Category: User Interfaces

Usability and Shopping Buggies

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On 2021.06.08

In User Interfaces

My wife recently celebrated a birthday. And she wanted to take a trip to IKEA. We’ve never been. And the nearest IKEA to us is 4 hours drive time.

So, we scheduled a day to go. And drove and drove.

Now, my wife was the one who wanted to go. I went along because… she’s my wife, and she asked me to go. I figured I’d just wander around the store, nod my head if asked if I liked something… and maybe hit the LEGO store on the way home. :)

Instead, I had a fun time. The store we visited has multiple levels. One floor is the “show room” and the other is the actual “shopping area”.

While shopping, my wife grabbed a shopping cart (or shopping buggy or trolley – depends on where you are from).

She commented “these drive weird” and then promptly said “here, you push the cart” and resume shopping.

I quickly realised something. The IKEA shopping carts have castors on all four wheels. Most buggies are castors in the front, and fixed wheels in the back.

While this initially was a bit weird to push, I quickly realised how versatile this is. You can push the cart from the side, the front, the back, at an angle, strafing… doesn’t matter.

As you can see here… I had a bit of fun. You can push the cart forward, do a 360 spin… and still keep walking in a straight line!

What really struck me as interesting… is these wheels. They are a bit odd shaped. And had these funny things on the sides of them. At first, I assumed the wheel shape was something to do with how smooth it rode (and it probably does). But I later found out what I believe is the why.

Inter IKEA Group | Newsroom : IKEA shopping trolley wheels

See, as you leave IKEA, you are on the 2nd floor. So you need to go down a level to get to the parking garage. You could take the elevator (and you have to if you have one of the big flat-carts used for furniture). But for shopping carts, they have a type of escalator, or moving ramp.

Ingenious IKEA shopping cart escalator | Flickr - Photo ...

And those skinny disc wheels? They fit right down into the grooves on the ramp… and the funny things on the side of the wheels? They keep your cart wheels from sinking too far down. But, it causes the cart to be 100% trapped on the moving ramp. You can’t push it… so it’s a super-safe way to move your cart down a level… and then the escalator reaches the end, the cart moves up back onto the floor, and you continue on your way.

So… big Kudo’s to IKEA for some really cool “UI” for their shopping carts.

Here is a short video on the “strafing IKEA carts” I found on YouTube.

Oh, and yes I did get to go to the LEGO store. :)

The Search for DMX Lighting Control Software.

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On 2021.06.06

In Reviews, Tech Tips, User Interfaces

At my church, we recently started upgrading our platform lighting system. Our original platform lights, consisted of some old flood lights on a light bar. Over the years, they have slowly died. When we replaced them, we had 3 working lights left. Our platform looked a little anemic. :)

The decision was made to upgrade, so we talked to Sweetwater, and they recommended using DMX controlled lights. That basically meant we could control those lights from a control board or software. We bought their recommendations… Full RGB and some moveable spotlights.

We chose to use software to control the lights. So we purchased the Enttec DMX USB Pro Mk2. It’s a USB to DMX device. A very nice little piece of hardware that does what it should… and does it well.

Enttec DMX USB Pro Mk2

Then began the long and arduous process of finding software to control the lights. Enttec provides a list of compatible software on their website. Unfortunately, much of the software for controlling DMX systems looks like it was designed by engineers. Drunken engineers who wanted to see how many buttons they can put on a screen. And use some really old developer UI tools to do it. I suffered through some truly horrible UIs.

After trying several tools, I found LightFactory. It had a couple of things going for it. 1) a working demo. You get a 1 minute delay on startup… and then you can use the software “unlimited” for 30 minutes. 2) it was reasonable priced. 3) it was one of the few that just worked. (you’d be surprised how many of the software options I tried just did not work)

We are now in the process of tuning and tweaking our lighting. I’ll try to post another piece with some pictures of our new lighting setup.

A use for those Digital Displays

By

On 2010.03.15

In User Interfaces

This, I like:

Patrick McKenzie found a post from Panic (Mac software company) where they used a digital frame to display stats on their product launch.

He’s created his own (with code you can use) to show stats for his Bingo Card website.

I think I want one!

New Input Devices on the horizon?

By

On 2008.11.15

In User Interfaces

Chris Harrison (a PhD student at CMU) is working on a new input method.  Scratching.

Yes, scratching.

Johnny Chung Lee (from the Wii remote fame) posted an article with some videos.  The technique looks rather interesting.  You can scratch and tap on a surface, and use it to control your computer, PDA, etc.

The full article is here (including a video of the scratch method).

Scratch Input and Low-Cost Multi-spectral material sensor

 

Here is another user interface.  It uses a space and time method to keep track of what you were doing.  The video explains it better than I can.

SpaceTime

Chrome and silent updates

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On 2008.09.10

In User Interfaces

I was wondering how Chrome handled it’s updates.  Turns out, Google pushes them down silently.  You get no notifications that your browser has been updated, it just happens.

Normally, I’d say this is a good thing.  I mean, from a user interface viewpoint, I shouldn’t need to control the updates, nor should I need to be notified.  The software should "just work", which includes seamless updates.  Google claims they will provide release notes at some point, so those of use who want to see what was changed can do so.  That’s assuming that Google doesn’t hide those updates. :)

There is some controversy over the latest security updates though.  Google pushed down an update, but won’t say what they updated, and they’ve sorta hidden the changes in the open-source code too.

For more on the "security fixes" issue, I suggest you read the full article at CNet.

There is a topic on the Joel on Software board (in the Business of Software) about Chrome.  Actually, there are several, but I’ve only linked one here.  It’s got some neat reviews, and some insights too.  Worth reading.  Thoughts on Chrome.

Learn something new every day! GMail

By

On 2008.09.10

In User Interfaces

Color me silly, but I just notice this in GMail.

  1. Open GMail in your favorite browser.
  2. Click the Settings link (Top right)
  3. Click the Labs link (far right in the orange bar)
  4. These are "beta" type features you can enable if you want.  Some are kinda neat (random signature lines, customer keyboards shortcuts) and some are silly (play Snakes in GMail).
  5. Enable or Disable any you want, and your done!

I often use the Better GMail 2 plug-in, but since I’ve been using Chrome, I don’t have any plug-ins.  But I don’t really miss  Better GMail 2 right now.  Guess I didn’t rely on it much. :)

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