User-friendly is a term used to convey the idea that that something is easy to use, especially in matters relating to computers. When we say a website is user-friendly, it means it is clear, uncomplicated and easy to use.
Though the primary aim of engineers, software programmers and website designers is to make life easy by producing user-friendly products, this does not always happen. Take the case of drawing money from an ATM. You push in your card and the ATM says, ‘welcome, enter your PIN’. You do that and then it goes, ‘do you want cash...?’ When you punch ‘yes’, the screen asks for the type of account. You indicate the choice and it asks for the quantum of money. You enter the digits and wait, expecting the money to roll out. But the screen says: ‘Sorry, no cash. Try elsewhere’. Why can’t they program it to say so even before you start the whole exercise? Maybe it’s my imagination, but everytime this happens, I hear the sound of someone laughing his head off.
Similarly, only after you click ‘pay’, which the last option before booking your train ticket online, the screen sneers, ‘your session has expired’.
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But the best form of taunting a user is through Capcha. A Capcha is for identifying if the user is a human or a computer. But Capchas at some portals are so complicated it could be used to differentiate a normal human from an abnormal genius.
Elsewhere, only wrestlers can flush the toilet or open the door or window of a train compartment. Airport trolleys are designed so the wheels move in different directions.
I propose the term ‘user-hostile’ to describe such experiences.
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t_sury2002@yahoo.com