This seems to be another case of people not knowing what their needs are.
Simplicity Is Highly Overrated
41–50 of 106 posts
Re: Simplicity Is Highly Overrated
#42Reminds me of the good ol' Larry Wall quote "Easy things should be easy, and hard things should be possible."
Re: Simplicity Is Highly Overrated
#43I think before the advent of personal computing, a bit of extra complexity was ok. Life was pretty simple. You had a car, a stereo, a tv with a button for each channel, a stove/oven, and a calculator. You actually had room in your mind and time in your weekend to read the manual and figure out your new VCR. It was fun! Making complex things was actually expensive to do, so a microwave with lots of functions cost more…
I see limited use for a digital toaster, there are some perks you /could/ see like having personalized settings which somehow just know which person is using them ( RFID? ) and sets the appropriate toast setting for that person. Possibly detection on what it is toasting ( ie: hash-browns, muffin-splits ) and "smarter" toasting ( ie: using an optical sensor to measure surface browning, and using a laser thermometer to…
Plain old mechanical toaster trivia: The thermostatic element is placed in such a way that it is receiving reflected energy from the toast. As the bread dries and the Maillard reaction browns the toast it reflects more energy from the elements to the thermostat.
Viola! Toast browning detection in one bent piece of metal!
Re: Simplicity Is Highly Overrated
#44I would argue that it is a good thing for people to be able to take apart and fiddle with the things they buy. The ability to do this had diminished as goods have become increasingly complicated and automated.
The real solution is to offer simple as a feature. Have a default mode which makes everything really easy, and a "complicated" mode which allows people to change everything.
By breaking things up into two usability modes, most people get the benefits of simplicity, while the ones that care get the benefit of control.
Re: Simplicity Is Highly Overrated
#45Hmmm...When it comes to simplicity in design, I may be an outlier, but just a few of my daily struggles...
- I have to subtract 23 minutes (or add 37 minutes depending on daylight savings time) from the clock in my car because I lost the manual. What ever happened to a dial with 2 hands?
- I have to stand beside the microwave and open the door when the popcorn stops popping because I have no idea how to get good popcorn any other way.
- I never put anything in the dishwasher because I have no idea whether it's clean or dirty. How hard would it be to put a large green/yellow/red light on the front panel? (I am not the main user.)
- Why does almost every web page or Windows screen have buttons that do totally different functions right next to each other in the same color? (Yesterday, I meant to click on my only unread email and accidently sorted by Subject Name instead. It took me 5 minutes to realize what I had done.
- I gave up on our 4 TV remotes (124 total buttons) long ago. If it's on Channel 6, I'll watch it without sound.
- What do those other 2 buttons on the garage door opener do? I hit them so often, some days I wonder if I'll hear dogs barking.
- Need ice or water from the refrigerator door? Make sure you're in the right "mode" first. Why not just have 2 openings?
- Cell phone is ringing. Where is it?!?!? Why can't I just answer the land line? It's always in the same place.
- Stereo in living room is unplugged until we need it. I don't know how to stop the constant light show on the front panel.
Just when was it that things got so complicated that they created more problems than they solved?
Re: Simplicity Is Highly Overrated
#46This is an old article.When reading this article i thought the author was right till i saw this article by zedshaw. zedshaw's is very fun to read yet highly informative.! http://www.zedshaw.com/essays/fortune_favors_big_turds.html
This is a good read. Seriously.
Re: Simplicity Is Highly Overrated
#47Hmmm...When it comes to simplicity in design, I may be an outlier, but just a few of my daily struggles... - I have to subtract 23 minutes (or add 37 minutes depending on daylight savings time) from the clock in my car because I lost the manual. What ever happened to a dial with 2 hands? - I have to stand beside the microwave and open the door when the popcorn stops popping because I have no idea how to get good popc…
These are valid complaints, but they actually back up the author's point -
You still bought the complex-looking item. That it annoys you now is irrelevant (in the author's view). He posits that even though you know you only need 2 buttons for your garage door opener, you'd still buy one with 5 buttons before you bought one with 2.
Re: Simplicity Is Highly Overrated
#48Functionality>Simplicity but they aren't entirely opposed.
Re: Simplicity Is Highly Overrated
#49Uggh. I have a microwave that must be designed by the Koreans in this article.
If I want to heat something up for thirty seconds, I have to wade through four menus and sub-menus:
Express cook (ha ha)-> 30 seconds-> OK-> Start
People who designed consumer microwaves have obviously never used one. I have NEVER cooked anything in the microwave that should have involved more than a single button press. If the cooking is going to take fewer than 30 seconds, I'm not going to need a timer; it's not like I'm going to go walk the dog with the rest of my time.
I never want to type in an amount of time and then have the microwave not begin cooking until I hit a Start button. I always want full power. I don't want to adjust the fan speed. Nobody has tried to cook actual meals in the microwave since 1985 so I don't need a chicken-pot-pie setting. I don't want the keys to beep loudly when I press them and I don't want the microwave to beep loudly when it's done because I don't want the kids to wake up.
I'd pay more for the lack of "features."
Re: Simplicity Is Highly Overrated
#50A little off topic. Watch the Karate kid. How satisfying would that movie be if he lost? Universally, people like humble people and almost always hate arrogant. Happy stories. What's nice is God makes pride before a fall and not the opposite or what a hellish world. The saying "humility before honors" is in the bible in a different place. I'm not sure if Jesus said it somewhere,too , but Jesus said to sit in the lowest chair at a table and be invited up. Now that I think about it, that doesn't say humility will always be followed by honors. Is that how it is, I'm not sure. The Bible says God raises-up the lowly and casts-down the proud.
Now, I don't read books much besides the Bible. I try to "glean wisdom." Which I'm trying to do right now.