Human interaction: concepts, theories, and applications

Human Interaction

If any of us in my neighborhood (my condo community) had the opportunity to change a technology to make it more user friendly, and frankly easier to navigate, certainly we would certainly do that. There is absolutely no doubt in this cutting-edge world of constant technology innovations and upgrades that there are many individuals like our neighbors who struggle to grasp the instructions and tools of technologies. People who are in their 40s, 50s, and 60s -- and even older -- do not catch on as quickly to user guidelines for new technologies.

Here's an example: O

n any Macintosh computer, it is very easy to take a screen capture. You simply do this: shift, command, and the #4 key. A little icon comes up and the user navigates the mouse and the keypad seamlessly around whatever copy or image he or she wishes to capture. There is a "click" like a camera going off (which in fact is what the computer is doing for the loser). And there on the desktop is the image that was just captured by the Mac's easy-to-use. Not so easy with an HP laptop.

My neighbor has a fairly new HP running Windows XP and she can't figure out how to get her machine take a screen capture. I showed her how simple it is on a MacBook, and we began using Google to get instructions on how to take a screen grab on her HP. One response told us to press FN + Screen Print, and that will switch it to print screen function. Nothing happened. No sound, no evidence of an image captured (of a photo she had on the desktop). Another advice column said use the "snipping tool" on a PC and it will be simple.

Snipping tool? Where? A search of the machine and no such tool was located. A third suggested instruction message said to use the "FN" (function key) and at the same time hold down the "Insert / prt sc" key at the top of the keyboard. That did nothing at all. Still another remedy was to hold down the "FN" key (by now we were certainly familiar with that key) and at the same time press "any of the other keys that have a box around them" and that activates the "secondary function of that key." Then take the screen grab and find the image on "clipboard." We tried to do this but found no key with a box around it. Another remedy Web site said to do what the first one recommended -- and the image would appear on the clipboard. We looked at a blank clipboard and then at each other and I said, "Trade the dang thing in for a Mac!"

Seriously, we're not that technology savvy in the first place, but HP could do a better job making it possible (if not simple) to take a screen grab. Taking a screen grab can save time and make it simple to grab and print out a passage in a book or article rather than printing the whole page. Recommendation: emulate the Macintosh screen capture technology. It can't be that hard.