They changed the program guide on the broadcast channels a week or so ago.
Ok, didn't really like the way it operated, but doable.

Sit down tonight to watch some tv and WHAT, they changed it again.
Now it's not anything resembling a user friendly format.

I wish they'd take their updates and shove them where the sun don't shine!!

I bought the freaking television, so quit messing with my equipment!!

I feel your pain. Bad User Interface software is almost as frustrating to me as bad technical writing. What good is the latest 25K, LMNOP LED, 217" backlit big screen TV if you can't find what channel or time the program you want to watch comes on?

I once entered a GUI contest sponsored by a dedicated controller company called Crestron. It was held at INFOCOMM in Orlando and had around 50 entrants.

It's amazing how these professionals, people who did it for a living, had no clue how to make a GUI easy and intuitive for the users.

A few did, but a lot didn't and the biggest whiner in the contest was a woman who had a degree in Graphic Arts. You had to drill down 3 and 4 layers to get where you wanted to go in her design.

A good GUI allows you to go anywhere from anywhere in 1 keystroke, 2 at the absolute most.

I've been using both Amazon Prime and Netflix for several years now. The interfaces on them were quite different and took some getting used to. Now just a few days I discovered that Amazon has completely changed theirs, to look just like Netflix's. Which kind of pissed me off because I preferred the old Amazon interface. First world problems, yeah, but still.

At our vacation house they have this huge 70 inch Vizio smart TV but the thing that wowed us all was the remote; looks like any old remote but flip it over and IT’S GOT A FRIGGEN KEYBOARD built in! That’s an awesome innovation with smart TV’s and Roku’s etc as the ongoing weak point IMO is how you have to sign into things and search for things using an on screen keyboard which is slow and frustrating. This was a game changer.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
At our vacation house they have this huge 70 inch Vizio smart TV but the thing that wowed us all was the remote; looks like any old remote but flip it over and IT’S GOT A FRIGGEN KEYBOARD built in! That’s an awesome innovation with smart TV’s and Roku’s etc as the ongoing weak point IMO is how you have to sign into things and search for things using an on screen keyboard which is slow and frustrating. This was a game changer.

My Rokus all have remotes that allow for voice search. And when signing in to a service for the first time, you have the option to do so from your computer or phone, using a code displayed on the screen. So I basically never have to use the on-screen keyboard to hunt and peck with the arrow keys.

It's the central button on the Roku remote, with the microphone. Or, you can use your phone with the Roku app as a voice control remote too.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
It's amazing how these professionals, people who did it for a living, had no clue how to make a GUI easy and intuitive for the users.

Yep.

OTOH, the alternative assumption - that at least some of the pros are fairly bright and user-centric - then the continual failures and frequent changes/tweaks point at incentive issues. As in, "If I get this right, did I just design myself out of a job?" and "If I leave it alone, will I get laid off?"

I have to deal with software designed by insurance companies and the government. It is NOT intuitive and is written by Indian software engineers. The words do not even make sense. For example, "Build Transmission file", followed by accomplish Integration. What am I Martin Luther King who works for a power company??

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

I have to deal with software designed by insurance companies and the government. It is NOT intuitive and is written by Indian software engineers. The words do not even make sense. For example, "Build Transmission file", followed by accomplish Integration. What am I Martin Luther King who works for a power company??

One of my pet peeves. Software written by the lowest bidder. Usually offshore or H1B people.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
I have to deal with software designed by insurance companies and the government. It is NOT intuitive and is written by Indian software engineers. The words do not even make sense. For example, "Build Transmission file", followed by accomplish Integration. What am I Martin Luther King who works for a power company??

I think this comment won the internet for today.