Context: https://chaos.social/@jonty/113724773034801587

@jonty Some I've noticed recently:

File Explorer doesn't know where to display menus anymore: https://mastodon.social/@KalenXI/113654554768315031

YouTube shows subscriptions in a random order instead of alphabetically: https://mastodon.social/@KalenXI/113473708410704219

@jonty it *infuriates* me that Google won't accept that no means no, and puts up a click through offer (pre-set to accept of course) to enable cloud backup every few times I open Photos on my phone. I said no 50 times already, fuck off!

@jonty done!

@jonty and the winner is: 🥁

Setting up a PS5 from scratch for my son was a UX nightmare. Parent account👨 Child account 👦 Parental restrictions 👮 God knows what else? 🤷‍♂️ Then came Fortnite: another account, linking it to his Nintendo Switch Fortnite account. 3 HOURS LATER 🕒, my son is staring at me like the magic of Christmas is officially dead 🥺 Happy holidays, Sony! 😡

@jonty My dad has Microsoft Defender on his Windows 10 PC, and it suggested (since he connected his phone to the computer) he might like the phone app too, and gave him a single click to automatically install it. The app insists it's crucial he enable it so he's "protected" (appears to be some kind of VPN thing) and if it's enabled, it leaves a permanent notification icon to clog up the top bar, but if he disables it, it sends him frequent notifications warning him he's not protected. It's not even clear what it's doing, or what it's protecting him from.

@jonty all of windows 11? About as consistent as a patchwork quilt made by a thousand people

@jonty transferring a Minecraft world from an XBox to a real computer. Despite both being linked to the same XBox account *which supports save sync for every other game* this requires signing up for a free trial of a multiplayer server, uploading the world to that, downloading it from there to the computer, and then trying to work out how to cancel the damn trial.

@jonty hard one to take a photo of but the whole UX of Sky Q.
The whole menu system and navigation is impenetrable. I get lost pressing the wrong buttons on the remote so my dad has no chance.
Sometimes when you press the power button it turns off the box and tv. Sometimes just the box.
The apps (BBC/disney/etc) just crash to a black screen. (Still a valid hdmi signal but black)
No matter how many times you try to disable the WiFi AP it re-enables it despite being wired in.

@jonty not consumer electronics as such but if you want to ask me about the *insane* state of ITSO based Smartcard tickets and how you load them onto your smartcard, and what cards are/aren't valid (despite them all carrying an ITSO logo), get in touch.

That and LNER actively hiding good deal tickets from users on their website.

@jonty The awfulness that is modern Facebook. My retired mother set up an account so she could see things that local churches/groups post there (and only there). Immediately got banned before doing anything (no idea why). Appeal rejected. Created a new account with a different email address, and followed a few pages - local cathedral etc. Go to the feed and it's full of utter rubbish 'suggested content' with not a single post from any of her favourited pages.

@jonty Earlier this year I tried to help out my Aunt (80s) with a new laptop and was astonished with what I experienced through her eyes. Even just trying to explain 2FA - she was (quite rightly) bewildered. I really need to write it up. It’s actually had an effect on my career.

@jonty I don't have screenshots as I wasn't around, but maybe someone could do a walkthrough of trying to set up a new Windows laptop

@jonty there are thousands dark pattern so ingrained and diffused that we got used to them and we think it is how things are and not bad use experience.
Some examples:
-messaging apps NOT being interoperable and being closed gardens (so you need to subscribe to WhatsApp if you want to contact someone on WhatsApp)
-cookie banners not respecting the "do not track" flag (so you set it once and forget about it)

@jonty The Apple mouse with it’s USB-port on the bottom. Very nice mouse but… why oh why?!

@jonty Oh and the #Mastodon web interface, which turns an intra app drag of an image in Safari into a useless upload… on a bloody mobile device!

And on top of that no way to exit the upload mode once accidentally started.

@jonty a five volume thesis on this would barely scratch the surface. I believe that the underlying problem is that companies are prioritising selfish goals over providing effective solutions to users. Hence, eg, actual expertise in user interaction is deployed not to improve usability but to create dark patterns to meet corporate objectives.

By all means call out individual examples of bad practice, but in the process can we shine a light on the core?

PS web notifications 🤮

@jonty I spent 5 hours on MyAT&T, trying to replace an existing device on one of my family lines, only to get "your phone isn't compatible" and blacklisting the old phone somehow. Btw that included finding out that I have 3 different accounts. 2 for the same plan.
How did AT&T list the phone we've been using for 2 years as stolen exactly as tried connecting a new phone? Why do I have so many undeletable accounts? Why does one acct use 2 different passwords between web billing and the app?

@jonty Do ovens count? 'Cause if they do, boy do I have a corker for ya

@jonty Amazon Kindle registration. If you've got 2FA turned on on your Amazon acct, registration just fails... No messages, no helpful error text, it just fails. Much Googling later...

@jonty Our home has two ceiling fans, two Wi-Fi floor lamps, an air purifier and Wi-Fi power sockets - and EVERY SINGLE ONE needs its own app.

@jonty Please edit this post once you have the website set up, so we get a notification :)

@jonty Was also just reminded about the time my dad was trying to log in to a website on his phone, which for some unaccountable reason required *two* 2FA emails to complete whatever thing he was doing. He was on the website in the browser, clicked the link to send him the email, and then opened the email, which contained a link to the website. He clicked that, which took him to the website *in the email app's in-app browser*, logged him in, and he clicked the link there to send another email. But when he came out of that to find the second email, you can't do that without closing and ending that instance of the browser session, so when he clicked the link in the second email it just said 'error: you are not logged in', so he tried to log in again, and it sent him another copy of the first email. If the email app had sent him to a real browser, or if they didn't require two emails (WHY?) it'd have been fine, but he'd been round this loop five times before he asked me, and it took me another go round to see what was happening, and had to explain to my dad (40+ years working with computers) that there's two different browsers and you can only tell them apart by swiping down and looking at the top bar, which is subtly different, and clicking 'open in browser' fixed it. Absolute bin fire.

@jonty
When you download HP Support Assistant, a tool for important firmware/driver updates on HP hardware, you're asked to share data, and the "let's share later" button doesn't appear until you sit on the screen for a few seconds. if you click either consent checkbox, it will disappear. The big obvious button is greyed out unless you click at least one consent checkbox.

ALT

@jonty my parents have a smart boiler, controlled via a phone app. First the app logged them out on both their phones, and would not accept the saved password. So we reset the password, and now it's telling us "network unavailable".

We've had to boil a kettle to do the dishes for the last three days.

@jonty Trying to explain to her why community groups etc use this , and how yes, it probably is the only way for her to see videos from that church/photos from the cathedral etc.

@robintw it's really awful and I've been wondering if everyone else really has this awful experience of being fed fake images, copypasta and AI slop, starting 1-2 years ago. Why would anyone want to see this? I did wonder if it's because I don't use the app? There's a way to only see your friends/groups but it takes a few clicks. Go into the feeds section, and choose friends. I can't seem to successfully bookmark this specific page on my phone.

@mattgrayyes @jonty This reminded me of the TV set top box used by A1 in Slovenia: my elderly neighbour has it, and managed to get to the radio stations, then couldn't get back to TV programs. It took me about 20 minutes to get back, and I still don't know how exactly I did it.

@zxguesser @jonty I had this with an online service (B2B, that we were paying for, logging in as an admin and being asked for my consent for marketing cookies etc). Told our account manager quite firmly to make sure they remembered a "no" answer and they at least got it fixed. Feels like asking every time if you don't get consent should be considered coerced consent under GDPR but that'd need an Opinion.