That’s almost exactly what I didn’t say.
Things for wiping surfaces are easily obtainable in our society.
Or designers could design for foreseeable usage rather than assuming everyone will immediately cotton on to the limitations of their devices.
But why would you WANT ink or pencil lead all over your surface? Which you’d then have to constantly wipe off? Why should they design around something that nobody (or very few people) would want?
I don’t think not using writing utensils that are designed to, y’know, *write *on a surface that is designed to *not be written on *is a “limitation.”
What next–you’re going to complain that you can’t use White-Out to erase in a word processing document? :rolleyes:
ETA:
I just remembered we’re in the Pit. So I can say what I really think! You’re being fucking retarded. Just admit that it was a stupid thing to say and stop digging yourself in deeper.
I concede that the capability of allowing people to use White Out on a computer screen seems to be a trickier technological problem.
In this case, when it’s pretty much inevitable that lots of people are going to try to write on that kind of a screen with a pen, then I think the device should be designed to allow for it.
It isn’t “inevitable” that people will try to write with a pen or pencil on a touchscreen, any more than it’s “inevitable” that people will try to use White-Out on a computer monitor. People will do stupid shit from time to time; but we shouldn’t just throw up our hands and say, “Oh well, they’re going to be a bunch of fucking retards, let’s just go to a lot of time and expense and make the final product more expensive to accomodate that stupidity.”
Now, it may be a selling point for, say, a touchscreen at a cash register to be able to have ink easily cleaned off it, *in case a customer is a fucking idiot *and/or just not paying enough attention. But that doesn’t mean that the screen should be designed to be used with an actual pen.
We disagree on the role of design and technology. Designers should anticipate and take into account likely deviations from intended use – in essence, the more likely an unintended use is, the more likely it should become an intended use and accounted for in the design. The fact that nearly every credit card screen I’ve seen has pen marks on it indicates that the primary fault is in the design.
No, the primary fault is in people being fucking retarded. Seriously. Explain how this is any different from someone trying to use White-Out on their monitor.
I don’t disagree with this in principle, but I’m baffled as to what sort of design you’re envisioning.
One where either people need to constantly wipe ink or pencil lead off the screen, or where the screen magically stops the pen from releasing ink or lead from wearing off the pencil.
Like I keep saying: fucking retarded.
It seems entirely possible to make a surface smooth and frictionless enough that a ballpoint pen won’t roll and a pencil won’t rub off very much graphite, if any. I just tried drawing all over my phone with a pen I know works well, and there wasn’t a single mark of ink.
Whether or not said surface can be useful for a touch screen that registers via pressure rather than electric signals is something else again.