Spell checkers, the worst offenders of violating the A to B principle
I can’t tell you how many times a spell checker has changed what I intended to type. I believe it’s the responsibility of software to manage what the user types and ensure what it types what the user intends. I have had spell checkers keep “tghe” instead of typing what I intended, “the”, and many […]
Outlook violates the A->B principle
Consider this screenshot from Mac Microsoft Outlook 365 (version 16.95.3). It displays the topmost portion of an open email. Usually, if I have opened an email, I want to read it and, oftentimes, the next thing I want to do is reply to it. But how do I do that? As a user, my first […]
WordPress violates the A->B principle
In WordPress 6.8, when publishing a page, there is a Publish button at the upper right. It’s natural to think that clicking it will publish the page, but that’s not what happens. Instead, we get this: It interrupts us to ask if we are really sure we want to publish and even gives us a […]
Elementor violates the A->B principle
In writing this blog in Elementor, version 3.28.3, on WordPress, and as I was writing the blog post above, I noticed that Elementor itself was violating the A to B principle. Here’s how. Watch this video. https://mauricevolaski.software/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/a-b-elementor-drag-text-selection.mov As you can see, I have a block of text in the Text Editor widget, and I am […]
Elementor violates the A->B principle II
Elementor, version 3.28.3, strikes again. Watch in the video below as I click into the edit field to select it, placing the cursor between the “a” and “g” in “drag”. https://mauricevolaski.software/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/a-b-elementor-text-selection.mov Elementor makes not one, but two, A to C exceptions. First, when I click into it, for a moment, it grays out the text block […]
The McDonalds app violates the A->B principle
If you ever ordered anything on the McDonald iPhone app, version 9.104.0, at a previously set restaurant location, you’ll see an A to C exception. Fill your cart with some items and then tap Checkout. At this point, you should expect to see the items in your cart so that you can confirm them, but […]
The iPhone violates the A to B principle
Watch in this video as I try to put the cursor before the “it”. https://mauricevolaski.software/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/a-to-b-iphone-mis-selection.mp4 Twice, the iPhone (version 18.3.2) not only fails, but also it reverts the selection to its original location, a clearcut A to C exception.
The iPhone violates the A to B principle II
Sometimes, on my iPhone I’ll be playing music in iTunes and I visit some site such as Twitter and some video references audio in some fashion. When this happens, the iPhone stops playing the music. This is a great example of the A to C exception.
The iPhone violates the A to B principle, III
The iPhone has this “feature“ where shaking it physically after taking some action in results in triggering a dialog offering to undo it. I can’t tell you how many times I have accidently shaken the phone inappropriately triggering it.
The iPhone violates the A to B principle, IV
The iPhone has this “feature“ where when you’re making a purchase, you have to double-press the right-side button. The only problem is that it is difficult to do in the way the iPhone wants it done, so it occasionally fails. Given that it takes steps to get to this step, it’s unlikely that a user […]