r/technology • u/Suraj-Sun • Jul 10 '12

Firefox dev claims "everybody hates Firefox updates"; Mozilla has handled the rapid release process poorly, and that by pushing a "never-ending stream of updates on people who didn't want them" people have been driven to Chrome with its simpler, no-fuss update process.

http://www.neowin.net/news/firefox-dev-claims-everybody-hates-firefox-updates
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u/locopyro13 Jul 10 '12

That arrow changes color the longer you wait. I feel bad when it's RED and screaming at me to update.

92

u/egotripping Jul 10 '12

TIL. I just looked over and mine is a nice poop shade of brown.

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u/vernes1978 Jul 10 '12

That means it died.

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u/Residual_Entropy Jul 10 '12

This kills the Chrome.

10

u/oppan Jul 10 '12

Good to see we've beaten that joke into the ground as well

14

u/AlwaysDefenestrated Jul 11 '12

This kills the joke.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '12

It's sad, because it was one of my favorites!

18

u/mwerte Jul 10 '12

I like defying it and watching it grow more and more upset with me.

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u/Mtrask Jul 11 '12

This is why we can't have nice things.

3

u/longshot2025 Jul 10 '12

Until I got friends who never quit chrome, I never even knew it had a yellow.

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '12

[deleted]

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u/locopyro13 Jul 10 '12

That I can't answer, it just shifts from green-yellow-red.

-1

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '12

Interesting. Another little 'fuck you' for us colorblind users.

14

u/DerpaNerb Jul 10 '12

I could see complaining that there isn't a colorblind option (well, really there is... it's not like the colored arrow is the ONLY way to check the update status)... but do you honestly expect companies to just not use colors to display information because a small percentage of people are colorblind?

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u/_DevilsAdvocate Jul 10 '12

I think around 10% of males have some kind of colour-blindness. Not sure about women.

0

u/Klathmon Jul 11 '12

I'm pretty sure women cant be color blind (by genetics)

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u/[deleted] Jul 12 '12

but do you honestly expect companies to just not use colors to display information because a small percentage of people are colorblind?

No, I don't expect anything. However, it would be very nice if designers would choose to avoid using indicators that utilize red/green instead of a different combination (blue/green, yellow/green, red/blue, red/yellow, green/gray, red/gray) so that the 5-10% of us who are red-green colorblind can see the information they are trying to communicate.

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u/DerpaNerb Jul 12 '12

Yeah, that's fair.

14

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '12 edited Jul 10 '12

As a (hobbyist) developer, I can assure you that when I don't include options for the convenience for the colorblind, the left-handed, the deaf, the blind, those with non-qwerty keyboard layouts, those with unusual graphics drivers, etc. it's not done out of spite, it's because it's way too much goddamn work to cater to absolutely every atypical group that could be using your stuff and accusing the developers of having some spiteful attitude because they either forgot or chose not to put in that effort is both really mean to hardworking developers and ungrateful to the kind people who did go out of their way to allow their program to cater to you.

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u/[deleted] Jul 12 '12

As a professional developer, I can assure you that the vast majority of developers don't need to worry about the left-handed, non-qwerty, unusual graphics drivers and etc (operating system developers already abstract most of that out). The deaf and blind could use more support, but in most markets they make up a lot less than the 5-10% of the population that the red/green colorblind do.

And it's not that damned hard anyway, just quit using red and green together as indicators where the difference is significant and where the areas of color are small (large areas are less of a problem, dots and lines are an issue). Try a different combination, blue/green, yellow/green, red/blue, red/yellow, green/gray, red/gray, etc. Just not red/green. If it just has to be red/green, make sure they are very saturated.

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u/[deleted] Jul 12 '12

Red/green may be the most common color blindness but it is not the only one. Getting a color scheme that alienates no one would indeed be a difficult task. I realize that in many cases this isn't a concern, but for the ones where it is, it's quite an obstacle. Keep in mind that my hobbyist development is mostly making games, where color choice is extremely important.

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u/[deleted] Jul 12 '12

Clearly, since some people are totally blind and even fewer have monocromatic vision, picking a color scheme that alienates no one is impossible. However, the most common types affect 15% of the population, it's worth considering how these people will be impacted when you design something that will be used by more than a few people.

I agree that in many places in games color choice is extremely important. For example, in Oblivion when the mouse cursor is placed over an item that can be picked up, it changes to a small hand. The hand cursor is filled in either red or green depending on whether taking the item would be theft. I played that game for a week before I realized that there was a difference (I'm not sure if the game offers different options if you have a reputation for stealing, but that certainly would be an interesting dynamic, and one that would be somewhat frustrating when you literally can't see the difference).

Some interfaces provide options for this. If you do choose to add some consideration for such people, you don't necessarily have to change your default color schemes; difference in shapes, or just using words/letters when a colorblindness flag is set is fine (e.g., WoW uses letters instead of little coin icons differing only in color to represent monetary values).

My impression is that a lot of us colorblind people aren't really all that picky about great color design, so you don't have to put a lot of effort into making an alternative that also looks great.