111 lines
5.5 KiB
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111 lines
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From fork-admin@xent.com Wed Sep 4 19:11:32 2002
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<FoRK@xent.com>; Wed, 4 Sep 2002 11:05:20 -0700 (PDT)
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From: "Jim Whitehead" <ejw@cse.ucsc.edu>
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To: "FoRK" <FoRK@xent.com>
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Subject: CD player UI for toddlers
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Date: Wed, 4 Sep 2002 11:03:03 -0700
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So, like many young children, my daughter Tatum (age 21 months) *really*
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likes music. She also likes to have control over her environment, and this
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means she wants to be the one putting CDs into the CD player, and getting
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the music playing.
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By watching Tatum, I've discovered that you can learn a lot about UI design
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from watching 21-month-olds use technology. There is definitely a market
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niche for a toddler-friendly CD/MP3 player.
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The CD player we have combines play and pause in a single button, but
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doesn't provide *instantaneous* feedback that the button was pushed, instead
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requiring you to wait until the music starts, 5-10 seconds. This is a UI
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disaster. Since Tatum doesn't get feedback right away, she presses the
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button again, thereby pausing the CD before it even plays. She'll only ever
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get music if she presses the button an odd number of times. This happens a
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surprising amount of the time, since she eventually hits the button again
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when the music doesn't play.
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For toddlers, pressing play must cause the music to start immediately,
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within half a second, for the toddler to get the causality and not press the
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button multiple times. As well, pressing the button multiple times shouldn't
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change the semantics, like an elevator button. No matter how many times you
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press, the elevator still comes to that floor. The play button needs to be
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the same.
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The back-hinged door mechanism feeding the CD into the player is also a UI
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disaster for Tatum. Since the door hinges on the back, Tatum has to angle
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CDs to put them in, and take them out. Putting CDs in isn't much of a
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problem, but taking them out is. Since Tatum grabs CDs by the back edge,
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that edge comes out first, hitting the lid. Tatum eventually forces and
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wiggles the CD out, a process that's hard on the CD and the player (but
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which hasn't yet resulted in the CD player being broken). Surprisingly, it
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hasn't been a problem getting the CD hole onto the spindle -- Tatum seems to
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understand this concept, and the CD load area geometry naturally guides the
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CD.
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Tatum's CD player also plays tapes and has FM radio. For a toddler, this is
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a mistake. Tatum doesn't understand the need to flick a switch to put the
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player into a specific mode. She understands putting a CD in, and pressing
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the play button. She sometimes understands the buttons for advancing a song,
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but uses them erratically. As well, the radio feature has both FM mono and
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FM stero, a distinction totally lost on Tatum. Tatum only understands the
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binary distinction of music/no music.
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What would the ideal toddler CD player be like? It would immediately start
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playing a CD after it was loaded. As soon as the CD load door was closed, it
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would give some audible feedback. It would have a single large play button.
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The other typical CD controls would be larger than normal, but at least half
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the size of the play button, and located far away from the play button, so
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there is no chance of them getting accidentally pressed on the way to play.
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The play button would be a bright color that is different from the color of
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the player, and different from the color of the other CD control keys. The
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device would only play CDs, no other functions. The CD load area would flip
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open at least 80 degrees. It should be small, approachable for a toddler. It
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should be possible to repeatedly drop the player from a height of 1-2'
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without affecting the player.
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- Jim
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