Persistent Inappeasable Mind

Wednesday, January 25. 2012

Remote control - hide bad design with the size

Remote controls tend to be complicated, over-covered with buttons that no one ever uses. All these coupled with a non-ergonomic shape! Some argue that complicated designs were a long term tactic of media companies ;).

"... Maybe all of those legacy buttons that no one ever uses (the various 'Picture in Picture' controls and the colorful A,B,C interactive TV buttons) are part of a deliberate design strategy? Maybe they are there precisely to add to the cognitive load – the accumulated effect being that valuable functions, like fast forwarding, are much harder to learn. ..."

Network companies can now embrace DVR's as no one will skip the commercials. 

Not all RCU's are badly designed. TiVo's RCU for example has a nicely designed peanut shape with essential buttons on it (combined with the on-screen menus). Another one is activity based Harmony remote.

I recently passed by a Radio Shark and saw this SupaLens Jumbo 8 in 1 RCU! Apparently you can beat complexity and ugliness with size. Or at least authors of it thought so. To my surprise, the net offers tons of such products.

Friday, January 20. 2012

When a sign and a mental model don't match - a poor interaction

This is a genuine example of wrong mental model mapping. When I look at the sign, I'd expect the A floor to be the TOP floor. Quite opposite.  A floor is at the bottom of the building and C floor at the TOP. Passing this sing I always have a strange feeling climbing the stairs to get to the C floor :). It should be two stories beneath the ground.

Sunday, January 15. 2012

Taps 8: why britons use separated taps and how to mix water from them

Edit: 18. 1. 2012 more images of custom mixing received from friends

British separate taps are a "classic". Most of foreigners wonder why?. These are the 4 short explanation:

1. (historical) reason
"Going back, bowls and baths were filled with water from jugs or pans heated on the fire. You then washed using the water in the bowl." Alan. So one reason was to preserve the interface. People still use their sinks the same way they used bowls in the old days. Plug, fill, wash, unplug, empty [rinse under the cold if e.g. washing hands].

2. (historical) reason
"In the UK only the hot water systems has a header tank in the roof, the cold water comes to your tap directly from the mains. The hot water system is therefore a source of potential contamination and there is a whole raft of legislation and rules intended to prevent contaminated water entering the public water system." Alan. The UK started to build the public water systems in the early 1800 [1]. Taps in those days did not have the non-return valve. The mixer tap was patented only in 1880 [2] ... I guess they were expensive at first. And the non-return valve was patented in 1907.

3. reason (why people still like and install them)
Because these taps are old fashioned, people like them and install them even in new houses (nicely designed ones or even styled in Victorian). On the other hand, the cheapest models are just simple spouts with a simple valve (e.g. no aerator). These can be found in some new public bathrooms or student accommodations. While the old houses still keep them as Britons don't usually change things if these work (my humble observation).

4. (environmental) reason
I heard the claim that plugging the sink, filling it with water (of desired temperature) can save the amount of water in comparison with the running mixer type tap. I even heard that washing hands with cold water only is an incentive to get it over quicker - again saving water. However, the mixer taps usually have an aerator that reduces the amount of water coming out of the spout. It also depends on a person how much water will get wasted, and not all Britons are environmentally savvy (a lot still paying a fixed sum per month as old houses have no water meters - there were no water meters in the 1800 :)).

But HERE comes the GREAT INVENTION for all the foreigners!

Or a more sophisticated one

 

http://www.paklinks.com/gsmedia/files/311/custommixertap.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/last-stop/2615277275/

However, if you find yourself in the public bathroom, here's how to use the separate taps

[1] WD-WSEB-16-2. 1999. A Partial History of Public Water Systems.
http://des.nh.gov/organization/commissioner/pip/factsheets/dwgb/documents/dwgb-16-2.pdf

[2] Mario Theriault, Great Maritime Inventions 1833–1950, Goose Lane, 2001, p. 33.

Tuesday, January 10. 2012

Pegeout 5008 dashboard too far away

I recently drove MPV (Monovolume) Pegeout 5008. I nice car, very spacious and responsive.

5008 has a nice clean dashboard and driver's surrounding. I liked the door controls for windows and locking the controls on rear doors (which is something our current car lacks and children abuse it constantly opening the windows and leaving them open). 

I also liked "the new" manual brake button which I thought I'd hate it. Still more comfortable with the "old"  hand pulling handle and the feel of wire rope below the car :).

The only annoying thing was the distance between me and the dash board. Sitting normally I couldn't reach the dashboard without leaning forward. Which means that I couldn't e.g. set the temperature or change radio station if I didn't move my upper part of the body towards the control panel. My fingers were more than 20cm from it.

This is the first car in which I had such experience. I usually memorize dashboard quickly thanks for very good designs in cars. And I usually control the dashboard without even looking at it keeping focus on the traffic around me. I couldn't do it in this car :(.

Thursday, January 5. 2012

(Not) counting RSS subscriptions 3

I tried to count RSS subscribers of my blog and I came up with a number 18.5 several months ago. But I might be completely wrong with my calculation and have less readers than a note above the urinal of the smallest town :).

PS: I do have around 20 unique visitors a week on the blog's first page according to Google Analytics. Thank you my readers!