Sorry to ruin the party but i never really noticed this until this post. Ive always checked the gas side for a rented with my own eyes.
Idea maybe is great but implementation is so so if it’s not immediately obvious for many people
James Moylan, engineer behind arrow signaling which side to refuel a car, dies
181–190 of 228 posts
Re: James Moylan, engineer behind arrow signaling which side to refuel a car, dies
#182Anybody else get confused by whether the arrow represents where the car should be or the pump?
I agree. As much as people appreciate the factoid, it's not an example of good design. I don't ever recall the arrow being paid attention to until listicles and other blog spam were born. It has all the elements of great clickbait.
I use it regularly when driving an unfamiliar car. I also don’t think it’s ambiguous: it’s a drawing of a gas pump and an arrow telling you where it should be from here, which is a convention from signage the world over. “Paris ->” has never meant “you are this way relative to Paris.”
The design I used to find confusing was the controls for periodic windshield wipers: does the width the triangle indicator represent frequency or period? I eventually just managed to memorize that it means frequency because you get more wiping as you turn it “up”. I don’t think anyone else ever found this ambiguous; we all have our little intuition gaps, I guess.
Re: James Moylan, engineer behind arrow signaling which side to refuel a car, dies
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
> whats wrong with usb-a? Which way up it should go.
PS/2, which USB all but replaced, solved this by visually keying one side of the connector as flat.
When I'm trying to plug my PS/2 keyboard into the port in back of my computer which I cannot see, instead of needing to try two orientations, I need to try every orientation.
Re: James Moylan, engineer behind arrow signaling which side to refuel a car, dies
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Mac Studio has two of 6 TB/USB-C ports on the front, and has since inception. So does the Mac Pro (well technically they're on the top now) and has on most models since the G5 PowerMac 20 years ago; The single model without front/top ports was replaced in 2019. So does the Mac mini has two front facing ports now. So your complaint is essentially about the extremely minimalist, consumer-oriented iMac, or maybe old…
When you plug in a USB stick, surely you want it on the front? Do you get around this with an adaptor or something? My use case seems common. The bulk of my usage of their desktops was during the ultra minimum list era that you mention. I mostly love their machines but some of the form-over-function is rough. Presumably Pros don’t need access to the power button either.
On the rare occasion I plug in a usb flash drive (I assume that's what you mean by "stick") I use the usb-c end. On the even rarer occasion I use it with some device that doesn't have usb-c (this is actually just hypothetical I've never done this in practice) I turn the flash drive around and use the usb-a end.
It's been clear that usb-c is the future for a decade now. How on earth do you still have flash drives that are usb-a only?
I probably use the power button once a month, and I'd say this is the norm for most developers/similar people. It's no harder than accessing the menu button/toggle stick on the back of my dell display.
Re: James Moylan, engineer behind arrow signaling which side to refuel a car, dies
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
When you plug in a USB stick, surely you want it on the front? Do you get around this with an adaptor or something? My use case seems common. The bulk of my usage of their desktops was during the ultra minimum list era that you mention. I mostly love their machines but some of the form-over-function is rough. Presumably Pros don’t need access to the power button either.
On the rare occasion I plug in a usb flash drive (I assume that's what you mean by "stick") I use the usb-c end. On the even rarer occasion I use it with some device that doesn't have usb-c (this is actually just hypothetical I've never done this in practice) I turn the flash drive around and use the usb-a end. It's been clear that usb-c is the future for a decade now. How on earth do you still have flash drives that…
I rarely see a USB-C memory stick. I bought one and I’m not sure I’ve seen another. I’m usually dealing with ones others pass to me.
To make it worse, the machines I use have several USB-A ports and at most, 1 USB-C (any macs being an exception).
This is primary on MRI scanners. We live in a deeply flawed world.
Re: James Moylan, engineer behind arrow signaling which side to refuel a car, dies
#1862020s UX "experts" would bury the entire instrument cluster under a hamburger menu if they could get away with it. The fuel gauge would be moved three menus deep and thus impossible to find, then removed in subsequent model years when their telemetry data "proved" no one used it anymore.
BMW would put it behind a subscription
Next up: buy a new one when the old one runs out.
Re: James Moylan, engineer behind arrow signaling which side to refuel a car, dies
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
On the rare occasion I plug in a usb flash drive (I assume that's what you mean by "stick") I use the usb-c end. On the even rarer occasion I use it with some device that doesn't have usb-c (this is actually just hypothetical I've never done this in practice) I turn the flash drive around and use the usb-a end. It's been clear that usb-c is the future for a decade now. How on earth do you still have flash drives that…
I rarely see a USB-C memory stick. I bought one and I’m not sure I’ve seen another. I’m usually dealing with ones others pass to me. To make it worse, the machines I use have several USB-A ports and at most, 1 USB-C (any macs being an exception). This is primary on MRI scanners. We live in a deeply flawed world.
Sandisk have been making dual-port usb flash drives for years. I see no reason to buy/use any other kind, in the same way I see no reason buy a printer with a parallel port or a mouse with a ps2 plug on it.
If it's really a significant problem, use the benefits of usb and put a hub or usb extension cord on the desk to connect to.
I just cannot fathom how such trivial factors are a problem for people.
Re: James Moylan, engineer behind arrow signaling which side to refuel a car, dies
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
No the people who decided that usb 3.2 gen 2x2 and usb 4 version 2.0 gen 4x2 were acceptable names are the ones who should be sanctioned
I still don't know by memory whether USB full-speed or USB high-speed is faster. Boy, tech people just can't name things.
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Re: James Moylan, engineer behind arrow signaling which side to refuel a car, dies
#189Re: James Moylan, engineer behind arrow signaling which side to refuel a car, dies
#190Sorry to ruin the party but i never really noticed this until this post. Ive always checked the gas side for a rented with my own eyes. Idea maybe is great but implementation is so so if it’s not immediately obvious for many people
You’re not alone. I point this out to other millenials and gen z all the time and it’s usually the first time they learn about it.