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Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

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Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#471

Post by dendrite9 »

micro_cam wrote: post #263
ISL wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HillMap -- I use it all the time; it just works. :). (Also, pintech-bindings are the best. They changed the course of my life. The TLT5/6 design is sublime as long as you're not scrambling in talus.)

Hah thanks! Unfortunately hillmap is in a semi defunct state. Most of the apis that made it work are gone or really expensive and i haven't had time to make my own replacements.

Oh man! Thank you so much, It is hard to convey how much I have used hillmap. I just had to check in and make sure the site was still up. Anytime I want to roughly get a sense of distance it is my first and only thought, from planning offtrail backpacking and ski trips, to trying to figure out how far I ran on a given day, or trying to talk my girlfriend into swimming various point to point routes.

I'd say of the pin bindings the race style are the ones I think of when I admire the design.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#472

Post by Aeolun »

palijer wrote: post #362

https://www.mcmaster.com/ Fast, snappy, responsive. No banners or cookie prompts, doesn't ask my to sign up for a newsletter or an account to continue and see more selection, it doesn't load in megabytes of JavaScript to show me products. Plus, responsive as all heck, and there isn't any bullshit prompts like "click here to see our selected offerings" or "check out our value products here" Like, from. The short url,…

It doesn’t work on mobile at all.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#473

Post by SparkyMcUnicorn »

squarefoot wrote: post #357

I loved the SanDisk Sansa Clip Zip players I owned during past years. They needed to be reflashed with the RockBox firmware (but tbh pretty much every portable player firmware is inferior to RockBox) however hardware wise they were fantastic: light, well shaped, buttons in the right places, very readable display despite the small size, audio was excellent, FM reception too, battery lasted hours and hours. I brought t…

I forgot about this. Sansa with RockBox was the best.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#474

Post by smt88 »

mitemte wrote: post #438
smt88 wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a fascinating response, partly because of how passionately I disagree. I loved Mario Kart for SNES and N64. After that, Nintendo seemed to have no idea what people even liked about the games. They added more characters, more cars, and more level interference, meaning that you were competing less and less on skill. Worse, your choices for character and car could have enormous and difficult to predict effects o…

MK64 was the first MK game I played. Having played titles proceeding it, I feel that MK Wii and MK8 are more balanced. MK64 has horrible rubber banding. It’s to the point where your level of skill can mean nothing if you make one costly error. MK64 character driving attributes also vary, but the character select screen doesn’t inform players of this http://tasvideos.org/GameResources/N64/MarioKart64.html#Driv...

> It’s to the point where your level of skill can mean nothing if you make one costly error.

But usually you're playing with people who are not experts at the game, so they also make 0-1 costly errors per lap. It's hard to find someone who makes no errors.

Most items also favor the people who aren't first or last, so there's a chance those will change the outcome.

> MK64 character driving attributes also vary, but the character select screen doesn’t inform players of this

This is true, but you can explain the differences easily and they're fairly intuitive (because they're all based on size).

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#475

Post by deckard1 »

akg_67 wrote: post #388
mattzito wrote: post #370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I worked for squarespace, their beautiful new offices had glass conference room doors that swung one way, the other way, or slid on a track, depending on the room configuration. However every one of those doors had the same handle on both sides, giving you no clue as to which scenario this door was providing. You saw people pull/push the wrong way all the time, and then look up/to the side to see the hinges and…

It reminded me of my experience at a Japanese Onsen (hot spring) last week. While entering the Onsen, the sliding door is automated and slides to open on it’s own. While exiting, the automated sliding doesn’t work. It has handles with no indication of pull or push or slide. The design of handles suggest most probably pull. I kept trying to pull/push with no movement. Finally, realized I am supposed to use those handl…

That design is everywhere in Japan, and can be quite embarrassing for tourists.

First time I went to Japan I walked up to my hotel late at night. I went to the door. There was no handle or obvious way to open it. I stood there like an idiot for a minute or two. I walked back out to the street to make sure I'm at the right building. I walked back to the door and finally got it. The trick... you have to wave your hand directly in front of the door an inch or two. Places in Japan often do not put the motion sensor ahead of the door, but straight down. You start feeling like a Jedi at times, waving doors open.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#476

Post by raffraffraff »

squarefoot wrote: post #357

I loved the SanDisk Sansa Clip Zip players I owned during past years. They needed to be reflashed with the RockBox firmware (but tbh pretty much every portable player firmware is inferior to RockBox) however hardware wise they were fantastic: light, well shaped, buttons in the right places, very readable display despite the small size, audio was excellent, FM reception too, battery lasted hours and hours. I brought t…

I bought a bunch of Sansa Clip+ when they were being discontinued because they were dirt cheap and with Rockbox and a huge sdcard, they "rocked". My last one died about a year ago :(

I didn't go for the Agptek because they can't run RockBox, and I got bitten very badly by the awful ui on a Shanling player. So I bought a teensy Jelly Pro and hacked it into my favourite ever mp3 player.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#477

Post by chrischattin »

Aeolun wrote: post #472
palijer wrote: post #362

https://www.mcmaster.com/ Fast, snappy, responsive. No banners or cookie prompts, doesn't ask my to sign up for a newsletter or an account to continue and see more selection, it doesn't load in megabytes of JavaScript to show me products. Plus, responsive as all heck, and there isn't any bullshit prompts like "click here to see our selected offerings" or "check out our value products here" Like, from. The short url,…

It doesn’t work on mobile at all.

It works perfectly fine on mobile.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#478

Post by alpaca128 »

toomanyrichies wrote: post #155

One example of quality design which I gleaned from reading Don Norman's "The Design Of Everyday Things" is the metal plate I've frequently seen on doors which are meant to be pushed. The only affordance of such a plate is its push-ability, and the fact that someone actively installed a metal plate (instead of just relying on the door's natural flatness), as well as its location at the point of maximum leverage (all t…

While this is true I often wonder why so many of those doors don't just open towards both sides. They exist and I think it's the best compromise because it's just not possible to use it the wrong way.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#480

Post by jcims »

minikomi wrote: post #373
japhyr wrote: post #134

If you split your own firewood by hand, a Fiskars splitting axe is insanely better than any standard splitting maul you'd find in a typical hardware store: https://www.fiskars.com/en-us/gardening-and-yard-care/produc... For mechanical pencils, the Rotring 600 is the best thing I've ever written with: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AZWYUA4/

Do you think their shorter axe (n12) would be good to take bike camping?

X11 or X7 would probably be a bit lighter and more durable. I know its ‘plastic’ but I’ve beat the shit out of mine for 15 years and it hasn’t loosened up at all. Wood handles get finicky in the elements. The Fiskar plastic handles are hollow, too, you might be able to pack a flint kit up in there for energency use.

Something like an Eastwing is goong to be a better chopper, but these will split better. Both are useful.

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