imo a lot of benefit claimed are not 'low tech', they are just the natural result of simple > complex.
The philosophy of simple > complex isn't low-tech or high-tech, it just is.
The benefits of “low tech” user interfaces
211–220 of 410 posts
Re: The benefits of “low tech” user interfaces
#212Modern 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.
Re: The benefits of “low tech” user interfaces
#213Earlier quoted context omitted.
I really wonder if the possibility of updates alone can make software worse. Because you don't have to "get it right" on the first try. And the updates always contain something more than bug and security fixes, which often help keeping the quality of the experience low, despite fixed bugs. All the smart TVs I ever had lasted a long long time physically, but after a couple years they invariably started being noticeabl…
> I really wonder if the possibility of updates alone can make software worse. Absolutely does. You see this in console video games. As soon as online updates became possible, game-breaking bugs at launch became practically the norm, instead of incredibly rare ( minor bugs were common enough before ["I AM ERROR"], sure, but game-breaking ones, while not unheard of, were rare). Charging $60 for a late-alpha-quality pr…
"Fail fast" in action, to the detriment of drivers everywhere.
Re: The benefits of “low tech” user interfaces
#214To anyone designing low-tech user interfaces: I'm all for something simple but please, oh please, use something with a better feedback than the membrane "keyboard" shown in the article. Membrane keys are the absolute shittiest piece of shit ever produced. I use three everyday: my safe has one. My projector's remote control and my LED strip light (I use a LED strip to give a "home cinema" feel to the room) has one. Th…
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Re: The benefits of “low tech” user interfaces
#215Earlier quoted context omitted.
Luckily the tide seems to be turning: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/23/opinion/touch-screens-car...
This! Was fiddling with a Tesla touch screen to do something basic. During those few seconds, autopilot decided to steer me off the road - with no shoulder - at 80 MPH (it was during a sunset). Fortunately, I caught it in time. After the panic subsided, I decided to learn the voice commands. It seems that each device, now, has its own language, which we have to learn in order to function. A modern tower of Babel.
Speaking of Teslas, the SpaceX spacecraft also use touch screens heavily in the cockpit (maybe it's just something the company prefers) and only have a very small button panel. This is in comparison to the large array of controls normally seen on most aircraft and spacecraft. Obviously they state that the technology is well tested and that the astronauts train a lot with them, but in my mind you simply won't have the muscle memory and response you can get with a tactile interface.
Re: The benefits of “low tech” user interfaces
#216Earlier quoted context omitted.
I really wonder if the possibility of updates alone can make software worse. Because you don't have to "get it right" on the first try. And the updates always contain something more than bug and security fixes, which often help keeping the quality of the experience low, despite fixed bugs. All the smart TVs I ever had lasted a long long time physically, but after a couple years they invariably started being noticeabl…
> I really wonder if the possibility of updates alone can make software worse. Absolutely does. You see this in console video games. As soon as online updates became possible, game-breaking bugs at launch became practically the norm, instead of incredibly rare ( minor bugs were common enough before ["I AM ERROR"], sure, but game-breaking ones, while not unheard of, were rare). Charging $60 for a late-alpha-quality pr…
Many modern AAA titles have day-one patches, and with some games pivoting to a 'Live Services' model, additional content is often put on an arbitrary 'roadmap'.
If it was all executed well, it would be fine. The problem is, it isn't.
A public beta used to actually be a mostly-finished product, but is often used now as a 'preorder for early access' period. The last one I participated in was for Elder Scrolls Online, and it was kind of funny with how broken things would be. It wasn't as funny when the game launched with a few of those bugs still in place.
Re: The benefits of “low tech” user interfaces
#217Earlier quoted context omitted.
The touch screens are the only thing keeping me on dino juice cars. I want to go electric, but they all have these awful touchscreens! I don’t want to navigate a menu to change the temperature or turn on a seat warmer. I’m just not buying an EV until there’s one that doesn’t rely on a giant touch screen for everything or I can’t buy an ICE vehicle anymore.
For a Tesla at least, you can use voice commands for the common functions and keep both hands on the wheel. That said, people I know have a strange resistance to using voice commands with their cars and phones.
Two reasons to resist using voice commands
1. Do not want to talk in the loud-clear voice needed for them to work (e.g. someone else in car is on their phone, kids are sleeping).
2. Completely soured on the experience due to things like this[1]
Re: The benefits of “low tech” user interfaces
#218> During the recent home device project I mentioned earlier, one of the biggest supporters of a touchscreen-based solution was the team’s marketing specialist. Why am I not surprised?
I came to write my official paper letters with vi :hardcopy in 70ies RFC typewriter style. Helps to focus on the content. That's exactly what marketing dreads.
meanwhile found the template: https://darknet.mro.name/pub/brief-dina4.txt
Re: The benefits of “low tech” user interfaces
#219Earlier quoted context omitted.
The touch screens are the only thing keeping me on dino juice cars. I want to go electric, but they all have these awful touchscreens! I don’t want to navigate a menu to change the temperature or turn on a seat warmer. I’m just not buying an EV until there’s one that doesn’t rely on a giant touch screen for everything or I can’t buy an ICE vehicle anymore.
For a Tesla at least, you can use voice commands for the common functions and keep both hands on the wheel. That said, people I know have a strange resistance to using voice commands with their cars and phones.
Because voice commands have insane latency, require you to memorize a certain syntax, and hope the computer processing your audio understands you.
Like if I want to tell my alexa to turn the temperature up on the thermastat I have to remember this exact phrase: Alexa, tell the ecobee to turn the temperature [up, down], [ecobee name]. Anything else and alexa tells me "ecobee doesn't support that". And alexa/siri/google are all top of the line, offline processing inside a car's CPU is measurably worse, and syntax is even more esoteric.
Ever try to use voice commands to tell your car to give you GPS directions to the nearest walmart? Basically impossible unless you have the street address memorized, and even then it's a 10 minute ordeal with a lot of stops and starts because the processor wasn't listening as soon as you started speaking to it so it only caught the end of an address, or it misheard a number or street name, etc.
Voice control is far from being an acceptable alternative to physical dials and switches.
Re: The benefits of “low tech” user interfaces
#220Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some korean brand was moving to physical buttons again, but I can't find which.
I guess it was Mazda, so Japanese instead of Korean https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1121372_why-mazda-is-pur... Though I don't know if they followed through
Between 2019 and 2022 Mazda improved the truly atrocious latency linked to screen operations. All operations are physical, but you still need menus to find what you want. The latency was quite impressive.
The 2022 has less latency and seemingly different menu trees to go with the ultrawide ( but narrow height) screen.
HVAC is screen-independent. So is volume, thankfully.