I still wish smartphones had physical PgUp/PgDn buttons. Much easier on the thumbs when you do a lot of scrolling.
The benefits of “low tech” user interfaces
271–280 of 410 posts
Re: The benefits of “low tech” user interfaces
#272Modern cars seem to be moving towards all controls on a touch screen somewhere. I suppose this allows for more frequent updates, but in my experience it just leads to more bugs and more painful factory updates. Not to mention using a touchscreen to adjust the temperature while driving is incredibly dangerous compared to a dial you can feel for without taking your eyes off the road.
License agreement screens to use a vehicle you have purchased. I despair that our profession has brought this to fruition. Plus, 'features' locked behind pay walls. Crazy town.
And agree to accept the nag screen before the car will start.
Soon:
“You need to return the call from your mom before the car will start for home.” Etc.
Re: The benefits of “low tech” user interfaces
#273I still wish smartphones had physical PgUp/PgDn buttons. Much easier on the thumbs when you do a lot of scrolling.
Maybe the volume button could be used for this
Re: The benefits of “low tech” user interfaces
#274Re: The benefits of “low tech” user interfaces
#275Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Luckily the tide seems to be turning: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/23/opinion/touch-screens-car... We can hope, but there's reason to be pessimistic: > With traffic fatalities spiking over the past few years and with no real plan for how to make screens less distracting, we seem to have entered into the type of brutal acquiescence that’s common in the tech era; car manufacturers will keep putting bigger and more…
> we, the consumers, will continue to buy them. Who's this "we"? I'm in the pre-buy stage, it looks like my record of non-car-ownership will end at 23 years. (My last car was stolen from a SOMA lot in 1999.) It does look like I'm buying used and IC, because I will not have a touch screen. I've driven basically every model of car you can rent, and some of them are less offensive than others, but they're all ass. Backu…
' I'm buying used and IC, because I will not have a touch screen'
That's not a solution - you have to look at market of brand new cars, as whateber is avaliable now will replace all the used cars.
Re: The benefits of “low tech” user interfaces
#276> Depending on how the controls are organized and differentiated by size or shape, users might also be able to distinguish between and access the controls without needing to look at the user interface
I'm reminded of the big red button almost everything in a machine shop has.
Re: The benefits of “low tech” user interfaces
#277Modern cars seem to be moving towards all controls on a touch screen somewhere. I suppose this allows for more frequent updates, but in my experience it just leads to more bugs and more painful factory updates. Not to mention using a touchscreen to adjust the temperature while driving is incredibly dangerous compared to a dial you can feel for without taking your eyes off the road.
My toyota Corolla has a touch screen for interacting with audio. It has the following delightful features: - latency - it has a boot procedure when you turn the car on. While this happens, the controls have quite substantial latency. However the first thing that happens is it begins playing audio. - there is a knob for adjusting volume, but it's still part of the same system as the rest of it. There is still substant…
My VW Jetta has Apple Carplay and similar issues abound.
> it has a boot procedure when you turn the car on. While this happens, the controls have quite substantial latency.
I've got one better. Controls during bootup in my car are simply ignored, and the bootup duration for Carplay in particular is so bad that it makes the bluetooth delay seem acceptable.
> However the first thing that happens is it begins playing audio.
This is ironic because I wish mine would start playing. There's no setting for playback behavior either. The only setting, in fact, is the ability to reorder and add/remove third-party apps.
Oh, worse still, sometimes audio doesn't play even when you manually select something. The UI will register it as playing but the audio doesn't come through. When this happens, you have to disconnect and reconnect your phone, which is dangerous in motion. It's a joke. It makes me wonder what the deal is, and I have no idea who to report the bug to.
> All of this combines for a user experience dramatically worse than an aux cord. It's kind of spectacular in its terribleness. And this is an otherwise great car.
Yup. My beater in college that came with some random aftermarket radio was better. Carplay is pretty but beyond that it feels like an afterthought as an experience.
Re: The benefits of “low tech” user interfaces
#278I still wish smartphones had physical PgUp/PgDn buttons. Much easier on the thumbs when you do a lot of scrolling.
Maybe the volume button could be used for this
That might be possible on Android. But dedicated buttons would be better, to avoid having modes, and because sometimes there are use cases where you want to use both functions (e.g. scrolling through playlists while trying songs with different volume levels).
Electronic consumer devices like Minidisc players and PDAs used to often have a multitude of buttons to directly access all commonly used functions.
Re: The benefits of “low tech” user interfaces
#279Modern cars seem to be moving towards all controls on a touch screen somewhere. I suppose this allows for more frequent updates, but in my experience it just leads to more bugs and more painful factory updates. Not to mention using a touchscreen to adjust the temperature while driving is incredibly dangerous compared to a dial you can feel for without taking your eyes off the road.
> I suppose this allows for more frequent updates, but in my experience it just leads to more bugs and more painful factory updates. What is allows for is: cost cutting. Not having to install a mask, a button, wire harness and QA everything is a massive manufacturing cost saving. It speeds up production and lowers the amount of components that need to be sourced, installed and later made available for replacement as…
They get the cost of a costly user experience, which isn't nothing.
Re: The benefits of “low tech” user interfaces
#280The most important lesson I learned in engineering school: define the problem then look for a solution. Most people have a solution in mind before they even look at the problem, and that solution is usually "build an app", or "slap a screen on it". With bureaucracy, it's "put the form on the internet". There are a few low tech devices I much prefer: - A kitchen timer vs. my phone. I don't need to unlock the phone and…
> "A kitchen timer vs. my phone"
Having to LOOK at the number? ;)
I can talk to the phone while I'm slicing: 'Hey Siri, set a timer for x {timeunit}"
> "Wired audio."
Hoping this one doesn't keep disappearing...