Somebody Didn't Think This Through
The terrible interface aside, I will be very disappointed if /b/ or Rush Limbaugh (arguably the same) haven’t already had fun with that unfortunate phrasing.
The interface for the State Of the Union 2011 address webpage is crap because:
- They reduce each person to an icon of a chair and force you to resort to slow mouse pointing to find out more.
- The rollover steals focus from the chair icons, so you are forced to roll over in an arbitrary left-to-right, top-to-bottom sequence.
- The rollover has a fixed width and thus completely eliminates the point of large high-resolution monitors.
- Finally, it doesn’t work very well on touch-driven mobile devices, because the idea of hovering a cursor over something doesn’t really work on a touch-driven mobile device.
All those deficiencies aside, it also has the effect of turning what should be an informational display into some sort of stupid memory game. (Quick, which row and column was Daniel Hernandez in? Go! Go!)
How to improve this? Well, here’s one way: turn the entire rollover box into a link to a separate page that displays profiles of everyone invited to sit with the First Lady! That solves a lot of problems:
- It doesn’t require Javascript or usage of CSS hover selectors.
- It works great on mobile devices.
- It easily adapts to increased vertical space afforded by larger monitors.
- It’s simpler.
Also, what possible use is there for an Obama Administration iPhone app that you couldn’t get from an RSS feed?