8 Designing user-friendly and 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" once 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 maths to get meaningful information. A clear message like "Washing ends at 2:35 pm" would be more useful. While 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 the washing machine uses pictograms for washing programs, like a bucket with two lines underneath for delicate cycles. These pictograms help select the right program from clothing labels. If your machine lacks them, you can still refer to the meaning of pictograms on the label for an appropriate setting. I never remember their meaning, so I take a photo of the pictograms with my iPhone and swipe up the photo to get their meanings. While not always user-friendly, these universal symbols, defined by the ISO 3758 standard, ensure interoperability in the laundry world.