8 Designing user-friendly, interoperable data
This chapter covers
- Designing ready-to-use data
- Choosing atomic data types and formats
- Organizing data in objects and arrays
- Choosing data granularity
- Designing names
- Designing consistent and standard data
Imagine a washing machine that shows “EC 50400” when it’s started. You must consult the manual to decode this as the end-of-cycle time in seconds from 00:00. Even knowing this, you must do the math to get meaningful information. A clear message like “Washing ends at 2:35 pm” would be more useful. Although this washing machine fulfills its users’ needs (washing clothes and indicating when it’s done), it is not easy to understand and use: it’s not user-friendly.
Now, imagine that the washing machine uses pictograms for washing programs, like a bucket with two lines underneath for delicate cycles. These pictograms help users select the right program from clothing labels. If your machine lacks them, you can still refer to the meaning of the pictograms on the label for an appropriate setting. I never remember their meaning, so I take a photo of the pictograms with my iPhone, swipe up the photo, and tap “Look up Laundry Care” to get their meanings. Although not always user-friendly, these universal symbols, defined by the ISO 3758 standard, ensure interoperability in the laundry world.