THE !=XT TIME YOU VISIT


  • Considered Harmful

    I noticed this in a recent A List Apart article.

    It looks like a global search and replace for NE -> != caught some of the copy in the website. The article makes no mention of this.



  • The Real WTF is, IMO, the content of that article. Though does explain many of the thought processes apparently going on in the marketing department.

    Since kids in this age group find it hard to understand and visualize abstract ideas, it’s important to communicate tangible benefits at the outset of the registration process. [...] "Why do I have to sign-up? Just to play games? I can play games on other websites without signing in, so I don’t see why I have to sign-up here.” To this boy, the concept of “playing games” was too abstract.

     

     

    Earlier, she describes the special challanges of designing a web page for eight year olds:

    You’re trying to create a digital experience for people who lack the cognitive capacity to understand abstraction. [...] Add to this the need to collect data from people with a deep-seated fear of sharing personal information, and you’ve got your work cut out for you. Let’s remember, too, that these people are still learning how to read, and haven’t taken Typing 101 yet.

    Makes sense. So we shouldn't give them complicated text to read, confront them with unknown, hard-to-understand concepts and expect that they'll likely be more wary of filling out forms than adults are.

    So now, how do we get those children to understand what registration is and why we need them to register on our page? The solution is of course: Just put a random lego guy next to the form!



  •  Random Lego Guy is right up there with Jack in the Box (a yuppie in a suit with a painted-on smile) in the pantheon of figures that are supposed to be endearing but instead just creep me out.

    For comparison, I was never all that bothered by Rubber Mask Burger King although his distant relatives the Puttermans in their Duracell commercials always made my spidey sense tingle a bit.


  • Considered Harmful

    @PSWorx said:

    The solution is of course: Just put a random <=go guy !=xt to the form!

    If only the prob<=m were so easily solved! You must also prefix your long block of text with "KIDS:".

    (Also: FTFY)



  • @da Doctah said:

    Rubber Mask Burger King

    Rubber Mask Burger King is the creepiest corporate mascot I can think of.

    There's an advert here where he reduces the price of a car at a dealership by turning a 9 over to make a 6, then jumps into a waiting car to be driven away.  I think he's meant to be waving to the car salesman out of the window as he drives away but to me it looks like he's flipping the bird.



  • @upsidedowncreature said:

    There's an advert here where he reduces the price of a car at a dealership by turning a 9 over to make a 6, then jumps into a waiting car to be driven away.  I think he's meant to be waving to the car salesman out of the window as he drives away but to me it looks like he's flipping the bird.

    THAT is creepy?

    Did you not get this one? Because it's even creepier than the creepy Ewok.



  • Your theory is wrong:
    "your new password is"
    not:
    "your !=w password is"


  • Considered Harmful

    Best guess: that text comes from a different file on the server; or, someone saw that one and manually corrected it.



  • @joe.edwards said:

    Best guess: that text comes from a different file on the server; or, someone saw that one and manually corrected it.

     

    Better guess: the global search-and-replace was case-sensitive.


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