time, the scroll bars and dialogs are difficult to use for simple flipping paper, and it is difficult to visualize and are difficult to understand. The axiom should not copy the improvement of the product of the mechanical age into the interface.
The real-world mechanical system, such as pen and paper, have advantages and weaknesses in their media. Software has a completely different advantages and weaknesses, and if the mechanical performance method is still not modified, the old weakness and new weak items will be together. In the example of the address book, the computer can be easily identified by name; however, the name of the same manner is identical to the same manner to make us unable to query in a new way. We have a self-limitation of the possibility in the media of information and cannot get any benefits in the original mechanical medium. When the designer relies on the performance method of the mechanical age to guide yourself, they are a bigger potential to be able to have a biggest potential to provide exquisite information management, and the computer can do better, although it may be different.
An instance of the mechanical time is improved, although new technologies can introduce new concepts, they can also be based on old concepts and expand, which makes designers can use new technologies to update interface performance for customers. method. Use the calendar as an example. In non-digital world, calendar paper production, generally divided into a form of one month. This is a compromise from paper, folders, briefcases, and table drawers. The calendar program of visual expression is very common, and they are almost all a month. Even if they can display more, just like Outlook, they almost all show a discontinuous date of January, why? Paper calendar display single moon is because they are limited by the size of the paper, and the month is a convenient split point. The computer screen does not limit this, but most of the designers are loyal to copying the machinery era products (see Figure 2-3). In the computer, the calendar can be easily rolled in the day, week or month, just like Figure 2-4. If August 28th is a continuous week, it is very simple to arrange anything, it will not be interrupted by unreasonable.
Figure 2-3: The calendar that is visible everywhere is so familiar, so that we rarely stop using the information age standard to appreciate its design on the screen. The original calendar is designed to fit on a stack of sheets, not on an interactive digital display. How will you re-design it? What is the old and mechanical age platform?
Figure 2-4: Scrolling is a very familiar usage for computer users. Why do not replace the performance method of the page mode to a scrolling method, so that the calendar is better? Continuous calendars can do all of the functions of the old way, and can solve the problem of the multi-moon schedule in mechanical performance. Don't pull the old restriction into a new platform because you are used to. Can you think of what improvements?
Similarly, the lattice pattern of the digital calendar is almost all fixed. Why can't you adjust the lace width of the week like a spreadsheet, or a high travel high? You can adjust the size of the weekend to reflect them against other days. If you are an entrepreneur, your work week's calendar requires more space than the vacation week. These usage are in the spreadsheet, that is, it is very common, but the performance method of the mechanical era is so stubbornly that we rarely see that the software publisher violates it. The designer of the software in Figure 2-3 may believe that the calendar is a normative object that cannot be changed. Surprisingly, most of the time management software is internally - in its implementation model, is a continuous processing time, just when the performance is in the user interface - its representation model will split the month! Some people may refute more than the calendar from January, because it is easier to recognize and become more familiar for users. However, the new model is not so different compared to the old, but it can make users easier to make some difficult things, such as cross-moon schedule. For familiar systems, users do not feel new and better ways to be adapted.
Significant changes in the axiom must have significant improvements
The paper-style calendar in the Personal Information Management System (PIMS) and schedule management software is a silent testimony, which shows how our language affects our design. If we rely on the vocabulary of the mechanical age, we can only make software in the mechanical age. Better software should be based on the thinking of the information age.
