Usability in the Movies -- Top 10 Bloopers 382
Ant writes "A UseIt.com article talks about user interfaces (UIs) in film that are more exciting than they are realistic, and heroes have far too easy a time using foreign systems. The way Hollywood depicts usability could fill many a blooper reel. Here are 10 of the most egregious mistakes made by moviemakers. From the article: '3. The 3D UI - In Minority Report, the characters operate a complex information space by gesturing wildly in the space in front of their screens. As Tog found when filming Starfire, it's very tiring to keep your arms in the air while using a computer. Gestures do have their place, but not as the primary user interface for office systems.'"
Ridiculous... (Score:5, Insightful)
Methinks a bit of perspective is called for...
searching is easy too (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Ridiculous... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Ridiculous... (Score:4, Insightful)
Movies, ESPECIALLY Hollywood sci-fi movies, aren't made primarily to be depictions of reality. Verisimilitude has its place, but not when it's going to slow down the narrative progress.
What about enhance? (Score:5, Insightful)
Another list article... great... (Score:2, Insightful)
First off, I found the 3D interface from Minority Report to be fascinating; and given the unique function of the computer who is to say that it wasn't the most efficient manner of manipulating the data? Second, I noticed that in Star Trek characters generally used keypads/control panels for complex tasks, while others could be dictated more speedily and/or helped the character focus his or her thoughts. This seemed perfectly justifiable to me.
And yes, for the UMPTEENTH time, the UNIX GUI from Jurassic Park was silly. You are not the first person to have noticed this. But the fact is that having much of that incredibly tense scene plunked out on a keyboard in a monochrome command line would have put most audiences to sleep.
Is it necessary to hack apart some of our favorite geek fiction without the slightest suspension of disbelief so that some of us can feel hoity-toity about their computer savvy? Please...
Re:Unix (Score:1, Insightful)
See, that IS the UI for a unix system. Everything else is just fluff. When you say UI you mean what microsoft and apple call a UI, that is a GUI. Seriously though, how much serious unix work gets done via a GUI? The real applications that unix is designed for are vi, emacs, sh, awk, perl, gcc, and the whole gnu toolchain. The GUI is just for multiplexing terminals. It's not standard because it doesn't need to be standard. The main reason I use Linux is that the GUI ISN't standard, so I can customize it to my hearts content. At the core though the system is always the same, so I can still use a random console that I walk up to. The problem is that the standardization isn't at the level of abstraction that normal users want, but that's because the entire UI isn't at the level of abstraction that normal users want. I'm not saying that the system is "GOOD" in any global sense, or user friendly either, but as soon as you realize what the killer apps in unix really are it's quite clear that the main applications (sh, and the toolchain) are very consistant. Claiming the interface sucks is debatable and probably true, but claiming that it isn't consistant is just bullshit.
Best movie usability scene ever. (Score:5, Insightful)
Linux (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, far before Apple (by about a decade) making Unix available to the common man, there was Linux. What was funny about that then was the unlikelihood of a kid having access to a Unix system. What was even funnier a few years later (by 97 or 98) was the fact that it was no longer unlikely! Kids, even 12-year-olds, had access to Linux and were using it and learning it.
Really, when I saw this one, I had to check the date on the article, because I thought it was quite old. The biggest examples of most of these are things like the first Mission Impossible, Independence Day, and as mentioned, Jurassic Park.
User Interface? Minority Report. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:User Interface? Minority Report. (Score:3, Insightful)
Most people describe the UI of the air traffic control system I work on as dull but thats because you need to give it your total attention for six hours straight without your eyes getting tired.
Different requirements from your example, with the totally opposite outcome, but the argument that the UI has to suit the application is a good one.
Almost credible... until right at the end. (Score:3, Insightful)
Ok. It was kind of hard reading yet another person who does not understand that movies are NOT reality. But at times it was mildly amusing, and almost credible. I say almost, because right at the end of the article there is a one line sentence that made me realize the author of this piece has ZERO comprehension of the real world. Most likely because the author is too busy trying to force reality on an obviously non-reality based for of entertainment. The line was this;
Users blame themselves when they can't use technology
Im sorry, but having worked in IT for almost a decade now, I have yet to hear one person who blames themselves instead of the 'stupid computer'. Hell, in this society, we even call car wrecks 'accidents' because nobody has the stones to take responsibility. Yet, this guy somehow believes that people are blaming themselves that they dont know how to use a PC? The only thing I can even think comes close to this is the people who walk around using the phrase "Im computer illiterate" as some sort of badge of honor. To which I always think "If you cant take the time to educate yourself about something you know you should be trying to learn, do you think its a great idea to BRAG about it?"
That one line in the article is more fanciful than ANY of the movie situations presented.
Re:Linux (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Ridiculous... (Score:2, Insightful)
1) You don't consider it feasible to go 2 solid hours without taking a leak.
2) You think that, perhaps, in a 2 hour movie whose plot spans an entire month, watching the characters urinate will be more important than other material. Don't get me wrong. I'm all for pee -- I make quite a habit of it myself. But c'mon. Does it matter for the story?
Technical Difficulties Diversion? (Score:3, Insightful)
No, I wouldn't want to watch someone debug or "bond" with a difficult system either. I'd rather see the results.
Re:This is a Unix system. (Score:3, Insightful)
What an arrogant remark. What, 12-year-olds can't read, or something?