Wednesday, March 30, 2016

The unfortunate design of not saving preferences

I recently reformatted my phone (a statement I wouldn't have expected to make back when I was regularly reformatting my Windows 98 computer), and when I added my second email account to the phone, Picasa Web Albums asked if I wanted to grant access to Gallery. Since I already connected to my personal Gmail account, I have no need to connect my secondary, I denied this request:


However, very shortly after this request, I was asked again the same question:


I got the same request over and over again until I finally allowed it. (In fact, even after I allowed it, I was asked two more times.)

I by no means consider myself a "designer," but having at least done some reading on the subject, I feel like I see terrible design everywhere now. If you're an engineer, you'd do yourself a favor to read Don't Make Me Think, and if you've got plenty of time, The Design of Everyday Things.