Don't be so complex

After dropping Clare off at her class in Dinas Powis yesterday evening, I had time before Tai Chi class to spend fifteen minutes out in the mild fresh air and evening sunshine out by the sea lock on Cardiff Bay Barrage, watching a yacht pass through. After a day of sunshine spent mostly indoors, a moment of sheer pleasure. Photos are here.

It's a pity that it's now so much more hassle to manage uploading of pictures to my photo website, since Google started to absorb the Picasaweb service into its Google+ offering. Google plus is so smart and shiny, in many ways it's brilliant, but with so many options flashing up you end up feeling like you've lost control over the user interface you thought you had mastered. Picasa evolved slowly and consistently. There should be no need to re-learn how to do simple straightforward things. This is not an improvement.

OK you can still use the old familiar Picasa user interface, but like other things due to be phased out, a switch back option appears as a floating drop down menu seconds after the Google+ photos  has loaded, but for how long? Can't we have a user interface switch button that's more prominent and permanent, as is the ubiquitous green 'Share' button. The Google+ share option is very slick, but demanding too much in your face. 

Everyone should have the responsibility to stop and think before they use this, or else they will end up inundating others with links to pictures they aren't interested in. My dear sister still sends me the same photo share link serveral times, and sends me back links to photos I've shared with her. She's far from stupid, in fact she's very methodical, getting control over these tools is dauntingly difficult and she's had a lifetime of working with graphic tools. But this shows that the way the green Share button system works is not as clear and user friendly as the smart young people running the world at Googleplex think it is. It presumes you understand jargon and popular phrases. Not a good idea.

Like junk mailers, there's an intention here to be helpful and offer services Google thinks you want, but that's not the same as asking you if you want things. Frankly, all I want is something simple and speedy that I understand and feel I can control. Likewise my sister! Give us a break Google - make it look as pretty and clean as you like but remember how important familiarity is to technology users. Learn from the disaster of Microsoft Windows 8 abandonment of the Start button (soon to be re-introduced). Don't be evil, Google, but also don't be so complex also.