The schedule information displays for public transportation in the U.S. tend to range somewhere between ho-hum to crappy. Either you have the paper schedule posted under plexi-glass or you have giant, ugly LED or OLED displays. On my recent trip to Melbourne I was totally impressed with the displays at the tram stops.

This display rocks! It is clear, concise and most importantly, real-time (note wireless antenna at top). And the unit itself is compact and not an eye-sore.

There was one important UX choice that puzzled me at first. The display is sorted by Route # versus arrival time or destination. I pondered this for a bit and the decision does make sense. If the display were sorted in descending order by arrival time, you would have scan down the list to find when your tram or bus would be arriving. This way, you can quickly skip the Route #’s you are not interested in and quickly find the time your tram will arrive.

This made me think about the sorting choices in Windows Explorer. When you are in Details view and sort columns, no matter which column you choose, there is an implicit primary sort by type (i.e. folder or file) before the selected sort is performed. I faithfully reproduced this functionality in my File Manager Pro product, but have always questioned its usability. The way it’s implemented, when you are scanning the list, you have to look twice — once to find the type of item (folder or file) you are interested in, and then to find the item you are looking for.

Would the Windows Explorer Details view be more or less efficient and usable if the implicit sort by folder or file were removed?