141–150 of 242 posts
https://www.ebay.com/itm/387701094464
It has detents, so you can tell when you are moving it. Every button is different, the entire thing can be used without ever setting eyes on it.
The best part is no weird modal lockouts between external air and recirculation.
I applaud the author for putting thought into how to design digital controls, in contrast to the "just put whatever garbage on a touch screen" strategy most carmakers do today. However, I still question the benefit of this complex, modal control (you have to press a single knob to "cycle between" multiple modes). My ancient, 2016 car features three knobs. This luxury allows me to, without looking, adjust any of three…
My 1997 Lexus has a knob that controls the digital climate control. Except that instead of a spinny position encoder, they used a knob with stops so you have tactile feedback for when the temperature is all the way up or down. This is the kind of detail that I love about a well engineered car.
I applaud the author for putting thought into how to design digital controls, in contrast to the "just put whatever garbage on a touch screen" strategy most carmakers do today. However, I still question the benefit of this complex, modal control (you have to press a single knob to "cycle between" multiple modes). My ancient, 2016 car features three knobs. This luxury allows me to, without looking, adjust any of three…
My 1997 Lexus has a knob that controls the digital climate control. Except that instead of a spinny position encoder, they used a knob with stops so you have tactile feedback for when the temperature is all the way up or down. This is the kind of detail that I love about a well engineered car.
Why does the article want to make a multifunction dial with no tactile feedback? Have they only ever driven a Tesla?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've found one good solution to this problem (for AC, at least): go for a car with a good "auto" mode! I hardly ever touch my AC, I just leave it on auto and the car does the rest to get it to the right temperature as quickly as possible. I suspect this is what most automakers think the real solution should be, just make it easy enough to set a temp and leave the rest to the computer.
That's a reasonable point. Too bad an auto mode for my music and podcasts (of varying volume; also varying with whether I have a passenger) is probably not a thing... On the other hand, my sense with how I use temperature control in my car is that most of my interactions are (a) set mode at start of driving (b) incrementally turn the temperature dial a notch or two without looking at it.
I still think that Skoda has much better controls, though. They also look and work quite similar to the control in OP.
Oh, hi, creator of the SmartKnob (mentioned in the article) here - I'm continually blown away by how much UX discussion it has generated over the years! One of the things I regret a bit about the prototype and demo I originally shared is that I used a press action and the screen as a modal/menu interface. The screen makes for a snazzy demo video, and works great for interfaces where you have the user's full attention…
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I agree. I don't want a "smart" knob. I'm dreading going car shopping sometime this next year. I anticipate having to rule out a large pool of cars to keep my controls navigable without looking.
I've found one good solution to this problem (for AC, at least): go for a car with a good "auto" mode! I hardly ever touch my AC, I just leave it on auto and the car does the rest to get it to the right temperature as quickly as possible. I suspect this is what most automakers think the real solution should be, just make it easy enough to set a temp and leave the rest to the computer.
I regularly cross our (small) mountains on holidays and that means temperature and humidity outside can change every 20 min on a trip as you go from a depression to a mountain pass and back to a different depression with a different weather.
The target temperature control stays unmoved, but i randomly have to turn on and off the defog, for example. Can't keep the defog on all the time because it pushes a ton of hot air to the windshield and then in my face, rather keep it off when i don't need it.
Hey speaking of fog, do Teslas even have fog lights? How many layers of menu do you have to go through to turn them on and off?
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I find the thermostat mode only works on overcast days or at night as the sun contributes so much feeling of warmth when driving (in California) that the heating and cooling thermostat doesn't work well.
A sun load sensor mostly solves this, they used to be a high end feature but it's becoming more common.
It may just not be advertised.
Car manufacturers, please hire this guy to build your interfaces. He gets it. Touch screens must not be used for controls you are going to frequently operate while driving the car, it's maximum unsafe.
This is still too multi function.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
My 1997 Lexus has a knob that controls the digital climate control. Except that instead of a spinny position encoder, they used a knob with stops so you have tactile feedback for when the temperature is all the way up or down. This is the kind of detail that I love about a well engineered car.
That's how the knobs normally work. And the original poster describes how "automatic a/c" or "climate controls" have always worked in cars, you set a target temp and they handle fan speed and air temperature. Why does the article want to make a multifunction dial with no tactile feedback? Have they only ever driven a Tesla?