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The worst volume control UI in the world (2017)

uxdesign.cc

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Re: The worst volume control UI in the world (2017)

#161

Post by vxNsr »

gumby wrote: post #124
chrisseaton wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does seem odd they couldn't have squeezed another switch in there, or let you lower volume with the switch in one ear and raise it with the switch in the other ear.

Crying out for a slider interface like the unlamented Touch Bar. The stems are long enough for the gesture (not absolute positioning).

Yea, I actually thought that’s how they worked when I first got them, I remember seeing a demo where that was done, but it was probably either concept art or a different product.

Re: The worst volume control UI in the world (2017)

#162

Post by 13of40 »

kadoban wrote: post #126
13of40 wrote: post #65

I just ran into one of these. I just got a Garmin Fenix Pro 6 watch, and it has a Spotify client on it. Just create a playlist on your phone or computer, then download and play it from your watch with Bluetooth. Sweet! Unfortunately it autoplays, seems to set the volume way too high by default, and while the volume control is a regular slider, it takes a minimum of four button presses across three different buttons a…

Do your headphones have volume control? If you're not sure, you should check. It's likely much less painful than that sounds.

No, I have simple ones by design. I don't need my earbuds launching me into a cardio workout or a meditative breathing session if I touch them in the wrong spot. (Looking at you, Samsung.)

Re: The worst volume control UI in the world (2017)

#163

Post by pindab0ter »

abakker wrote: post #155
audiometry wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

stupid teams chat doesn't even have a 'reply with quote' but yeah, it's got lots of edgy emoticons and gifs.... stupid.

Amazingly, the mobile app version does!

Because why would your app have consistent functionality for such basic features between web/desktop versions and mobile!

Re: The worst volume control UI in the world (2017)

#164

Post by leduyquang753 »

titzer wrote: post #85

The volume controls in Tuxguitar are legitimately worse than some posted here. To adjust the volume of a track, you choose "View > Show Instruments" and then the unlabeled first circle in each row is the volume "knob". It's a "knob" because it is basically a circle with a dot with the 6-o'clock position indicating 0 and the 3 o'clock position indicating maximum. To adjust it, you click and hold (with no visual feedba…

That's commonplace in audio production programs/plugins actually.

Re: The worst volume control UI in the world (2017)

#165

Post by JohnJamesRambo »

chapium wrote: post #99
JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #5

I actually love the advanced volume control one with all the numbers.

I think it could be improved, but 2d space being is pretty genius here. Rows for major changes, and columns for minor adjustments. Still overly engineered for something that can be just a single slider.

But the slider is usually so small! At best we are talking 10 steps of volume accuracy with a mouse (probably more like 5) and it is never reproducible. With the big boy I can hit 67 or whatever my favorite volume is every time.

Re: The worst volume control UI in the world (2017)

#167

Post by na85 »

frosted-flakes wrote: post #14
rectang wrote: post #6

Nearly all volume controls suck because by and large the software world is ignorant of the fact that loudness scales logarithmically. 99.9% of volume controls scale the output linearly.

I used to own a BlackBerry 10 phone running BB10 OS. At the time, the dev team accepted suggestions on how to make the OS better, and I suggested they make the volume controls logarithmic instead of linear, and they did! I loved how quiet that phone would go while still remaining clear—I used to listen to audiobooks as I fell asleep at night, and rather than use headphones I would just set the volume to level 1 or 2…

I still have my old BB10 Passport. Weird form factor but that was an awesome device. It's too bad Blackberry really shit the bed with their OS and its lack of apps.

Re: The worst volume control UI in the world (2017)

#168

Post by jimmySixDOF »

ajklsdhfniuwehf wrote: post #130

Those are still all better than mobile phones that have a dozen "volumes" and when you press the volume up when a video is just starting you might get lucky and lower the media volume, or you might have missed it for one microsecond and now you are stuck on ring or alarm or whatever volume while the video plays.

add to that a Bluetooth complication where vendor X earphone volume increments don't match the mobile platform. On Android you need to enable a Developer Mode setting (Disable Absolute Volume) before you get back control. I don't think that scores well on UI design either!

Re: The worst volume control UI in the world (2017)

#169

Post by gitgud »

mianos wrote: post #48
stefan_ wrote: post #36

I think the worst UI is simply the Teams one, because it presents as an app volume control but then simply controls the global device volume . Fuck off, you are not the only app running. But that comes second to the microphone gain control, which Teams similarly exerts unilateral control over - only this time through an automated algorithm that for some microphone types just ends up muting them entirely. It's wild, y…

Teams is the reference for bad UI. Paste a code block. Select a word in the code block. Copy and you get the whole block copied not the selected word. I could write a page of the issues like this. Maybe it would not be so bad if you only used Teams but when you use slack at the same time it is like someone is wacking you in the back of the head every few minutes.

One thing that always bugged me in MS Teams is that when you do the shortcut for :thumbs-up it always presents 20 thumbs-down emojis first instead (due to alphabetical order)... but people are way more likely to use thumbs-up! Why not put that first!!!

A small thing, but one that would annoy me almost every day...

Re: The worst volume control UI in the world (2017)

#170

Post by wly_cdgr »

varenc wrote: post #43
stefan_ wrote: post #36

I think the worst UI is simply the Teams one, because it presents as an app volume control but then simply controls the global device volume . Fuck off, you are not the only app running. But that comes second to the microphone gain control, which Teams similarly exerts unilateral control over - only this time through an automated algorithm that for some microphone types just ends up muting them entirely. It's wild, y…

I understand the motivation. A user might set an app's volume low and raise the system volume very high to compensate. But then audio from another program, likely Teams, might blow your ears out when it starts. In a vacuum, I like the idea, but given that the standard on Desktop is in-app volume control Teams' behavior sounds worse. In iOS I've never seen an in-app volume control (I assume its forbidden) and all volu…

Cap every app's local volume setting at lowest in use by any app & only allow user to raise volume above this threshold explicitly for currently focused app
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