IT Bugbears

[Sysman]

"Keyhole surgery" file selection windows no larger than a postage stamp. Why are they always so damned small?!

Grr.

File selection windows that "forget" a previously chosen path, painstakingly selected only a minute earlier, and always start in "My Documents"

Ayup. Especially when you are trying to save a series of related files in their own directory.

This is an area that OS X gets right, at least once you'd saved a file elsewhere, and it will remember the last directory you used the next time you start the app. Full marks to Apple here. But:

Modal dialog boxes requiring input. Meaning you can't go to another window to copy stuff to clipboard, or even move other windows around in order to see stuff on them, without closing it first.

OS X can be worse here. Instead of modal windows (which at least you can shift out of the way) it has what are known as dialogue "sheets". These drop down from bottom of the top bar in an app, obscuring the document itself, and there's no way to shift 'em. If you do a Save As, and need to refer back to the document to think up a file name which reflects the contents accurately, then you have to cancel the dialogue.

The Print dialogue can be worse still, since it's so wide.

[Ignis Fatuus]

Web sites that make assumptions about your situation. Those that choose a language based on your IP address or time zone are examples. Others include flight booking sites that bill you in the currency of your departure point, even if it is a British airline and your card is British and in pounds.

Some get it wrong even when they offer you a choice. "Enter country", it asks: I live in the UK but I'm currently in Germany trying to book a train in France with a Dutch bank card. Which country would you like?