It's easy for tech geeks to make fun of newies in matters like this. I remember, years ago, asking how to do something on a computer. The answer involved having to choose one of the options on the toolbar, using a drop down menu. Choosing one of the items in the drop down menu, which opened a nested drop down menu. Which opened a nested drop down menu. Which opened a nested drop down menu.

Simple, isn't it? Sheesh, how could you NOT know that? ANY fool knows how to do that.

I asked the guy if he expected me to be able to remember any of that next time I wanted to do the same thing again.

"Intuitive" means something different for a guy with a degree in computer software than it does for the regular guy.

And if computer programmers are so smart, why do they have to make things so complicated? MIght it have to do with wanting to make sure their buddies in tech help can make $80 an hour to solve these issues?

Ideally, you want programmes etc that a reasonably intelligent person could suss out through trial and error.

Yeah, you can tell I'm not the kind of person who just luuuurves the idea of reading a 100 page manual for the product.

I could work out how to use my PVR without reading the manual, for the most part.

If you need a hundred page manual to explain how it works, and the product is for general usage, then you are not smart enough to make these products. Stick to rocket surgery.

Rant over.

It's easy for tech geeks to make fun of newies in matters like this.

I don't think it's our intention to "make fun" of newbies. The perspectives from the IT person and the layperson is

sooo different - that's what we are trying to illustrate. From each viewpoint, it seems logical enough, based on

what the person views as logic. The point is, extreme roleplaying doesn't bridge the gap. Go to Bunnings. Look for

a do-hickey that you need to repair your gutter. There are technical names for that apparently simple part. There

are technical names for the fasteners too. If I don't have the experience with that lifestyle, I won't have a clue

what the part is called, which aisle to go to and what fastener goes with it.

I remember, years ago, asking how to do something on a computer. The answer involved having to choose one of the options on the toolbar, using a drop down menu. Choosing one of the items in the drop down menu, which opened a nested drop down menu. Which opened a nested drop down menu. Which opened a nested drop down menu.

Good example. Bravo. Tech jocks have been at the receiving end of this pretty often and just accept it. Their brain

becomes wired to remember the first initial or the first word of each menu, no matter how convoluted - their mind

does not attempt to deal with the convolution or understand the inner meaning - it's a simple case of writing down

each word in sequence. Anyone can do that as long as they accept this need to carry out the task.

The layperson is often left foundering - firstly, they don't know whether they should be looking at the menu or an

icon or a button - which one? Then after the second menu item in the sequence, they resist the sequence and ponder

on whether the menu item words have inner meaning, who was the idiot programmer who came up with this menu

structure, why couldn't it have been done "more better" - why if it were them, they would have, and which button on

the mouse is the "I'm getting irritated" one.

If you view from each party's perspective, each party thinks they are right, the other party can't be very bright

not to understand.

And yet, in the short time, each party really doesn't understand.

Enter Microsoft Office 2007 to the party. Convoluted, tacked on, cascading menu panels limited or gone, replaced

with 1 inch height of Ribbon with big icons. In an attempt at reconciliation between the two viewpoints.

And what happens? Both parties stand up and say "why did you move my cheese?"

And the world revolves.

I do get that computer users can be clueless, and their cluelessness is great fodder for comedy...a la the true or fabricated story of the infamous 'coffee cup holder' on PCs.

It's not easy to remember the early days of computers, what with their dos prompts etc. That would have been an absolute nightmare to deal with for the non-geek. But we have come a long way in use-ability, probably.

It just bugs me when people have no concept of how unintuitive these things can be. They may have years of IT education behind them, or years of exploring computers on their own, forgetting that they weren't so knowledgeable when they started off.

Just speaking as someone who does not want to read a manual...who wants to stuff around with stuff until it makes sense...and the harder that process is, the worse the design, in my view.

Latest things to bug me:

When MS wants to 'help' me...I might be doing something on the PC when I get an intrusive message which is absolutely no help at all to me, and just wastes my time...and I'm not tech savvy enough to get rid of the damn intrusions.

Also, occasionally a site which I use will re-organise the way they present the site...leaving me having to find complicated ways to do what I want and get to where I want. They do that randomly to annoy me (I use public computers, and this occasionally happens...MAYBE another user's preferences foists this on me, but I don't know for sure).

Back to MS-I don't see why they can't appeal to both newies and geeks...I mean, how hard is it to have an interface tailored to each? Geeks set their preferences, newies set theirs. And when newies get more powerful, they should have the ability to import features that they want, in a location that makes sense for them.

Too hard?

One more thing...I forgot to mention another thing which bugs me...I use Yahoo. The US site. Maybe since Channel 7 became linked to the Australian Yahoo site, I've found that the sneaky bedsteads direct me to their site when I type in yahoo.com. If I bleedin' well wanted to use the Australian site, I'd bleedin' well type in the bleedin' browser! They also annoy me by having a variation on their homepage. Today I redirected to the US site, and I got stuck with an "m" in the url. It's this variant which makes it hard to find the features that I use.

How stupid is that? Basically, the site is saying "Look, I know you want to visit US Yahoo, but we're going to shunt you to the Australian site, because we're getting lonely! Furthermore, if you nick off to the US site, we're going to disorient you with a new style, even though you didn't ask for it!".

Hmmm. Sites not doing what I want them to do and trying to be 'helpful'. No thanks!