News: in print, on the Web, on a mobile device

I’ve been thinking about how we read the news, and how the “device” we use affects how much we read. And that affects how much we learn about the world.

I think that reading news in print is better than reading online. Here are two important reasons:

1. Getting hooked by a story. Look at a printed page, and you get a lot of information; not so online. The extra text in print can get my attention, even if the headline doesn’t. And paging through the paper provides a backup — when I get to the jump page, sometimes the continuation of the story gets my attention, even if the first view of it didn’t. The homepage and section homepages online generally have a headline and a sentence or two; that’s not always enough to draw me in to a story.
2. Is this new news or old news? Today’s print paper is today’s paper. Today’s online newspaper is a mix of new stories and old. I was shocked one time to find that I was starting to read a story from a couple of months earlier.

Here are some examples from a recent day’s news. Click an image to blow it up, but look from this bird’s-eye view first and get an idea of how much information each medium initially provides. I think that’s important.

This is not meant to be exhaustive, nor scientific. But you have to start somewhere. What  do you think about reading online vs reading print, especially for news?

The New York Times. Available in these formats: A new Web app. The Web site offers two versions: one is current news, I believe, while the other is the day’s print paper online. The Times Reader app may no longer be supported, but it was when I captured these images.

New York Times Web app

New York Times.com Web site- iPhone

New York Times.com – Today’s paper – iPhone

New York Times Reader

New York Times front page – print

New York Times daily email

The Boston Globe. At the time of these screen captures, there was a Web site, an app and the print version.

Boston Globe.com – iPhone

Boston Globe.com

Boston Globe front page in print

Boston Globe app

The Boston Herald. This is unique because readers see more information with the online front pages than in print.

Boston Herald front page, print

Boston Herald app, iPhone

Boston Herald.com

Assistive devices for low-vision and hearing-impaired people

I was visiting someone recently who has severe vision and hearing problems. The number and types of assistive devices that he has is amazing. Most of them came from the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

Memory takes the place of vision with some of these devices: each has its own controls and layout to remember. It’s quite amazing to watch someone use them all. Click the images to see them larger.

The ScripTalk Station reads prescription labels aloud. It gets information from an RFID chip in the label, so the medication has to come from a pharmacy that uses these labels (like the VA).

An occupational therapist provided some interesting tips: put a rubber band at the top of a bottle for morning doses, and at the bottom for evening. Turn the bottle over after taking the meds, then reset it the next day.


As it says on the handset, this is a LOUD telephone. I had to turn it way down to use it. The buttons are large enough for many low-vision people (and I blurred out the names on the top of the phone).

People with severe vision problems can contact the phone company to get an exemption from directory assistance charges. AT&T offers services through its Accessibility & Disability Services and The National Center for Customers with Disabilities.

Williams Sound makes SoundPlus TV listening devices like this. The base connects to the television, and sends the sound via infrared signals to the receiver, which the listener wears.

Sound on the television can be at a regular level for people without hearing problems, and the wearer can adjust the volume on the receiver.

Two reading devices: On the left, is a magnifier. You can see the corner of a yellow page under the screen. This is good for simple documents.

On the right is the Extreme Reader by Second Vision. It does text-to-speech conversion and reads documents out loud. You can see a newspaper in the device, and the simple control panel with four big buttons. It’s obviously slower than reading on your own, but it’s an amazing thing to have when you can’t.


This HealthSmart blood pressure cuff speaks instructions, measures blood pressure and then speaks the results. It provides a general diagnosis (“According to World Health Organization recommendations…”)

I saw a similar device for measuring blood glucose levels.

Not everything is electronic. Large-print calendars like this are very helpful. One source for them is LS&S, “the catalog of products for the visually impaired and hard of hearing”. Other simple accommodations include small velcro strips on washing machines and dishwashers to help get oriented on the control panels.

This one is my favorite: Press the red button to hear what color an item is, which can help vision-impaired people pick coordinating clothing (or carpets, for that matter).

Press the yellow button to get an audible signal that indicates the light level of the room. You don’t want to invite friends over for coffee if they can’t see the cake!

Where does the credit card go?

I bought stamps at the Post office today and saw that they have new terminals for swiping credit cards. It was this one, or one just like it.

The Ingenico iSC 350
Quick: where would you swipe your credit card?

Perhaps because I was looking at the pen, but I tried to swipe the card in the slot just under the pen. But that’s not where the card goes, that’s just a space between two parts of the device. The card goes in the space just above the keypad (which wasn’t lit up when I used it).

The funny thing is that the clerk said that I wasn’t the first person who did that! Maybe a little usability testing would have helped.

Update (7 Aug 2014)
When I bought stamps today, I noticed that the slot at the top of the machine was covered with tape. The clerk said they had to do it because so many people tried swiping their cards there.

Well, that’s one way to fix the problem.

A chair you can’t fall off of

Instead of having four legs, this desk chair has a sled base that’s not flat. We took our son to college recently, and found these in the dorm rooms.

The angled base allows the sitter to lean back, but it stops the chair from going too far back. It’s like a two-position rocking chair.Legs are subject to damage when a chair is tipped, but this avoids that problem.

I’ll have to ask how comfortable it is.

Climbing up the bus

As I approached the bike store, I saw some people working on a trolley bus, the kind that draws power from overhead wires. Then, while I was locking it to a pole, the mechanic walked over and climbed up to the top of the bus. I’d never noticed that trolley buses have built-in ladders.

This is probably easier than designing a place to stow a ladder inside the bus, and it doesn’t require any extra clearance the way a ladder would. That probably makes it safer. I don’t recall seeing any warning signs for the climber, though.

Steps closed (left) and open for mechanics to climb to the roof (right).

It took me by surprise to see the mechanic climb up the side of the bus, or I’d have take a photo of him climbing!

A simple solution for elder security

I was visiting at a senior living community lately, and saw a great low-tech security device.

Security personnel walk the halls overnight, flipping these little markers up against the doors of each apartment…

… and when the resident opens the door, the marker falls. Security staff walk through the halls during the morning and can check on anyone whose marker isn’t released.

User reactions to self-service features: Is it “Hey, I already have a job, I don’t need to do yours, too”?

Companies obviously want to cut down on calls to customer care centers to save money. One way is to allow (force?) users to do more things themselves. We’ve been recovering passwords ourselves for a long time, and many products include other self-service tasks. Even libraries allow patrons to check out their own books.

In a recent design project, I was afraid that customers would dislike the self-service tools we were adding. I thought they might have the same reaction that I have to self-checkout lanes in stores: “Hey, I already have a job. I don’t want to check out and bag my own stuff here!”

But that wasn’t the case. Our users liked the new self-service tools.

We talked with a lot of users in usability studies and customer visits.  They mostly had gotten good results when they called for assistance, but it seemed easier to do things themselves.

Calling customer care may seem like more of an interruption, while doing something yourself may seem more like an extension of what you’re already doing. Making the call requires a lot of work:

• Deciding that the problem is big enough to bother someone about
• Wondering if there’s enough time for the call
• Finding out if customer care is available
• Looking for the phone number & making the call
• Going through the voice menu
• Waiting on hold
• Explaining the problem, discussing it and maybe being transferred.
• … and then finally getting a solution

The early results for this product are good. It seems that customers are doing more tasks themselves, and the company is getting fewer phone calls.

Have you noticed that you’re doing more things yourself on the Web? What do you think about it? Are companies forcing you to do their work, or is it a time saver?

Boston parking meter cards: user error, or a system-design problem?

The City of Boston recently announced the Boston Meter Card, a prepaid card to use at parking meters. It’s a great idea, but it was impossible for me to figure out because the card doesn’t work the way other cards work. You have to insert the card and keep it in the meter for 10 to 15 seconds.

This post describes the problem, proposes simple ways to fix the problem at this late date and has videos of how the meters work.

How do you think it works?

How do you think it works?

What would you do when you walked up to a meter with the card? I thought about which way to put the card in, inserted it, took it out, and… nothing.

I was there with someone else, and we couldn’t figure it out. Was the card broken? Was the meter  broken? What else could I have done?

Good thing I had quarters.

It doesn’t work the way you’d expect

When you insert the card, you have to hold it in for  10 to 15 seconds and wait while the small display updates a number of times. But you knew that, right?

Problem #1: It doesn’t work like any other card I use. I couldn’t figure it out. Was it user error, or a system-design problem?

Videos of using the Boston Meter Card

Watch video footage of checking in and out of a meter. It’s hard to read the display, but that’s part of the real-life situation.

Now that I know how it works, I understand the transitions in the display:

1. 00:00 – there was no time on the meter when I arrived
2. 25.00 – I have $25.00 left on the card
3. In – I’m checking in
4. 4:00 – the maximum amount of time to park

The first time I tried the card, it took the full 15 seconds to get a response. It didn’t display “In” that time, but it did display “1111” for some reason.

How long do you have to wait and watch? And how many changes will there be? Not knowing makes it hard to know when it’s complete. Is it clear what each display means?? There was no explanation, and it was impossible to figure out the first time. A brochure came with the card, but didn’t mention any of this.

Problem #2: The displayed information isn’t always the same for the same operation.

Checking out of the space was even more confusing because there were more transitions in the display to figure out:

These were the transitions for checking out:

1. 2:18 – the time left when I got back
2. 1111 – no idea, what do you think?
3. 1:42 – the time I had parked and would pay for now
4. 22.85 – the money I would have left on the card
5. OUt – I was leaving
6. 00:00 – the meter was reset and now had no time

Problem #3: There’s no way for a first-time user to know how many display transitions there will be, so there’s no way to know how long to wait before removing the card. (I think you have to wait, but I didn’t test that.) And it’s not clear what it all means.

It works like … nothing else

Even if you use an older ATM that holds on to your card, it reacts within a second or two. Most card-reading machines have instructions saying to “swipe” or “dip” the card; this was the only one that would use a word like “wait”. Here’s an example from a hotel I recently stayed at:

This hotel key card responded within a second. All I had to do was "dip" it in and remove it.

Using the card the first time

The first thing was to figure out how to insert it. This photo shows a graphic on the meter that corresponds to the chip on the back of the card. It’s hard to see and it’s not clear what it means.

The arrow points to a graphic that looks like the chip on the back of the card. Is that enough to tell you how to insert the card?

The sticker just below the slot would have been a good place to put some instructions. That would have been easier than trying to decipher that little mark under the slot.

Problem #4: The display is hard to read in bright light, and probably worse at night.

I inserted the card different ways, but it didn’t react (because I didn’t know to hold it in place). I spent a lot of time trying to make it work and a lot of time the next day on the phone finding out how it does work.

The problem: User error?

One person I talked with in the Parking Office said that it was “probably user error” because “that is the problem in 24 out of 25 cases.” I don’t generally believe in user error, so I took a deep breath and said that it’s more likely a system-design problem.

After awhile, I found someone who explained about having to hold the card in the meter for 10 to 15 seconds. I identified myself as a user experience designer, and we talked further.

More than user error, I think it was a failure to understand the users and their expectations.

Should a parking meter card need instructions?

He asked if I’d read the brochure that comes with the cards (PDF). This should be so simple that instructions aren’t needed. I don’t think people would read directions, save them or remember what they’d read. I mentioned that, and said that as a typical user, my copy was already in the recycle pile.

We talked about the instructions on the back of the card, too (ALL IN UPPER CASE) That text doesn’t say anything about holding the card in, it didn’t explain the transitions on the display and it didn’t explain when you’re done with a transaction. The brochure did mention holding the card in, but only for signing out.

The gold seal on the left must be the chip. The instructions at right ARE ALL UPPER CASE and don't mention holding the card in.

Problem #5: This system shouldn’t require documentation and what they provide is incomplete.

How can they fix this now that they’re already selling cards?

If the city doesn’t change something to make the system easier to figure out, I’m afraid that it will just fail.

It’s a system with many parts: the card, the display, the insertion method, the information on the meter and the brochure. Plus user expectations. Some parts are easier to change than others, but something has to change.

When I talked with someone in City Hall, I suggested reprinting the cards with complete instructions. He said that the cards came from the vendor. And that they had 10,000 of them. My card has a number in the 400s, so that won’t work.

Next, I suggested printing stickers with better instructions to cover the old text. Again, even if it were a lot of work, at least people would have the instructions with them.

It would help if the sticker on the meter had some instructions. I assume that changing the displays or how the meters work would be too involved, but we didn’t get to those topics.

We talked a little more and I wished him well.

Lesson: Design, test, redesign, test, …

Problem #6: The underlying problem is that the product design process probably didn’t involve any actual users or testing in real situations.

This is a system designed for anyone who parks a car at a meter, day or night, possibly in a hurry. How do you think someone like that reacts to this user experience the first time?

I don’t know who the vendor is, or who designed the system. And I don’t know how they’re going to resolve this problem. I’m pretty sure the program will not succeed without a big change.

I sent what I learned to Eric Moskowitz, the Boston Globe reporter who writes the Starts & Stops column about transportation issues. Maybe he can write a column and help teach people how it works.

It seems pretty clear to me that this whole system was designed the old-fashioned way. Rather than test the system with real users in real situations, they probably talked about it in a conference room and figured it would work out OK. If someone raised the obvious problems, I can imagine someone else saying, “Yeah, but all they have to do is…”

That phrase is the kiss of death for a design. I hope the City of Boston can make this project work because it’s a great idea.

Does TSA need some usability analysis?

Does the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) do any usability studies to see how passengers react to security screening at airports? I don’t mean whether people like the different types of scans, but the whole process, from approaching the TSA area to getting their shoes and belts back on.

I have two problems: There’s never enough time and space to prepare, and I don’t really know what the rules are.

I try to prepare: liquids in one bag, prescriptions in another bag, a bag ready to empty my pockets into, shoes ready for removal, etc. But I always wind up at the conveyor belts sooner than I expect to. People are standing behind me, waiting for a basket while I’m trying to remember all the things I’m supposed to do. About half the time I forget to remove the bags with liquids and medications, and it doesn’t seem to matter.

Apparently certain mistakes can cause you grief. I read a story in the New York Times about a businesswoman pulled aside by TSA agents because the sundress she was wearing was too long (and could hide something) and because she didn’t make eye contact with the agents (after taking the red-eye from San Francisco to New York).

And I recently learned that cargo shorts pretty much guarantee a pat-down. Too many flaps, pockets, snaps and zippers.

So if I arrive at the conveyor belts and don’t do everything smoothly enough, will I be pulled aside for additional questioning or screening? That’s another part of the problem — no one really knows what the rules are. It’s like entering a new password on a Web site that doesn’t tell you the rules for passwords until you violate them. (That’s another blog post.)

I did find a reference to TSA doing customer research on its Web site a couple of years ago, but nothing about this.

Have you heard about any research into the overall process? Ignoring pat-downs and scans themselves, what would make the experience easier for you?

Interesting subway design: would you do a usability study?

I was in the Atlanta airport recently. It’s big, so they have a couple of subway lines to take passengers to the terminals, hotels and car rental offices.

There aren’t many seats on the trains, which I think allows more space for people to stand, and makes it easier to get on and off.

To make standing easier, they have poles. But notice the design of the pole: instead of a simple vertical pole, it divides into three parts, providing more hand-holding space. Even if someone leans on the pole, there’s  space for someone else to hold on.

And, as a friend noted, the bars aren’t so far apart that people can get their heads stuck inside. That’s a good design, huh?

I wonder if they tested this at all, or just assumed that it would work because it’s so clever. I assume that someone at least rode trains for a while, observing how people reacted and used it.

What do you think? Would you test something like this, or just build and install it? Have you seen any other clever designs like this?