| | Crappy UI Design |  |
|
|
| Author | Message |
|---|
NoCoPilot
Posts : 20293
Join date : 2013-01-16
Age : 70
Location : Seattle
| | Subject: Crappy UI Design Wed Feb 28, 2018 4:59 am | |
| Another pet peeve of mine is crappy user interfaces. I have an iHome alarm clock, works swell in most regards. Sounds wonderful, gets its time automatically from any Apple device plugged into it, nice size and reasonable price.
But the User Interface -- oy!
When the alarm goes off you need to push one button to silence it. There are sixteen pencil eraser sized buttons on top of the unit, all identical size. If you touch ANY ONE of the other 15 buttons accidentally -- which believe me is easy to do -- it deactivates the alarm shutoff. Why? Couldn't tell you. There is NO WAY to shut off the alarm if you mess up. Not even unplugging the unit (it has a battery backup). All you can do is turn on a light, find the volume up and volume down buttons, and turn the volume all the way down.
Oh, there is ONE big button across the top of the thing. It controls display brightness (?!?) |
|
| | |
_Howard
Admin
Posts : 8734
Join date : 2013-01-16
Age : 79
Location : California
| | Subject: Re: Crappy UI Design Wed Feb 28, 2018 11:39 am | |
| Isn't technology wonderful. Take a perfectly good, simple device, complicate it, make it harder to use, and call it progress.  |
|
| | |
NoCoPilot
Posts : 20293
Join date : 2013-01-16
Age : 70
Location : Seattle
| | Subject: Re: Crappy UI Design Wed Feb 28, 2018 12:02 pm | |
| Does it play NPR? Does it reset automatically for DST? |
|
| | |
_Howard
Admin
Posts : 8734
Join date : 2013-01-16
Age : 79
Location : California
| | Subject: Re: Crappy UI Design Wed Feb 28, 2018 12:06 pm | |
| No, it doesn't. Because IT'S A FUCKING ALARM CLOCK. |
|
| | |
NoCoPilot
Posts : 20293
Join date : 2013-01-16
Age : 70
Location : Seattle
| |
| | |
_Howard
Admin
Posts : 8734
Join date : 2013-01-16
Age : 79
Location : California
| | Subject: Re: Crappy UI Design Wed Feb 28, 2018 12:47 pm | |
| Whoopee. The clock radio has been around for seventy or so years, and it's easy to operate.
|
|
| | |
NoCoPilot
Posts : 20293
Join date : 2013-01-16
Age : 70
Location : Seattle
| | Subject: Re: Crappy UI Design Wed Feb 28, 2018 12:53 pm | |
| So are buggy whips and corset stays, Grandpa. |
|
| | |
_Howard
Admin
Posts : 8734
Join date : 2013-01-16
Age : 79
Location : California
| | Subject: Re: Crappy UI Design Wed Feb 28, 2018 1:23 pm | |
| Yes, they are. Have you gotten the picture yet? You can't put a bunch of user-controlled functions in a tiny box and expect giant, widely-spaced controls.
I would rather have two tiny devices which are easy to operate, each with a U/I designed specifically for the functionality.
|
|
| | |
NoCoPilot
Posts : 20293
Join date : 2013-01-16
Age : 70
Location : Seattle
| | Subject: Re: Crappy UI Design Wed Feb 28, 2018 2:10 pm | |
| Yes but... The ONE FEATURE users will use, more than any other, is turning off the alarm after the alarm clock has gone off. This control should be big and easy to find.
That's called "ergonomics." |
|
| | |
_Howard
Admin
Posts : 8734
Join date : 2013-01-16
Age : 79
Location : California
| | Subject: Re: Crappy UI Design Wed Feb 28, 2018 2:29 pm | |
| The most important control is the snooze button.
|
|
| | |
NoCoPilot
Posts : 20293
Join date : 2013-01-16
Age : 70
Location : Seattle
| | Subject: Re: Crappy UI Design Wed Feb 28, 2018 2:30 pm | |
| Another one of the sixteen identical buttons. |
|
| | |
Sponsored content
| | Subject: Re: Crappy UI Design | |
| |
|
| | |
| | Crappy UI Design | |
|
