Designs around us — IV
This time I am going to present a bad design. It is only fair that bad designs should also get their day. The design I am going to mention is so embedded that we don’t even think.
English
Yes, the language… How many of you have come across teachers, friends, show-offs, pointing out?
“It is not pronounced like this. It is ……….”
Why do we keep hearing this? To jog your memory, a few minor examples:
- Same letters but different pronunciations: “go, to”, “but, put”.
- Silent Letters: Know, Knife
Where does the fundamental flaw lie?
There is no way of knowing by just looking at what is the correct way to speak. It is all based on historical context or a list of rules, which the speaker has to keep in mind.
Takeaway:
People have a lot of other things going on. People will not remember your user manual. If a design relies on that, users will make mistakes or will not use it at all, and, it’s not the user’s fault, it’s yours.
P. S: I understand that not one person or a committee sat down and designed English, but it is legacy which, being a software engineer, I understand. It evolved.
