In this article in Design Issues design historian Paul Atkinson presents an insightful, amusing and at times depressing analysis of the rise and fall of the tablet computer, from the early pen computing of the RAND tablet, via the Momenta Pentop, to the inevitable Apple Newton Messagepad.

Technological or social challenge?
An interesting aspect of the article is that Atkinson analyses the issue from both the social constructivist and the technology determinism perspective. Social constructivists suggest that a complex range of factors are involved in the success of products, and that social factors have precedence in the process. From the technology determinist's perspective "technology and technological change are independent factors, impacting on society from the outside of that society—and that technology changes as a matter of course, following its own path, and in doing so changes the society on which it impacts."

The technological challenges have been solved...
In the end Atkinson suggests that the technological challenges that hampered early tablet PCs have been overcome, and it might be more of an issue of user acceptance than of technological shortcomings that stood and stand in the way of tablet-PC-world-dominance. Users may not want the complexity of the desktop or laptop personal computer in a handheld device and may prefer keyboard input over writing on a screen, especially because - for now - writing on paper is still considered far more comfortable than writing on a screen. So the questions that the history of the tablet PC highlights are: "Can we do it?" versus "Should we do it?"

Reference
Paul Atkinson Paul (2008) A Bitter Pill to Swallow: The Rise and Fall of the Tablet Computer. Design Issues, Autumn 2008, Vol. 24, No. 4, Pages 3-25, MIT Press.

[photo: CNET]

On November 12, World Usability Day, the Design for Usability symposium on usability for professional and consumer electronics will take place in Delft. The event targets usability and design professionals as well as academics. The morning program features state of the art lectures on usability and design:

• Gerrit van der Veer (president of CHI): Designing for a moving target - from functionality to usability to experience
  
• Cees van Dok (creative director frog design Europe): The challenges in interaction design for consumer and professional electronics
  
• Abbie Vanhoutte and Robert Eijlander (Océ-Technologies): Usability in a productive print environment
  
• And, well ehh, me, with: No silver bullet - why making usable consumer electronics requires organizational change

The afternoon program consists of workshops for usability specialists, designers, and product developers, with subjects such as: managing design for usability in practice, advanced user research and evaluation, guiding and changing user behavior, and small usability techniques.

Participation in the symposium is free of charge, but tickets and especially workshop slots are limited, so registration is required. The event takes place at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering of TU Delft, in The Netherlands.

When I buy tools, usually I don't buy the cheapest ones, because I like them to stay in one piece for a number of years. But when buying this Black & Decker jigsaw I did not only get a product that seems durable (so far, at least), but also one where considerable thought has been put into making a user-centered design.

I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed (nudge nudge, wink wink), but I don't know by heart at what speed a jigsaw should be set for each type of material. Hence my liking of the speed dial on my new jigsaw (picture above) that lets you choose based on the material (wood, plywood, plastic, etc), but also lists the speed.

The second remarkable aspect of the jigsaw were its blades. At first I was angry, because I thought my saw lacked the blades that were supposed to come with it. Then I looked inside the manual and saw that the blades were actually in a compartment on the saw (see picture below). Like the speed dial, the blades are labeled with the material for which they are intended. I should point out that I was a bit annoyed that I could not find the blades to begin with, but that might be fixed by adding a usecue or a temporary label to the compartment for the blades. And as a colleague remarked: it remains to be seen whether the labels on the blades will stay on when you use them. So far they did, but I've only used the saw once.

And the hard-core do-it-yourself types might find it pathetic that I need all this extra information, but to me this whole product shouted: "Hey, we are Black & Decker, and we have put thought into how you will use this."

Smashing magazine has a good compilation of (web) usability findings and guidelines, among which "Most users do not scroll" and "Blue is the best color for links". If you're on top of the subject it's not particularly new information, but its written down accessibly and attractively and it's very actionable information.

Placebo buttons are 'false positives'. They're design elements that look like controls, but that actually don't do anything except to give you the illusion that you are in control. Both the NextNature and Design With Intent blog provide an interesting discussion on the subject. See also this 2004 story in the NYT on placebo buttons at pedestrian crossings.

[picture from NextNature]