*Well, this essay is six years old and interfaces are changing fast now, but this is still quite funny.
*Let me break something to you here: even though there are such things as "diegetic prototypes" – (just count the number of articles on real interfaces nowadays that reference "Iron Man" and "Avengers") – the FX shots in fantasy movies are fantasies. This is like complaining that the long trailing robes in kung-fu movies would get in the way of a real-life combat situation. People in "The Avengers" are fighting Norse gods and space aliens. Norse gods and space aliens don't spend a lot of time on font-management issues.
*They're not "bloopers," they are fictions, they're lies. When a computer screen in a movie flashes a WARNING in 100-point type, it's so that the audience can shoulder-surf the screen. It's there to make the shot work within the film, it's not there to please usability experts.
via @ExTechOp
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/film-ui-bloopers.html
"1. The Hero Can Immediately Use Any UI
"Break into a company — possibly in a foreign country or on an alien planet — and step up to the computer. How long does it take you to figure out the UI and use the new applications for the first time? Less than a minute if you're a movie star.
The fact that all user interfaces are walk-up-and-use is probably the single most unrealistic aspect of how movies depict computers. In reality, we know all too well that even the smartest users have plenty of problems using even the best designs, let alone the degraded usability typically found in in-house MIS systems or industrial control rooms...."
