Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The worst volume control user interfaces (2017)

uxdesign.cc

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 20 posts

Re: The worst volume control user interfaces (2017)

#11

Post by jackhack »

My nomination for the Real World Interface Hall Of Shame - 2002 Toyota Camry factory stereo system volume control.

First, though, let me ask a question. When one turns the volume control down on a stereo, what are you communicating to the system? I think a reasonable answer is "I want things to be quieter." But according to Toyota engineering, that's a wrong answer.

You see, some genius over at Toyota reasoned, when the operator turns the volume control progressively lower, to the point one can just barely hear the music (whisper level), the stereo should make a loud beep through the speakers to indicate that the system is quiet.

I must repeat that. The stereo beeps loudly to indicate you have reached minimum volume.

Why? Obviously because because you might not otherwise realize that the music is very quiet by simply not hearing any music while rotating the volume control. And it's well known that the universal sign for "I'm quiet" is a loud beep, like shouting "I AM VERY QUIET NOW!!" which is what everyone does, right? This is especially desirable when you have a sleeping baby in the car. Because sleeping babies love loud beeps.

The beep could not be disabled.

I still cannot fathom what they were thinking.

Re: The worst volume control user interfaces (2017)

#13

Post by mirkules »

jackhack wrote: post #11

My nomination for the Real World Interface Hall Of Shame - 2002 Toyota Camry factory stereo system volume control. First, though, let me ask a question. When one turns the volume control down on a stereo, what are you communicating to the system? I think a reasonable answer is "I want things to be quieter." But according to Toyota engineering, that's a wrong answer. You see, some genius over at Toyota reasoned, when…

This does not surprise me. I once worked for a automotive vendor. “We” were designing a website which had a user registration portion (I put “we” in quotes because as I later discovered, all my work I’ve done up to that point was treated as a set of suggestions rather than engineering solutions by our HQ in Japan).

Anyway, we discovered that pushing the back button in the browser completely messes up the form, to which there are well-documented and easy fixes. A few weeks later, the HQ says they solved the issue, and I watched their presentation in horror as they explained how the only good solution was to disable the back button on the entire site.

So, to answer your question “what were they thinking?”:

Obviously, if you need to turn down the volume in the car past the minimum level, you should turn off the stereo instead.

Re: The worst volume control user interfaces (2017)

#14

Post by felixk42 »

The touchbar’s volume control on the new mac is pretty bad. You have to click the speaker icon once to bring up the bar, then look at it and drag it to the desired position.

What makes sense is really just a up and down, or a knob. Volume isn’t something most users can judge visually.

Re: The worst volume control user interfaces (2017)

#15

Post by Isinlor »

Zelphyr wrote: post #4

I feel like he's touching on a fact that we in software development and UI/UX design need to take heed; know when to stop. Case in point: Google Maps. The old version used to not be as pretty but it worked really well. The new one looks fantastic. It's also slow, buggy, and not nearly as feature rich. Someone, somewhere inside the Google Maps team said, "We need to put out an update!" and nobody asked, "But, why?"

I'm sure people asked. But you don't get promoted by not doing things. You get promoted by doing. So they do.

Re: The worst volume control user interfaces (2017)

#16

Post by cxseven »

Isinlor wrote: post #15
Zelphyr wrote: post #4

I feel like he's touching on a fact that we in software development and UI/UX design need to take heed; know when to stop. Case in point: Google Maps. The old version used to not be as pretty but it worked really well. The new one looks fantastic. It's also slow, buggy, and not nearly as feature rich. Someone, somewhere inside the Google Maps team said, "We need to put out an update!" and nobody asked, "But, why?"

I'm sure people asked. But you don't get promoted by not doing things. You get promoted by doing. So they do.

The median Googler works there for about a year, too, so I guess they have little interest or ability to understand existing code.

Re: The worst volume control user interfaces (2017)

#17

Post by Qcombinator »

felixk42 wrote: post #14

The touchbar’s volume control on the new mac is pretty bad. You have to click the speaker icon once to bring up the bar, then look at it and drag it to the desired position. What makes sense is really just a up and down, or a knob. Volume isn’t something most users can judge visually.

>You have to click the speaker icon once to bring up the bar, then look at it and drag it to the desired position.

Actually, you don't — tap the "button" and just start sliding your finger. Same for the brightness control.

I think it is one of those cases Apple sometimes has where they come up with a good interface, but people are so used to bad ones they don't even realise that a better way might work.

I'm not surprised that I've seen a lot of complaints about the touchbar; if you're used to physical keys, a touch-screen is no substitute. (Fortunately, I was already weaning myself off Fkeys, so I don't really miss them.) But I am surprised that I haven't seen more discussion of what it gets right. A slider that you can actually slide is a good UI metaphor for volume (as opposed to tapping fake keys repetitively). The touchbar also can show buttons from dialog-boxes, letting you "type" them instead of having to move your hand to the mouse. It isn't always used to great effect, but it's clear that some real thought was put into it, and I appreciate the attempt to take advantage of what it can do.

Re: The worst volume control user interfaces (2017)

#18

Post by jackhack »

mirkules wrote: post #13
jackhack wrote: post #11

My nomination for the Real World Interface Hall Of Shame - 2002 Toyota Camry factory stereo system volume control. First, though, let me ask a question. When one turns the volume control down on a stereo, what are you communicating to the system? I think a reasonable answer is "I want things to be quieter." But according to Toyota engineering, that's a wrong answer. You see, some genius over at Toyota reasoned, when…

This does not surprise me. I once worked for a automotive vendor. “We” were designing a website which had a user registration portion (I put “we” in quotes because as I later discovered, all my work I’ve done up to that point was treated as a set of suggestions rather than engineering solutions by our HQ in Japan). Anyway, we discovered that pushing the back button in the browser completely messes up the form, to whi…

wow. And as a result the kludges just keep piling up, one on another.

>>Obviously, if you need to turn down the volume in the car past the minimum level, you should turn off the stereo instead.

Yep, you guessed it -- that's exactly what happened. I'd just switch it off entirely. I didn't realize until the next car that I had developed an aversion to using a stereo at all as a result of this experience. It was a few years before I learned not to flinch when turning down the radio.

Sure, in the larger scale of things, it was only a minor irritation, but once it gets under your skin it's impossible to ignore. I think the fact that I'm still thinking about it more than 15 years later, is testimony.

Re: The worst volume control user interfaces (2017)

#19

Post by jackhack »

Qcombinator wrote: post #17
felixk42 wrote: post #14

The touchbar’s volume control on the new mac is pretty bad. You have to click the speaker icon once to bring up the bar, then look at it and drag it to the desired position. What makes sense is really just a up and down, or a knob. Volume isn’t something most users can judge visually.

>You have to click the speaker icon once to bring up the bar, then look at it and drag it to the desired position. Actually, you don't — tap the "button" and just start sliding your finger. Same for the brightness control. I think it is one of those cases Apple sometimes has where they come up with a good interface, but people are so used to bad ones they don't even realise that a better way might work. I'm not surpr…

>>Actually, you don't — tap the "button" and just start sliding your finger.

That works (sort of) but in a way it's even worse. Now you're sliding your finger a couple of inches to the right of the actual control image, further damaging the illusion of a physical control.

Re: The worst volume control user interfaces (2017)

#20

Post by mirkules »

jackhack wrote: post #18
mirkules wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This does not surprise me. I once worked for a automotive vendor. “We” were designing a website which had a user registration portion (I put “we” in quotes because as I later discovered, all my work I’ve done up to that point was treated as a set of suggestions rather than engineering solutions by our HQ in Japan). Anyway, we discovered that pushing the back button in the browser completely messes up the form, to whi…

wow. And as a result the kludges just keep piling up, one on another. >>Obviously, if you need to turn down the volume in the car past the minimum level, you should turn off the stereo instead. Yep, you guessed it -- that's exactly what happened. I'd just switch it off entirely. I didn't realize until the next car that I had developed an aversion to using a stereo at all as a result of this experience. It was a few y…

Sometimes there may not be huge glaring problems, but rather so many little ones that it makes using the product insufferable. Death by a thousand cuts.
Post reply on HN