Should I get my mum a Kindle?

[James Laver]

On 21 Sep 2011, at 16:39, David Cantrell wrote:
> 
> Actually she is, and I've looked at some of the RNIB's recommended
> devices for her - and at the RNID's recommendations for me.  In both
> cases, the underlying assumption appears to be that disabled people are
> idiots.

It's a reasonably safe assumption, given that they're people:
<@jjl> rule 1?
<+dipsy> rule 1 is people are idiots

User interfaces are hard. I personally can't get along with iOS devices because I find them too unintuitive. When I'm buying a device for a specific purpose, I want it to be so simple that even an idiot like me can use it. The only complicated devices I own are computers, phones and tablets and that's because they need to be multipurpose. Perhaps this is why I like cookware -- it has no interface...

I saw a PURE radio being mentioned earlier. If you're considering one, check the interface, because the one on my pure daylight alarm is bloody awful and confuses the crap out of me (not to mention surprising edge cases, but that's a whole other rant), yet I've seen the basic PURE radios to be quite usable, if lacking in features (a wakeup alarm would be nice, the non-daylight model I used only had a kitchen timer).

If these things confuse the crap out of me without a sight impediment, I can only imagine how I'd suffer if I had to interact with them without the benefit of 20/20 sight. If your mother is merely highly intelligent rather than stephen hawking standard, she probably doesn't stand a chance with some devices.

/j