Never ask for this site again! Or else!

[SportWagon]

So my wife had terrible trouble getting Firefox started on her old little netbook which I luckily bought a dup of knowing that otherwise we would have fought over it.

Once every couple of months she'd have me start it up and get her to Firefox.

So then I bought her an ancient Android phone (Motorola MB860 Atrix) with a cheap (market-busting?) 7-11 Speakout pay-per-non-use 1 year expiry.

And of course it worked on WiFi at home. And before she got it I preset some useful bookmarks etc. (not to mention loading Firefox).

And so now she can actually turn it on herself and start using Google.

But then one day she started asking why sites keep telling her to never ask for them again. By which my wife understood "Do not request this site again using your device". Sorry I never really made that clear, did I? Or did I?

Eventually she let me look over her shoulder (she's rather possessive about using her phone herself most of the time) and I realize it's Google location services requesting location for the particular site and saying something like...


[ ] Provide location for this site.
[X] Don't ask again for this site.

Aren't there supposed to be professional people who proof-read things looking for likely misinterpretations?

Actually eventually, I realized the worst thing about a phone that old is that Youtube is unreliable. Oh no! Weird Al fails! Perhaps the RCA tablets will be useable by her?

[thesameguy]

I think that message is pretty clear... ?

[SportWagon]

Obviously it could be clearer, or my wife would not have misinterpreted it.

A problem is in assuming who the subject is. My wife interpreted the text as a command to her, not a choice she could command the computer to undertake.

Another problem could be solved by adding "this question".

[X] This option will tell the device to never ask this question again.

A problem is the bright green default checkbox de-emphasizes the other selection.

This would seem to be an opportunity for iPhone and Mac enthusiasts to tell us Apple's well thought-out solutions.

This option tells device to never ask question again.

[thesameguy]

I'm afraid I'm just going to have to disagree. The language isn't the least bit ambiguous, and it's about the same on every platform. There is no difference whatsoever in "Provide location for this site or don't ask again for this site" and ""Provide location for this site or don't ask this question again for this site." If you need "this question" to clarify "ask," you're not paying attention. Sorry.

[SportWagon]

Interfaces ideally should work for people are not paying attention.


This option tells device to never ask question again.

cannot be interpreted to mean "Reader do not request this site again".

(True the option doesn't put the "again" where it would properly belong if that was what was meant, but those sort of misplacement mistakes happen too, and people subconsciously correct for those...)

Perhaps using a different word instead of "ask" would be an improvement. People should learn to take the time required to refine their publications.

[thesameguy]

Indeed. And that includes adding extraneous words which don't change the meaning of the prompt.

"OK" works a lot better than "Do you agree?"
"Continue" works a lot better than "Would you like to continue?"
"Don't ask again" works a lot better than "Don't ask this question again"

That goes double on screens with limited real estate.

[SportWagon]

Part of the problem is determining whether the prompt is a prompt, a selection, or an order.

The real problem is the ambiguous subject of the prompt. Is it the reader or the computer/phone? Making that clear does change the meaning of the present text. (Which text may be misinterpreted as a non-prompt).


Select to tell device to never ask again for site.


Tell device to never ask again for site.


Tell device never ask again for site.

Still really need "question", because "asking for site" is ambiguous. It sounds like you want to tell the device to never again try to consult the site in question.