That’s because designers stopped caring about following each platform’s guidelines because they want to spread “brand recognition” or some shit like that.
This exudes everywhere. I've had cases of where some weirdo company changes their packaging on, say, soap... and now I literally can't find what I used to use. The logic is that some other company is cloning their look, so they want to "stand out" again, and thus change theirs.
Sometimes, I'll manage to find the brand with the new colours and logo. But often even then, I can't find the specific product from that brand. They've changed it so much I can't tell which version I picked before. Which makes me look for something more like what I used to have.
Good job "standing out" guys. I'd say literally maybe 1/3 of the time, I've just literally lost products. I don't know the name, just how it looks.
I would take every news site delivering straight text, and letting me pick the page layout template to apply to all of them. Some kind of markup language that could be transmitted and then respect the users preferences as far as rendering.
Design is too broad a word for what is being discussed here and often in the world at large.
Still, to me, good design is intuitive. I look at the thing, and I know how to use it. If it looks great and distinctive, even better. But most outlandishly distinctive design I've (consciously?) found is terrible.
Obviously, these short sentences hide a lot:
- To know how to use things, I must have prior experience. But different users have different prior experiences and acquired design patterns (i.e. interaction patterns)
- My knowledge of the domain is also different from that of other users.
- The way I interact with the system is affected by many factors (e.g. accessibility related concerns, zoom, etc.)
- Intuition is not magic. It comes after training as well. Good design is discoverable. Extraordinary design reinforces its own patterns seamlessly, so that I learn it without even knowing I'm learning (see: hidden tutorials in game design). I also include here the incredible attributes of good design that far predate computer-related design (e.g. how an icon should be recognizable just by its silhouette, or how apps "invisibly" teach us what each color or even section of the screen means).
- My incentive to learn (sometimes "tolerate") the design depends on many variables. Some of these include the design's "taste", yes. Others depend on how much my boss/client is paying me to "use this shit".
I wouldn't say I want a world where everything looks the same, but I certainly want one where everything works the same, and some geniuses once in a while add something new to my list of known (and loved) design patterns. I am not anti-design-experiments, but I will take a predictable UI that looks like windows 98 everyday over some "distinctive" shit that breaks all manner of expected behaviors (from keyboard shortcuts, to colors, to button placement, to relative sizing, to........)
I think its good that HN and reddit are basically the same, or that all old forums were basically the same but with different color schemes. Homogeneity is a blessing for UX.
Antibiotic overprescribing was a problem in the past, but in my experience providers around me are very resistant to giving antibiotics at all.
My doctor’s office even has a big sign in the waiting room saying they don’t prescribe antibiotics for common infections.
The last time I got strep throat the urgent care clinic was resistant to testing me but finally gave in. When it came back positive the doctor acted oddly like he was reluctantly willing to prescribe antibiotics for it.
My dad in India gets prescribed antibiotics whenever he's sick. Despite my constant explanations, he insists that this is how it should be, because when you're sick your immunity is lowered.
On the other hand, the last time I got prescribed antibiotics was probably almost 10 years ago when I ended up in the hospital from an abscess.
Granted, my dad is old, but that part of the world still seems to expect doctors to do more for a common cold than just tell you to rest for a week and take an acetaminophen or phenylephrine if/when needed (even when that's really all you need).
> Granted, my dad is old, but that part of the world still seems to expect doctors to do more for a common cold than just tell you to rest for a week and take an acetaminophen or phenylephrine if/when needed (even when that's really all you need).
FYI phenylephrine is effectively a placebo and the FDA has proposed ending its use in OTC drugs. (There've been HN threads on the subject, with many comments.)
Phenylephrine is a placebo for nasal congestion, but it’s a solid drug for raising blood pressure. Used all the time in anesthesia (obviously not an OTC use).
> The last time I got strep throat the urgent care clinic was resistant to testing me but finally gave in. When it came back positive the doctor acted oddly like he was reluctantly willing to prescribe antibiotics for it.
I don’t know how widespread it is, but some people will beg for antibiotics when they definitely have a viral infection.
My friend who always used a naturopath would go on endlessly trying to diagnose herself with viral or bacterial to decide whether she should ask for antibiotics, but I definitely got the point.
I suppose many patients simply don’t know the difference.
I know antibiotics are really popular because killing bacteria seems really effective, but have you considered asking your doctor for a probiotic treatment?
Oral probiotics tend to work really well (similar effect to getting rid of bad bacteria) because they don't have to survive the stomach acid.
Is that true or just a rumor? All the family medicine people I know would not do that. Only in a case where it is 50/50 bacterial or viral like an ear infection in a young kid.
I had a horrible tooth infection that anyone with a nose could tell was a bacterial infection yet I was massively gaslit and denied antibiotics until I went to the hospital at 11pm after a week of horrendous pain
Doctors very rarely do any kind of test in my experience (I would have thought oozing stinking green stuff would have been easy to test...)
Later
I am somewhat against antibiotics as I have a fragile/already destroyed gut. But there are times when I don't know what other solution there is after exhausting home remedies, other medication and waiting it out
A friend passed away few months ago in London from kidney infection.
UK seems very to be very cautious of over diagnosis, while my experience in Eastern Europe was opposite - my infant received 3 different kinds of steroids (potentially what stunned his growth).
IMO there is a huge amount of denial of treatment to save costs. The gaslighting over symptoms, the refusal to refer you to specialist, the refusal to order tests etc is all part of it. And they never ever say it's about costs - just a tight lipped, "I know what's best" attitude
IME, most people (in the US) don't bother going to a doctor for a cold unless it lasts a long time or is especially bad, because you'll probably get better on your own and going to the doctor is expensive.
I was working in a church office when I came down with a runny nose and other cold symptoms.
My supervisor told me I could stay home for a day, but if longer than that, I would require a doctor’s excuse.
Now, that seemed fair from a labor perspective, but it is extremely unfair to someone like me. Because I do not own a vehicle, and seeing a doctor would involve boarding one or more buses and snorking the entire way there and back. Risking infection for everyone around me was exactly what I sought to avoid by staying home.
So what else could I do, but come into work and carry on? It is this sort of unreasonable requirement that fuels “presenteeism”.
> My supervisor told me I could stay home for a day, but if longer than that, I would require a doctor’s excuse.
You'd think the supervisor would realize it's in their own self-interest for you to not be around spreading infection (to them) by your mere presence.
There are of course people who abuse systems where doctors notes are not needed, and call in and then go have fun. It's not too hard to come across stories of people getting on short/long-term disability by know the correct doctor (I know of a situation where 3 members of the same family went to the same doctor and got a note for some condition).
> When we showed Buzdar our undercover footage, he insisted it had been filmed before his tenure or that it had been staged. When asked what he would say to local parents watching this footage, he said: "I can say to them with certainty, with confidence, that you should get your treatment done at THQ Taunsa."
Not gonna fix this with education if they won't admit to having a problem in the first place.
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