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What's wrong with USB sticks that you need 3 tries to plug them in correctly?

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Re: What's wrong with USB sticks that you need 3 tries to plug them in correctly?

#11

Post by chrisseaton »

leggomylibro wrote: post #4

I really do not understand how people still have trouble with this. We've had years and years to get used to these plugs. The 'top' of every USB-A plug I've ever seen is smooth, while the 'bottom' has a seam down the middle. And you can tell the receptacle's orientation from a glance just as easily, but you don't have to because the 'top' side of the plug should face the 'top' of the device it is plugging into in alm…

> The 'top' of every USB-A plug I've ever seen is smooth, while the 'bottom' has a seam down the middle. And you can tell the receptacle's orientation from a glance just as easily, but you don't have to because the 'top' side of the plug should face the 'top' of the device it is plugging into in almost every consumer device I've used.

I can't tell if you're joking. You've just written three hundred characters about how to plug in a cable. Why is it that complicated? Why didn't they design it to go in in any orientation?

Re: What's wrong with USB sticks that you need 3 tries to plug them in correctly?

#12

Post by leggomylibro »

chrisseaton wrote: post #11
leggomylibro wrote: post #4

I really do not understand how people still have trouble with this. We've had years and years to get used to these plugs. The 'top' of every USB-A plug I've ever seen is smooth, while the 'bottom' has a seam down the middle. And you can tell the receptacle's orientation from a glance just as easily, but you don't have to because the 'top' side of the plug should face the 'top' of the device it is plugging into in alm…

> The 'top' of every USB-A plug I've ever seen is smooth, while the 'bottom' has a seam down the middle. And you can tell the receptacle's orientation from a glance just as easily, but you don't have to because the 'top' side of the plug should face the 'top' of the device it is plugging into in almost every consumer device I've used. I can't tell if you're joking. You've just written three hundred characters about h…

Okay, how about this?

"Plug in the cable face-up."

It's just less accurate for edge cases like tower PCs with slots facing the side. And fair's fair, I hadn't thought about how annoying it is when you have to reach behind a machine to plug something into one of those.

But then again, it's usually hard to plug things together when you can't see them. I dunno, it just really doesn't seem like an issue in practice.

Re: What's wrong with USB sticks that you need 3 tries to plug them in correctly?

#13

Post by IshKebab »

Very wordy answers, and as far as I can see no single answer has both points:

1. The connector is symmetric. If it was asymmetric like HDMI for example it would be easier. 2. There's no bevel to guide the connector into place, so you can be very close and it still won't go in. That feels exactly the same as if you have it in the incorrect orientation.

All the stuff about the logo is misguided. Nobody reads the logo of HDMI or ethernet cables to plug them in.

Re: What's wrong with USB sticks that you need 3 tries to plug them in correctly?

#14

Post by Yen »

An additional reason why people may not be confident in their initial alignment -

Even if a user knows about the icon indicating "top" of a USB plug, and is aware of the top side when plugging in a plug, there's no such affordance for the socket.

The top side of the socket _should_ be on top, but the socket might be rotated 90 degrees, and might be on the backside of the device, requiring _correctly_ rotating your mental model of the socket just to know which way the plug goes in!

Re: What's wrong with USB sticks that you need 3 tries to plug them in correctly?

#15

Post by leggomylibro »

arbitrage wrote: post #10
leggomylibro wrote: post #4

I really do not understand how people still have trouble with this. We've had years and years to get used to these plugs. The 'top' of every USB-A plug I've ever seen is smooth, while the 'bottom' has a seam down the middle. And you can tell the receptacle's orientation from a glance just as easily, but you don't have to because the 'top' side of the plug should face the 'top' of the device it is plugging into in alm…

taking a quick look around my desk, and the slew of cables i have on it, i quickly find that less than 50% of my cables (many of which are popular and respected brands) do not conform to your description. admit it. USB-A plugs are terribly designed.

Huh, maybe it's a regional thing; I've only got my experience to go off of, but I haven't experienced this sort of confusion in years.

Re: What's wrong with USB sticks that you need 3 tries to plug them in correctly?

#16

Post by chris_mc »

arbitrage wrote: post #10
leggomylibro wrote: post #4

I really do not understand how people still have trouble with this. We've had years and years to get used to these plugs. The 'top' of every USB-A plug I've ever seen is smooth, while the 'bottom' has a seam down the middle. And you can tell the receptacle's orientation from a glance just as easily, but you don't have to because the 'top' side of the plug should face the 'top' of the device it is plugging into in alm…

taking a quick look around my desk, and the slew of cables i have on it, i quickly find that less than 50% of my cables (many of which are popular and respected brands) do not conform to your description. admit it. USB-A plugs are terribly designed.

They're way better than what came before (like PS/2 plugs, those connectors with the dumb screws (DB9 and such), etc.).

Edit: I can't post a reply to the comment below me because HN thinks I am posting "too fast", so here's an update to more thoughts I had on this:

It's also age because USB-A is like 20 years old or more. Back then you didn't plug and unplug USB stuff as often, but today we use it as a charging port more or less, so it's use-case was different when it was designed. Look at USB-C which is for today's "plug and unplug often" use case, it's fucking awesome for that. USB-A was more of a "this is mechanically better than DB9 or whatever" connector than a "this thing is intended to be transitioned at least 20 times per day" connector.

Re: What's wrong with USB sticks that you need 3 tries to plug them in correctly?

#17

Post by chrisseaton »

leggomylibro wrote: post #12
chrisseaton wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The 'top' of every USB-A plug I've ever seen is smooth, while the 'bottom' has a seam down the middle. And you can tell the receptacle's orientation from a glance just as easily, but you don't have to because the 'top' side of the plug should face the 'top' of the device it is plugging into in almost every consumer device I've used. I can't tell if you're joking. You've just written three hundred characters about h…

Okay, how about this? "Plug in the cable face-up." It's just less accurate for edge cases like tower PCs with slots facing the side. And fair's fair, I hadn't thought about how annoying it is when you have to reach behind a machine to plug something into one of those. But then again, it's usually hard to plug things together when you can't see them. I dunno, it just really doesn't seem like an issue in practice.

> "Plug in the cable face-up."

What's the face? Which way is up? Can't you see that these descriptions don't work?

Re: What's wrong with USB sticks that you need 3 tries to plug them in correctly?

#18

Post by chrisseaton »

IshKebab wrote: post #13

Very wordy answers, and as far as I can see no single answer has both points: 1. The connector is symmetric. If it was asymmetric like HDMI for example it would be easier. 2. There's no bevel to guide the connector into place, so you can be very close and it still won't go in. That feels exactly the same as if you have it in the incorrect orientation. All the stuff about the logo is misguided. Nobody reads the logo o…

> The connector is symmetric

No it's asymmetric. That's the whole point of this discussion. If it was symmetric it could go in either way and there wouldn't be an issue.

Re: What's wrong with USB sticks that you need 3 tries to plug them in correctly?

#19

Post by arbitrage »

chris_mc wrote: post #16
arbitrage wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

taking a quick look around my desk, and the slew of cables i have on it, i quickly find that less than 50% of my cables (many of which are popular and respected brands) do not conform to your description. admit it. USB-A plugs are terribly designed.

They're way better than what came before (like PS/2 plugs, those connectors with the dumb screws (DB9 and such), etc.). Edit: I can't post a reply to the comment below me because HN thinks I am posting "too fast", so here's an update to more thoughts I had on this: It's also age because USB-A is like 20 years old or more. Back then you didn't plug and unplug USB stuff as often, but today we use it as a charging port…

undeniably true. i'm ashamed to say i've broken my share of pins on those horrid things.

Re: What's wrong with USB sticks that you need 3 tries to plug them in correctly?

#20

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

chrisseaton wrote: post #18
IshKebab wrote: post #13

Very wordy answers, and as far as I can see no single answer has both points: 1. The connector is symmetric. If it was asymmetric like HDMI for example it would be easier. 2. There's no bevel to guide the connector into place, so you can be very close and it still won't go in. That feels exactly the same as if you have it in the incorrect orientation. All the stuff about the logo is misguided. Nobody reads the logo o…

> The connector is symmetric No it's asymmetric. That's the whole point of this discussion. If it was symmetric it could go in either way and there wouldn't be an issue.

The outside, which is readily visible, is symmetric. The inside of the plug isn't. The difference is the problem.
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