Observations on watching a kid use a computer

[quikchange]

Yesterday I was helping a kid edit an essay at the Pirate Supply Store - it's a front for a writing clinic - and couldn't help but notice some interesting characteristics of the manner in which he used the computer

Comments

[kinthelt]

I have witnessed the typing URLs into search fields on many, many occasions. Even after being reprimanded repeatedly, Christine still does it. And it makes the tech support part of my job frustrating when I tell people to "type the following into the address bar of Internet Explorer...." and they instead do a Google search. Basically, I attribute it to people learning how to do things one way, and being too lazy (or not smart enough) to explore alternatives which may be more efficient.

His lack of mouse skills could be due to a trackball at home. Or possibly a trackpad (or whatever they're called) on a laptop.

I admit to having backspaced through entire words instead of repositioning the cursor. Sometimes it's easier to delete the most recent thought out of your mind and recreate it (and similarly on the screen), than it is to analyze exactly what you've written and correct it.

[quikchange]

Kicks self for not thinking that the kid might be used to a different pointing device, especially since I actually use a trackball myself!

[grosskur]

Why does it surprise you that people type URLs into the search box? It's simply a better user interface. Try mistyping a domain name in the address bar. You get taken to the wrong site. Or your web browser hangs for five seconds trying to resolve the nonexistent address, and then displays a ridiculous error page about registration, DNS servers, firewalls, and proxies (at least Firefox does).

Now compare this to what happens when you mistype a domain name in the search box: Google either corrects it automatically or offers suggestions. And you don't have to remember whether what you are looking for is a .com, .net, .org, .ca, .us, etc.

I'm also interested to know what these “more effective tools we now have available for storing dynamic textual documents on the Web” are :)

[quikchange]

Alright, I see your point as usual. And I was talking about Google Docs.