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| Hi friends :) I'm back! It's been a long time since I've written here, partly because I have been up-rooting my entire life and career since I saw you last. I'm happy to be back, and happy to be writing again. Below is my latest. I hope you enjoy.
Missed this place!  Bari |
| Question for you guys: What are some infuriatingly ill-designed objects in your world? About a year ago I read a book called The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman, here's the goodreads link  . This book covers the things we don't often think about when we're navigating our lives- the design decisions that weigh on us, frustrate us, and make us feel like we're completely incompetent. Consider these: - Light switches that don't correspond to the location of the lights they operate (the lights closest to a door operate the lights farthest from the door), so you're constantly turning lights on and off before you get the right one. - Door handles with no obvious way to operate them (push? pull? is there a latch?) - Hotel rooms with thousands of "do not hang" signs on sprinkler heads, yet still nowhere to hang clothing from - Thermostats with no indication that the system has responded to a change in the temperature setpoint. - Online forms that will only accept a phone number if you put (XXX)-XXX-XXXX, and throw a hissy fit when you enter just the numbers There are a lot of cases where the design of user interfaces seems completely devoid of consideration for the user. Can you imagine a world where our products are designed to meet us where we are? Where designers are not reliant on the ever impressive ability of humans to adapt? This is something that shows up in depictions of futuristic fictional scenes. Characters have seamless interactions between them and their technologies. The Expanse tv show comes to mind for me here. The seemingly careless gestures the actors use to control screens and portable communication devices is impressively futuristic. This is one of the subtle, yet stark differences between our world, and theirs. So tell me, what are your user interface design frustrations? Maybe we can use this information to assist in futuristic world building. |
| So much depends on whether you care about those who use your product. The Japanese understood this with car design in the 1970s. Detroit did not. The US auto industry said this is what we can produce cheap, like it or not. The Japanese said, how can we serve you! It's a matter of selling or listening. Detroit was slow to listen. |
| I've been a member of this little community for maybe two days, and I'm already completely thrilled with it. I've read more, written more, and enjoyed interacting with more people than I have in an incredibly long time. Someone anonymous even gifted me a year of an upgraded membership. I can't believe the warm welcome I've received, and I'm so encouraged to use every feature of this gift. If you're reading this, thank you, thank you, thank you. |
| I remember my 5th grade graduation, because I told a whole room full of strangers that I was going to write a book more famous than Harry Potter. I waltzed across the stage, confident in my skills thanks to teachers who read and praised my work, and knew I could do it. That was so many years ago, I don't even know the count. I haven't written since, until now. I'm joining writing.com as an adult. A full time licensed engineer, caught within the emotional rollercoaster that is living through multiple apocalyptic large scale disasters, who really just needs more creativity in her life. Maybe I'll write a book some day. Maybe I won't. All I know is, I stopped writing because people stopped reading, and I'm hoping you can help me get back into it. |
Welcome to writing.com where you will find many people ready and willing to read! There are some very hungry readers among us, I assure you.  |
| Hi, I'm MARY ANN MCPHEDRAN/fearless: Welcome to writing.com, If you wish to write and have fun writing, you have come to the right place. I'm 80 years old and still writing. Writing.com is where writers go to write. You will love it here. GOOD LUCK WITH THE BOOK. |
| Hi and welcome to writing.com. Just stopping by, one step closer to White/Red Queen/King as I journey through "Wonderland" and I saw that you were there and I wanted to say hi. My father's an electrical engineer who specialized in computer engineering, so I know how creative that profession can be. In fact, one of the things he's always said was that the most useful skill he had as an engineer was the ability to read the technical material and understand it. The book he's been writing for the past twenty years is non-fiction about motivation. I have to say, I prefer fiction and poetry. The thing that most helped me become a better writer was to write and then let it be read. There are plenty of ways to do that onsite. There are activities and contests that can give prompts that can feed into your creativity and a plug page where you can share what you have done or ask for reviews. Don't hesitate to ask questions. There are tons of people here, all readers and writers like you, who want to help. Good luck, and welcome to the site. |
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Happy Birthday and all the best to you in the year to come! 
Kindest Regards, Lilli 
I read over your piece that you posted with this note. Good for you jumping in upon returning, by the way! I haven't published anything yet myself, but I have enjoyed reading others' pieces so far.
As far as your piece, itself, I did not understand all of what you were saying. I just mean I was having a little trouble following along in the piece (does that make sense?) - it's not that you "lost" me, but that I felt a little "lost" reading it (again, does this make sense?). It sort of seemed like you were trying to say two things at once - similar to how sometimes we can end up saying two words at once out loud, but with writing. I'm happy to clarify what I mean by that, but I'll leave it to you to ask about since I am already wondering if I am coming across clearly and feeling a little like I'm blabbering.
I do like what you put down in the item description section. That is, I think that the idea that we accept what we think we deserve holds true for different parts of life, but certainly when we consider love in our life.
Thanks for considering what I have to say - especially as it turned out to be so long, I totally didn't expect to write this much! - and I hope having this little bit of feedback helps you! :)