#user design

[validdesign-blog]

Curbcut Effect

(src. wikipedia/ Michael3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curb_cut#/media/File:Pram_Ramp.jpg )

I learned about curbcuts. Curbcuts are those litle ramps, made especially as accessibility features to help people bound to wheelchairs to get on stairs. 

But what's even just as interesting: Curbcut Effect is the name of the phenomenon, when suddenly not just wheelchairs profit from this little feature, but every parent with a stroller or people having to transport heavy stuff.

So this applies to everything where you consider accessibiity for handicapped citizens that then would also be of use for everyone else.

[beansprouts]

Each new “update” goes backward.

Going backward means losing features over time. This has been the general trajectory of corporately made technology and particualrly software.

Here’s an example of what I mean, with what I’ve spent the last half hour or so trying to troubleshoot. In my case it’s a video game functionality, but consider this a microcosm of the issues in pretty much any consumer software.

Goal: Take screenshots of my Dragon Age experience. I legally own all of the games. I have made beautiful blorbos in these character creators and I want to take screenshots of them in their journey, which I will then share. This should not be a difficult ask.

Dragon Age: Origins, 2009: has robust screenshot-taking features! On PC there’s a built-in screen capture shortcut which saves to a local subfolder of Documents. In addition to this, the game itself takes some automated screenshots when you reach certain story checkpoints, saved to the same folder. So taking your own screenshots is really simple, and the game makes some for you!

Dragon Age II, 2011: does not have a screenshot hotkey, nor automated screenshots, but because I bought the game on Steam, I can use Steam’s overlay to take a screen capture, which I can then track down using the Steam UI (it’s also in My Documents somewhere). It’s a little clunky, because it requires launching DA2 through another layer, but the flow is still pretty simple: one key and it’s saved.

Dragon Age: Inquisition, 2014, I bought at a GameStop (I know, right? If I hadn’t been there I wouldn’t have believed they still sold PC games at the time). Though 18-year-old Julia hoped even then it would be a physical disk, instead the box came with a code for downloading the game through EA’s hot trashfire Origin, the world’s worst game launcher. Inquisition did not exist for Steam yet (and won’t for quite some time). To take screenshots, I add Inquisition as a Non-Steam App to enable the overlay and use the Steam hotkey like I did for Dragon Age 2. This requires some annoying one-time setup to troubleshoot Origin booting up with the game, and you have to have Origin as well as Steam running constantly in the background (should be fine for most modern computers, but every running application eats valuable memory), but for the most part taking screenshots itself isn’t hard.

Sometime within the past year (2023) EA catches on that its userbase hates Origin and force-updates everyone onto the EA App instead. I actually think as a launcher it works somewhat better than Origin but the transition seems to come out of nowhere and quite a few people’s game configurations break. Among the EA App’s “features” is that for all of its games it blocks the Steam overlay entirely. I can no longer use Steam’s nice screenshot shortcut.

So for my current run of Inquisition, every time I take a screenshot, I use Window’s OS-level snipping tool. (I actually have a custom hotkey for this on my homemade keyboard because, in case you couldn’t already tell, I���m a horrible massive nerd, but for everyone else) The built-in windows shortcut for that is Winkey+Shift+S, and it force-minimizes your screen so you can use the snipping tool overlay. You then have to switch to the tool itself, which is kind of slow, and manually save the screenshot.

I mean, like, it works. But it’s annoying. It takes a minute for Windows to switch contexts between all the open applications. Inquisition has a lot of loading to begin with (especially if you play with mods), and the last thing a player wants is more hard waits when they’re just trying to take a goddamn screenshot.

Look at the bolded dates. Look at how much feature access I, the user who paid comparable amounts of money for each game, am given over time, versus how much I have to use workarounds. Do you see how the software updates go backward?

And it’s not like taking screenshots is something the software devs should be trying to limit or anything. I’m not making the game “less fair”. Hell, you could call my OC-posting unpaid marketing for the franchise. There’s no good reason for video game companies, or any software companies, to be doing this. And yet they have been.

As parting words, some “research” on screenshotting with the EA app:

[techcommgeekmom]

So, where do we go from here?

So, where do we go from here? That's the main question following the closing of STC. Here are some suggestions that I've gathered: #techcomm

In the aftermath of STC closing, there’s just a lot going on. As the Board VP who is still involved in closing activities, I’ve seen a range of emotions from those who’ve claimed a connection with STC. Most are sad but understand that we had to do what we had to do, and showed appreciation for the organization over the years. Other have expressed things…differently. I have words for those people…

[ames-draws]

I'm fed up with "maybe later".

[minjimunji]

I drew Asian percabeth lol

Every time some racist loser complains about how my Percy and Annabeth “aren’t book accurate,” I will design a different version out of spite (and bc it’s fun 🥰)

So fuck it, Annabeth’s Indian and Percy is Korean

[prokopetz]

Honestly, the thing that really burns my ass about mobile web design these days isn't even the bloated ads – it's the pages where there's nowhere that's safe to touch to scroll because every single pixel is a clickable hotspot that whisks you away to somewhere else, including the text. I truly believe the owners of websites that do this should die.

[numbpill]

depression stamps,,,? um.... yeah... dont @ me.....

[lotus-pear]

he's so crazy we can't take him anywhere 😭🤣

[incognitopolls]

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[scipunk]

The Fifth Element (1997)

[velars]

( 𝐢 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐜̧𝐚̃𝐨. )

significado. parte anterior do peito em que se sente as pulsações cardíacas. co—ra—ç��o ; âmago, alma, centro, peito e núcleo.

책1 livro 하나 um

m͟y͟ lungs .. 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝑓or —— 𝘆𝗼𝘂.

◡̈ ᵍᵘᵗˢ .. but the ♥︎ is 𝘆͟𝗼͟𝘂͟𝗿͟𝘀.

poemas do ÂMAGO. ♡ in—te—ri—or

ᵐ͟ᵉ 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐚, ( 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐜̧𝐚̃𝐨. ) तेरा ..

p.s ─── trulyyours. ♡

thecurefortheplague, is──𝙻𝙾𝚅𝙴.

gravei no teu peito meu nome calado, feito vento e silêncio, ali onde o pulsar é segredo sagrado deixei—me em ti, num amor sem começo, e agora sou sombra e eco marcado, eterno no peito que nunca esqueço.

os textos enumerados são dedicados ao seu uso pessoal ( nunca comercial ). outros textos foram utilizados para decoração.

[breadstickms]

milgram is my favourite slice of life anime full of wacky hijinks

[jackgoodfellow]

ONCE AGAIN LOOKING FOR FEEDBACK FROM WHEELCHAIR USERS! 💖♿😎

TL;DR - These are newly proposed blueprints for renovating the basement of an incredibly cool queer/BIPOC-run affordable housing co-op in my city, with the aim of creating an ACCESSIBLE community space and mutual aid hub!

If you have a moment, please take either a quick or a long look at these images, and let me know what stands out to YOU as good/bad/missing/in-need-of-change! Or just let me know what you need in a public space in order to feel welcome, especially as it pertains to wheelchair lifts!

ANY amount of feedback is so, SO appreciated!! ☺️

More (optional) detail, if you want:

I have one "BEFORE" blueprint, and three updated proposal blueprints for what the space could look like AFTER renovation.

In the long-term, the co-op is planning to install an elevator to serve all 5 floors of the building, including the basement. But in the short-term, with their current funding, the plan is to install a wheelchair lift that goes from outside the first floor, down to the inside of the basement.

The "AFTER" blueprints include widening the hallways by several inches.

I am going to recommend a changing table for the bathroom; ideally, an adult-sized changing table. Idk yet if they can afford to remove the shower that's there now.

I am also going to double-check with the designers that all the proposed door widths are wide enough for a large wheelchair to get through. In this current scale, several openings appear to be too small.

The goal of the community space is to provide a mutual aid hub - providing food, supplies, space to meet, and emergency preparedness for the community!

Thank you very very much!! :)

- Jack

[fauvester]

something something seeing things through different eyes