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Previous: Sign to restroom | Main | Next: Safety sign on door
November 17, 2003 01:32 AM
Broken: Pasting Yahoo Maps directions
Kerah Pelczarski writes:
Yahoo! Maps driving directions use "R" and "L" images instead of plain text for right and left.Please see tinyurl.com/t39k or attached image.
This is bad because when you copy and paste the directions in order to sync them to a PDA, the all-important right and left directions are missing. A 50/50 chance of going the right way isn't quite good enough. ;)
Here's the text from the above example:
1. Starting at the center of zip code 94043 on LINDA VISTA AVE - go < 0.1 mi
2. Turn on W MIDDLEFIELD RD - go 0.4 mi
3. Turn on MOFFETT BLVD - go 0.3 mi
4. Arrive at 215 MOFFETT BLVD, MOUNTAIN VIEW
Something is broken here---but it's not Yahoo! Maps---it's your browser's cut and paste feature. Yahoo is trying to improve the usability of their directions by making the symbols for left and right turns more distinctive then the rest of the text. Current web standards require that they use an image to achieve this effect, so they include the appropriate ALT text for browers that do not display images or visually impared users. Cut and paste should respect and include this ALT text. If they did, you would not have had a problem.
Interesting. I tried this out in Mozilla 1.4, which I would have expected to show the correct behavior, but instead found that it didn't work either. Very strange, since I remember it working in older builds; but apparently this is a known bug.
http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=212177
Personally, I see more of a problem in that the "icons" are letters in circles; that could just as easily have been accomplished using text with a CSS background image. And why *circles*? Why not left and right arrows, which would have the added benefit of aiding those of us who always get our directions confused?
It used to be arrows, but in usability tests *in the field* the R and L was more easily read by a driver who was looking at a printout sitting on his passanger seat or what have you.
Anyhow, passed along the feedback. Yahoo! Maps has been going more css everyday, I'm sure the sharpshooters on maps can come up with a cut 'n paste friendly solution.
It's probably rooted in a copyright issue, its very easy for somebody else to write a routine that "screen scrapes" from MapQuest to give driving directions.
For instance, say theres a fictional "trafficdirections.com" that simply relays your address info to MapQuest.com, then just reprints the directions on "trafficdirections.com" without MapQuest's banners...
Or it could be like one of the other commenters that its easier to read when trying to simultaneously read the directions AND look for what street to turn on
Incidentally, re-reading this thread, I see that I may have been a bit vague. My idea was to combine the arrows *and* the letters-- i.e., show an "R" inside a right arrow or an "L" inside a left arrow. That way, it's convenient both for passengers reading the directions to someone else and for directionally-impaired drivers...
And for what it's worth, this has been fixed in the most recent versions of Mozilla, Netscape and Firefox.
Comments on this entry are closed
Previous: Sign to restroom | Main | Next: Safety sign on door
Son of a... I was bitten by this exact problem this weekend, and didn't notice until I was driving. The solution is to use the Text-only directions, which then give you directions written out:
"Turn Left on HIGHLAND AVE - go 1.2 mi"
Posted by: Paul at November 17, 2003 08:59 AM