Michael wrote:
"Richard Hertz" no one@no one.com wrote
Can you explain why that is the one advantage (BC)/revers on localizer, and
why that is so?
Do you mean to say that people confuse which color sector they are in on a
localizer due to "reverse needle"?

Yes, that is exactly what I mean to say.

If so then it is a training issue, not a
technology issue.

Oh man, here we go. You've just touched off a religious debate.

In real life, I run a department that designs instrumentation for
process environments. What that means is that engineers design it,
but generally non-engineers (plant operators, meter readers,
technicians) install and use it. These days, most instrumentation has
software in it, so it should not come as a surprise that I rose into
that position from software engineering.

In the process, I learned a lot about user interfaces. There are two
kinds of user interface bug. There is the kind where the user
interface acts contrary to design, in a useless or unpredictable
manner in a given situation (coding error) and there is the kind where
it acts as designed (intentionally or unintentionally), in a manner
that is predictable and useful but, in certain situations,
counter-intuitive to the operator (design error). The first kind is
unusuable in those given situations. The second kind is usable,
provided you read the manual and are aware of how the system will
behave. There are those who believe that this means it's not an error
- that you should simply RTFM. In other words, that it is a training
issue. They are wrong.

I'd offer another design flaw -- not having the user's involved
in the design from the beginning to mitigate, even eliminate, the
design flaw. If the engineers & designers are not SMEs (Subject Matter
Experts) *AND* users, then I'd question the confidence factor
when the product is put into a normal operating environment.

Not to get into another religious discussion, but let's look at
two examples -- MS Windows -- the user if forced to operate in the
manner Microsoft dictates. Second example -- Air Traffic Control
workstation. Both current and retired ATC controllers were involved
from the very beginning - and it was a multi-year project. They
explained and demonstrated what worked and didn't work. And made
recommendations for improvement. In otherwords, User-Centric
design and implementation.