Today's User Interface Question: Dallas / Forth Worth Airport Skylink. Where do you get off?
If you were at Gate A16 and had to get to Gate D20 as quickly as possible, and the Skylink train graphics shows a FIRST STOP at Teminal D, between D24 and D36, THEN a NEXT STOP between D11 and D21, which stop would you get off at?
Note: Picture shown here does not match terminal graphic.
The problem is that the graphics in the terminal do not show the EXACT gate the train stops at, only that it stops BETWEEN specific gates.
Question:
Would it stop half-way between D24 and D36, meaning it would stop at D30 which would be a 10 gate walk, or would it stop near Gate 16, a 4 gate walk? Would you make up time by getting out at the first stop and walking, instead of staying on the train until the next stop.
The solution would be to indicate the exact gate that the train stops at.
Answer:
The train stops EXACTLY at Gate D21. One gate away from my destination, Gate D20. ;-)
The graphics shold be designed to say:
Terminal D: Stops at GATE 21.
Why make it a guessing game?