[IxDA Discuss] Phone numbers should be numbers

[Christine Boese]

I HATE telephone numbers with words and letters.

I should qualify that. I hate telephone numbers too. As in, I still can't
remember my own landline number, which I've had nearly a year.

I should qualify both of those things. I'm a compensating, functional
dyslexic. I can't hold a number in my head for more than five minutes. I
only get right and left correct 50% of the time. The people who make me
remember multiple registration IDs and passwords are the bane of my
existence. IxD people will design for all kinds of disabilities, but nobody
wants to make life easier for those whose eyeballs scramble letters and
numbers.

So my pulse just automatically jumps when I encounter a phone number with
words or letters in it. I start to sweat. Each letter involves staring at
the phone for long seconds, going from key to key, trying to find the right
combination. The only thing I remember that was worse was working retail in
the late 1980s, when I had to manually enter product SKU numbers into the
cash register.

Chris <---- will NEVER be able to text message on a cell phone

On 11/19/06, David Malouf <dave at ixda.org> wrote:
>
> > Second place for most annoying, but surely the most frequently
> > indured is the alpha phone number... such as 1 866 DIAL-NOW.
> > Am I the
> > only one here? Rarely are hey easier to remember, catchy in message
> > and almost always slower to dial? Why must marketers continue to
> > torture me (us)?
> >
> > Any thoughts?
>
> Actually,
>
> While the translation of letters to numbers is difficult, remembering
> words
> is a lot easier than remembering number comibinations, so I'm not sure I
> agree with your complaint here.
>
> AND! It has also helped to teach us how to text message. ;)
>
> -- dave
>
>
>
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-- 
christine boese
www.serendipit-e.com