I thought I'd bitch about something before finally hitting the hay: USB connectors.
Look at them:
Image courtesy of CrutchfieldAdvisor.com
Ease of use is something that's stressed in designing user interfaces. Why doesn't this extend to hardware like USB? Trying to plug a USB device in is guess work. Does it go in upside-down or downside-up? Which way is down? Or up? The little plate with electrodes helps—kind of. I still can't tell which side they are on in the female connector so that's useless
In The Humane Interface Jef Raskin describes a humane universal connector. No male or female connectors, and the way it is shaped allows one to always know which way is the correct way to connect it. Even extension cables have the same connector on both ends.
It was published in 2000. Four years after USB came out. Unfortunately Apple didn't work on developing USB. Just standardizing on it. It would be nice if someone, like Apple, came out with USB but with humane connectors.
