[Duckington]

I'm sure we've all had ridiculous requests from users for features or changes to software. What are some of the stupidest you've had?

I think my users must be some of the laziest bastards around, because this is the kind of thing I get on a regular basis:

Quote

"get you make the cursor automatically go into the text box so I don't have to click it".

I get so many of that type of request it's unreal...

[Kilorn]

Some of my co-workers were told by the president of the company to "Make the van bigger" once because the van that the company rented for them wasn't big enough to pick up all of the computers and supplies that they were sent to pick up. I always found that one hilarious.

This post has been edited by Kilorn: 28 June 2012 - 10:20 AM

[DarenR]

I usually get "can you remove some part of a program" 2 days later I get "why was this part of the program removed" 4 days later I get "Please replce this with that" the it comes to " can we just go back to the way it was" finally it goes to "owner steps in-----stop bugging IT with your dumb requests"

[jon.kiparsky]

Duckington, on 28 June 2012 - 12:15 PM, said:

I'm sure we've all had ridiculous requests from users for features or changes to software. What are some of the stupidest you've had?

I think my users must be some of the laziest bastards around, because this is the kind of thing I get on a regular basis:

Quote

"get you make the cursor automatically go into the text box so I don't have to click it".

I get so many of that type of request it's unreal...

got one almost exactly like that recently. One of our dev teams had committed this grotesque hack to color code their issues list on their sharepoint site, and it broke when we upgraded to 2010. So they complained, and we were able to make it work, and then they complained because they had to click in the issues list to give it focus so they could edit an issue.

Seriously. One click. They're still bitching, too, because we told them "sure, we'll get right on that... soon as there's nothing important to do"

[tlhIn`toq]

Having the first textbox of a form receive focus when it opens isn't ridiculous at all.

If you open a Username/password box for example then certain expectations are just normal.

The User field should already have focus so you can just type.
Tab should take you to the password field
Enter from the password field should be the same as clicking the [LogIn] button.

Calculation results should just update as new values are entered. I shouldn't have to clutter the GUI with a Recalculate button.

If a value isn't valid above 100, then don't let the user input 150. I find it erritating to get all the values into a form THEN have a bunch of "you screwed up messages" come up when I hit Submit

Quote

I think my users must be some of the laziest bastards around,

They are paying for the software and using it 100 times a day. Any programmer that doesn't make the software quick, easy and respond in an intuitive manner is the one I would call the lazy bastard.

This post has been edited by tlhIn`toq: 28 June 2012 - 10:32 AM

[Duckington]

tlhIn`toq, on 28 June 2012 - 06:28 PM, said:

Having the first textbox of a form receive focus when it opens isn't ridiculous at all.

If you open a Username/password box for example then certain expectations are just normal.

The User field should already have focus so you can just type.
Tab should take you to the password field
Enter from the password field should be the same as clicking the [LogIn] button.

Calculation results should just update as new values are entered. I shouldn't have to clutter the GUI with a Recalculate button.

If a value isn't valid above 100, then don't let the user input 150. I find it erritating to get all the values into a form THEN have a bunch of "you screwed up messages" come up when I hit Submit

Quote

I think my users must be some of the laziest bastards around,

They are paying for the software and using it 100 times a day. Any programmer that doesn't make the software quick, easy and respond in an intuitive manner is the one I would call the lazy bastard.

This is free, they are paying for nothing.

[tlhIn`toq]

Duckington, on 28 June 2012 - 11:39 AM, said:

tlhIn`toq, on 28 June 2012 - 06:28 PM, said:

Having the first textbox of a form receive focus when it opens isn't ridiculous at all.

If you open a Username/password box for example then certain expectations are just normal.

The User field should already have focus so you can just type.
Tab should take you to the password field
Enter from the password field should be the same as clicking the [LogIn] button.

Calculation results should just update as new values are entered. I shouldn't have to clutter the GUI with a Recalculate button.

If a value isn't valid above 100, then don't let the user input 150. I find it erritating to get all the values into a form THEN have a bunch of "you screwed up messages" come up when I hit Submit

Quote

I think my users must be some of the laziest bastards around,

They are paying for the software and using it 100 times a day. Any programmer that doesn't make the software quick, easy and respond in an intuitive manner is the one I would call the lazy bastard.

This is free, they are paying for nothing.

Oh. Okay. No reason to do the work with pride and have it work in a friendly and expected way then.

[modi123_1]

Wait.. was this just some random text box or, as tlhn pointed out, the first textbox on a form?

[Duckington]

modi123_1, on 28 June 2012 - 06:48 PM, said:

Wait.. was this just some random text box or, as tlhn pointed out, the first textbox on a form?

Just a random text box they occasionally have to use.

tlhIn`toq, on 28 June 2012 - 06:44 PM, said:

Duckington, on 28 June 2012 - 11:39 AM, said:

tlhIn`toq, on 28 June 2012 - 06:28 PM, said:

Having the first textbox of a form receive focus when it opens isn't ridiculous at all.

If you open a Username/password box for example then certain expectations are just normal.

The User field should already have focus so you can just type.
Tab should take you to the password field
Enter from the password field should be the same as clicking the [LogIn] button.

Calculation results should just update as new values are entered. I shouldn't have to clutter the GUI with a Recalculate button.

If a value isn't valid above 100, then don't let the user input 150. I find it erritating to get all the values into a form THEN have a bunch of "you screwed up messages" come up when I hit Submit

Quote

I think my users must be some of the laziest bastards around,

They are paying for the software and using it 100 times a day. Any programmer that doesn't make the software quick, easy and respond in an intuitive manner is the one I would call the lazy bastard.

This is free, they are paying for nothing.

Oh. Okay. No reason to do the work with pride and have it work in a friendly and expected way then.

Very confrontational aren't you.

[jon.kiparsky]

Dude, he's a fucking Klingon.

[tlhIn`toq]

Duckington, on 28 June 2012 - 12:21 PM, said:

modi123_1, on 28 June 2012 - 06:48 PM, said:

Wait.. was this just some random text box or, as tlhn pointed out, the first textbox on a form?

Just a random text box they occasionally have to use.

That does make a difference. Out of context the original mention of just some textbox leads to lots of assumptions. If its something they only have to occassionaly use, it should still get focus automatically IF it's need is based on some other control or criteria. For example if they tick a checkbox for UseThis then the textbox could get focus automatically.

[JackOfAllTrades]

Dude, you can't just make ONE textbox have the focus all the time. You need to make it configurable and allow them to choose whatever textbox they might like as their default! :evilgrin:

[tlhIn`toq]

I never said make the one the only one all the time.
I said, have the GUI respond intelligently to other user interaction.
If ticking on a checkbox means there needs to be a value in TextBox34 and there is no value in that textbox, then jump the focus there for the user to put in a required input.

If the user clicks Save, but there is no filename in the name textbox, then put in a value like "EnterNewName" then jump the focus there so the default text is selected. The user gets the instruction as to what is needed and the GUI helps them with the little stuff.

If the user ticks on a checkbox for [x]Include date and there is a list of radio buttons for the style then you check that one is ticked and if none are ticked, you programmatically tick one as a default. Keeps you from having null reference errors later because the user didn't fill in half the options.

I'm just advocating for programmers to spend time on the GUI behavior and expectations. I don't trust users. I double check everything, make sure that conflicting options can't be turned on at the same time, blank fields get filled in with defaults, focus is jumped with input so the entire screen can be filled in FASTER making the employee more efficient at their job and boosting productivity rates.

But I'm done defending this point of view. <unsubscribing>

This post has been edited by tlhIn`toq: 28 June 2012 - 12:06 PM

[modi123_1]

Preferably the last textbox that has focus when the app closed should have the focus when the app opens up next time.

[jon.kiparsky]

This sounds like it's an internal application. In that case, we should add this onto the list:

- preferably, feature requests on this should be put into a prioritized queue, and not simply developed out based on who whines the loudest.

If that checkbox is a bump in the road for developers who have to click into that field many times a day (perhaps in an internally-developed bug tracker?) then this is plausibly a priority item. If that checkbox is not costing the company money, though, it has to wait until the things that are costing the company money are fixed.