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From: SMS on 9 Jul 2010 12:35 On 09/07/10 8:02 AM, -hh wrote: <snip> > The automotive analogy here is also illustrative: take a look at our > car's sound system controls: originally, our old analog radio systems > used a dial-based volume control ... a potentiometer. With > digitalization, this analog dial component was replaced with up/down > pushbuttons. But look now at today's controls and we find that > they've gotten rid of the volume pushbuttons and gone back to a human > interface for the radio's volume control that's once again a dial. > Hmmm... One of my college friends was one of the inventors of the optical shaft encoder. The device was invented for test equipment where buttons that had replaced potentiometers and rotary switches proved to be unpopular. It just took consumer electronics a while to get over the button craze. Of course don't forget the slide potentiometers that were popular for a while.
From: nospam on 9 Jul 2010 13:05 In article <5aje36h1eg3io6i5phlp3vi94vdhmgkt9v(a)4ax.com>, John Navas <spamfilter1(a)navasgroup.com> wrote: > >The automotive analogy here is also illustrative: take a look at our > >car's sound system controls: originally, our old analog radio systems > >used a dial-based volume control ... a potentiometer. With > >digitalization, this analog dial component was replaced with up/down > >pushbuttons. But look now at today's controls and we find that > >they've gotten rid of the volume pushbuttons and gone back to a human > >interface for the radio's volume control that's once again a dial. > >Hmmm... > > Mine has buttons for stations, seek and scan, plus buttons on the > steering wheel for station change. I can't remember the last time > I twisted a volume knob. I'm guessing they are for Luddites that can't > learn new things. pejorative comment noted.
From: -hh on 9 Jul 2010 16:02 On Jul 9, 1:05 pm, nospam <nos...(a)nospam.invalid> wrote: > In article <5aje36h1eg3io6i5phlp3vi94vdhmgk...(a)4ax.com>, John Navas > > <spamfilt...(a)navasgroup.com> wrote: > > >The automotive analogy here is also illustrative: take a look at our > > >car's sound system controls: originally, our old analog radio systems > > >used a dial-based volume control ... a potentiometer. With > > >digitalization, this analog dial component was replaced with up/down > > >pushbuttons. But look now at today's controls and we find that > > >they've gotten rid of the volume pushbuttons and gone back to a human > > >interface for the radio's volume control that's once again a dial. > > >Hmmm... > > > Mine has buttons for stations, seek and scan, plus buttons on the > > steering wheel for station change. I can't remember the last time > > I twisted a volume knob. I'm guessing they are for Luddites that can't > > learn new things. > > pejorative comment noted. And yet John conveniently failed to mention how his car's radio's **volume** control is actually performed. From a UI perspective, buttons are better for some things, but that doesn't automatically mean that a 'button' UI is better for ALL inputs. The exercise is left to the reader to go replace a car's steering _wheel_ with Left & Right buttons :-) -hh
From: Neil Harrington on 9 Jul 2010 16:48 "John Navas" <spamfilter1(a)navasgroup.com> wrote in message news:5aje36h1eg3io6i5phlp3vi94vdhmgkt9v(a)4ax.com... > On Fri, 9 Jul 2010 08:02:42 -0700 (PDT), in > <ef901929-92a3-4e6e-bc4e-94e8bc3d90be(a)c33g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>, -hh > <recscuba_google(a)huntzinger.com> wrote: > >>nospam <nos...(a)nospam.invalid> wrote: >>> Neil Harrington <nob...(a)homehere.net> wrote: >>> > ... >>> > whereas pushbutton motorized zooms go by steps, you have >>> > to be satisfied with "close enough," and not very quickly. >>> >>> he said a friend of his kept overshooting the zoom and had to help him >>> set the camera to *slow* zoom speed to not do that. >>> >>> > But apart from that, pushbuttons are just an awkward way of doing >>> > something >>> > that can be done much, much more efficiently with a simple manual >>> > control. >>> > It's somewhat like the difference between trying to regulate your >>> > speed on >>> > the highway with the + and - cruise control buttons instead of the far >>> > simpler accelerator pedal. >>> >>> exactly. now watch him point out the advantages of fly by wire. >> >>The automotive analogy here is also illustrative: take a look at our >>car's sound system controls: originally, our old analog radio systems >>used a dial-based volume control ... a potentiometer. With >>digitalization, this analog dial component was replaced with up/down >>pushbuttons. But look now at today's controls and we find that >>they've gotten rid of the volume pushbuttons and gone back to a human >>interface for the radio's volume control that's once again a dial. >>Hmmm... > > Mine has buttons for stations, seek and scan, plus buttons on the > steering wheel for station change. Mine (2010 Malibu) has all those buttons too, but still has a nice big volume knob right in the middle that is far more natural and intuitive for changing volume. And it has another knob for tuning -- again, faster, easier and more natural than changing stations by pushbutton. > I can't remember the last time > I twisted a volume knob. I'm guessing they are for Luddites that can't > learn new things. They're for intelligent people who appreciate that some functions are just better controlled by knob.
From: nospam on 9 Jul 2010 16:55
In article <b57aaa3f-f383-436c-a7fb-1322a3a5cd05(a)c33g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>, -hh <recscuba_google(a)huntzinger.com> wrote: > > > >The automotive analogy here is also illustrative: �take a look at our > > > >car's sound system controls: �originally, our old analog radio systems > > > >used a dial-based volume control ... a potentiometer. �With > > > >digitalization, this analog dial component was replaced with up/down > > > >pushbuttons. � But look now at today's controls and we find that > > > >they've gotten rid of the volume pushbuttons and �gone back to a human > > > >interface for the radio's volume control that's once again a dial. > > > >Hmmm... > > > > > Mine has buttons for stations, seek and scan, plus buttons on the > > > steering wheel for station change. �I can't remember the last time > > > I twisted a volume knob. �I'm guessing they are for Luddites that can't > > > learn new things. > > > > pejorative comment noted. > > And yet John conveniently failed to mention how his car's radio's > **volume** control is actually performed. whatever it is, it's not a knob. > From a UI perspective, buttons are better for some things, but that > doesn't automatically mean that a 'button' UI is better for ALL > inputs. true. > The exercise is left to the reader to go replace a car's > steering _wheel_ with Left & Right buttons :-) an even better cue for his fly by wire argument :) |