Comments for Commonsense Design

Comment on Google Mail attachment guidelines: tell it like it is! by Sergey

Sergey — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:05:34 +0000

I had the same problem. My zip archive contain sources of asp.net web-site – some .js, .vb, .dll

Comment on RosettaStone posts a blooper by Hanan Cohen

Hanan Cohen — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 15:26:59 +0000

Which reminds of course of this site: http://www.badhebrew.com/

Comment on The delight of postage stamps by Jalal HB

Jalal HB — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:53:13 +0000

I collected stamps as a child till my teens. Then I went on to pursue a life for myself. But stamps always remained my fantasy and my friends. I still keep my some 10,000 plus stamp albums. These remind me of the good days when stamp collecting was a majority’s hobby.

Comment on The rebellious envelope by Nathan Zeldes

Nathan Zeldes — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:34:05 +0000

Ah yes, I lamented that before (http://designblog.nzeldes.com/2008/07/lick-and-stick-stamps-endangered/).

And you may enjoy my compilation of other objects no one recognizes any more: http://www.nzeldes.com/Miscellany/Oblivion.htm

Comment on The rebellious envelope by charlie

charlie — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:46:12 +0000

most children in the US now don’t know to lick stamps. they’re all self-adhesive now.

Comment on Google Mail attachment guidelines: tell it like it is! by flavius

flavius — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 05:42:40 +0000

happened to me too but with some php files inside the zipped archive. so we now know it’s not limited to *.exe

Comment on The evolution of the On/Off power switch symbol by Clueless in Seattle

Clueless in Seattle — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 01:47:27 +0000

Hi again!

I just found this interesting document that shows a bunch of symbols and says the circle with the line in it means “standby.”

http://eetd.lbl.gov/Controls/overview/symbols1.pdf

It also confirms that my surmise that the line and circle represented circuit diagrams was, indeed, totally mistaken.

Oh well, live and learn, eh?

Will in Seattle
a.k.a. “Clueless”

Comment on The evolution of the On/Off power switch symbol by Clueless in Seattle

Clueless in Seattle — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:54:45 +0000

For years I’ve been puzzling over those two symbols, the circle and the line, that often appear alongside rocker switches.

My first guess was that the circle must represent a closed circuit, i.e. “on,” and that the line, since it is in effect broken at each end, must represent an open circuit, i.e., “off.”

But from my experience with the way they actually work, it seems that the opposite may be the case.

Will in Seattle
a.k.a. “Clueless”

Comment on LCD Monitor adjustment blues by Douglas Aurelio Marques

Douglas Aurelio Marques — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 13:04:38 +0000

Interestingly (or sadly), it seems to me that the more high end, the worst it gets! I bought an Asus monitor last year for gaming and its controls are terrible! You not only have to navigate through the on screen menus to do most of the settings, but also have to wait some seconds (“function timeout”) if you change your mind and want to use another function, because each control has multiple functions. For example, when I turn on the monitor, the arrows let me choose the input (HDMI, VGA, DVI). But then, if I immediately want to set the brightness, I can’t do it because the bright control is activated by the arrows too! So, I have to wait until the input mode times out, otherwise while I think I’m changing the brightness, I start to change the input and my screen simply goes blank!

And it happens not only with computer monitors. I bought a microwave oven 10 years ago that had a knob to adjust about everything. To heat up something for some seconds in standard power I only had to turn the knob to set the duration and then press start. And to adjust the power during the process, I could press power and turn the knob. Amazingly I bought a high end microwave oven recently and to do any simple thing I had to press a lot of buttons! And it beeps very loud every time I press them, without an option to turn the beeping off! A design nightmare!

Comment on The evolution of the On/Off power switch symbol by Edward Yang

Edward Yang — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:36:34 +0000

I ran across your site as I took delivery of a new power supply unit for my PC from Thermaltake. Looking at the power symbol, it shows only the 1 and 0. Until I saw your site, I had no idea that it represents binary 1 and 0.

Amazing that something as simple as a on/off illustration can cause so much confusion.

Now I know that the 1 means on and 0 means off (recalling my old electrical circuits enginnering class from mechanical engineering undergrad). Pretty sad that I didn’t even know how to read the 1 and 0.

Very helpful as I undergo out of PC testing of my new power supply unit so I don’t shock myself. Thank you!