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Simplicity Is Highly Overrated

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Re: Simplicity Is Highly Overrated

#61

Post by randallsquared »

drblast wrote: post #49

Uggh. I have a microwave that must be designed by the Koreans in this article. If I want to heat something up for thirty seconds, I have to wade through four menus and sub-menus: Express cook (ha ha)-> 30 seconds-> OK-> Start People who designed consumer microwaves have obviously never used one. I have NEVER cooked anything in the microwave that should have involved more than a single button press. If the cooking is…

Wow. Every microwave I've used in years has had a "add 30 seconds" button that works regardless of whether it's adding to an existing countdown or starting for 30 seconds from zero.

However, it also doesn't take long for me to learn the microwave settings for my preferred popcorn brand/type for a new microwave: the one built-in at my apartment requires 2:40, and the new one at my work 2:30. I usually put those in directly rather than hitting "add 30 seconds" five times.

I also use the microwave for thawing beef, at significantly less than full power. I use it to heat frozen pot pies, since they come out at least as well as in the oven, and it's 13:30 instead of 45 minutes in the oven. But 7:30 of that is at half power.

I want to go back to my room and watch my show until the microwave beeps to let me know it's done. It's never occurred to me that I might want to mute or quiet it.

I guess microwave manufacturers make devices for me, and not you. :/

Re: Simplicity Is Highly Overrated

#62

Post by ugh »

edw519 wrote: post #45

Hmmm...When it comes to simplicity in design, I may be an outlier, but just a few of my daily struggles... - I have to subtract 23 minutes (or add 37 minutes depending on daylight savings time) from the clock in my car because I lost the manual. What ever happened to a dial with 2 hands? - I have to stand beside the microwave and open the door when the popcorn stops popping because I have no idea how to get good popc…

(Can’t you just look at the stuff in the dishwasher and actually see whether it’s clean or dirty?)

Re: Simplicity Is Highly Overrated

#63

Post by dean »

daychilde wrote: post #39
balding_n_tired wrote: post #37

Back when a food company was coming out with cake mixes, it discovered that cooks felt bad about just adding water & stirring. They redid the recipe so that it was necessary to add an egg, and everyone was happier.

I think you're referencing this urban legend: http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/cakemix.asp

Wow, that has to be the most unconvincing debunking of an urban legend I've ever seen.

Re: Simplicity Is Highly Overrated

#64

Post by wazoox »

Augh. A colleague had a Civic type-R (2008 model). Man, this dashboard was unfathomable. I risked my life driving this and trying to switch radio station! Not only this dashboard has more buttons than a spaceship console, but most buttons carry different modal functions at different times! Atrocious and unusable.

Re: Simplicity Is Highly Overrated

#65

Post by gacba »

someisaac wrote: post #34

This is an old article.When reading this article i thought the author was right till i saw this article by zedshaw. zedshaw's is very fun to read yet highly informative.! http://www.zedshaw.com/essays/fortune_favors_big_turds.html

My favorite quote in that article:

I found an interesting culture full of contradictions and struggling to combine its past with its future and desperately wanted to learn about them. Don saw an SUV and thought he knew some shit.

True, considering' Zed's experience (1.5 years as soldier stationed there, spending lots of time integrating and studying the culture.

Re: Simplicity Is Highly Overrated

#66

Post by api »

jrwoodruff wrote: post #38

I just disagree with this. I think complexity is laziness on the part of the designer, the marketing team and the management team that probably demands their products appear complex. For instance, the washing machine that needs two buttons but has 20. Two buttons on a washing machine, if designed well, is a great marketing opportunity. BUT you would have to design it with a way to SHOW the user all of the things that…

Complexity is also laziness on the part of the customer. The story about the customer who thought a product wasn't up to par because it was simple, tried it, and then found that it did everything needed is illustrative of this.

Marketing rules in business, but that's really too bad. It's too bad because marketing is pandering to the lowest common denominator. If someone wants something stupid, marketing means indulging their stupidity. Marketing never, ever uplifts anything.

Re: Simplicity Is Highly Overrated

#67

Post by dean »

"The complex expensive toaster? I bet it sells well."

His whole argument basically comes down to this comment. Instead of guessing whether complexity sells well, he should continue his research and find out for sure.

Re: Simplicity Is Highly Overrated

#68

Post by doki_pen »

The whole article seems to be more of a style argument then a complexity argument. It presents the false dichotomy that things that are simple to operate, must have less controls. There is no reason why you can't have all the controls and a button that does everything very simply. First page of the manual should say, use the "auto" button, if that doesn't work for you, keep reading.

We've also been trained to want a manual override switch. When I think of simplicity in UI, I think of Apple. I remember when Apple stopped putting eject buttons on their Mac disk drives. A also remember constantly having to find a paper clip when the machine refused to eject the disc(often).

Secondly, there are always special cases where you need some extra control. It's hard to believe that the manufacturers software has accounted for everything. When I find a "bug" it's very frustrating to not be able to manually override the behavior.

Another case for complexity is if some sensor breaks, the appliance becomes useless. I remember shopping for a car in the early 90s (with my parents), and wanting manual windows because everyone I knew with electric windows had broken motors with windows that didn't work anymore. The situation is drastically improved now, but then, manual ruled. Sooner or later your "automatic" appliance won't work the way it did when it was first purchased. Having manual controls should extend the life of the appliance.

Re: Simplicity Is Highly Overrated

#69

Post by njharman »

> Haven’t you ever compared two products side by side, comparing the features of each, preferring the one that did more? Why shame on you, you are behaving, well, behaving like a normal person.

i'ma geek I like complex programmable stuff. But this is still BS. I buy the $19.99 toaster oven cause after a year or two they're all nasty inside and It's nice to chuck it an buy new one. $20/yr is worth it to have toasty things. $250 is not.

If I made $200k I'd proly buy the $250 toaster and never use it cause I ate out all the time.

I recently was absolutely shocked shopping for vacuums. they went from $60 to over $500. WTF! The $200+ ones were filled with retarded, do nothing "features". I went to thrift store and bought a $30 one.

My points are 2

1) purchasing decisions have many more factors than simplity or complex.

2) the biggest factor is manipulating the buyers psychology, simple/complex is a symptom of that. Apple has made it a cool/hip lifestyle choice to own "sealed", low-featured, slick and overpriced electronics. Complex == status for Koreans. Do nothing technical sounding features == I don't know what? but something to convince people to pay $500 for $200 vacuum. Monster Cables.

Re: Simplicity Is Highly Overrated

#70

Post by marknutter »

jakevoytko wrote: post #40

The author ignores a key component of the problem - "complex" interfaces make it easy to accomplish your goals. From the Zen of Python: Simple is better than complex. Complex is better than complicated. Flat is better than nested. Applying these three principles to user interfaces, the best user interfaces present lots of features at once, with each button (or small section) of the interface performing a specific, or…

Flat is better than nested only when you're dealing with limited space. You can put as many buttons on a washing machine as you want, but an iPod needs to maximize its real-estate. Therefore, nesting becomes the optimal choice, but it has to be intelligent nesting. Features need to present themselves when it makes the most sense based on the current context. On your GF's iPod, shuffle is very easy to access when you're currently listening to a song. Otherwise, it's hidden away.
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