6 ms·

Why is the UI on these things so atrocious? It took him a number of key presses just to select from a list of 6 and many more to finalize the purchase. Why not

Why is the UI on these things so atrocious? It took him a number of key presses just to select from a list of 6 and many more to finalize the purchase. Why not have a bunch of large tactile buttons at the bottom of the screen like all normal vending machines do? I don't want to wait in line for 3 minutes while some technophobe tries to figure out how to nagivate a pressure touchscreen with 12 menus deep. It's not his fault, it's the fault of the UI designers who think all they have to work with is a bunch of pixels and X/Y coordinates of presses. There's more to UI than that.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
gm-conspiracy 9y ago
Have you ever been to a Sheetz gas station? They seem to have a good UI (although they started working on it over 20 years ago). https://www.cstoredecisions.com/2011/03/10/in-touch-with-foodservice/ https://www.cstoredecisions.com/2011/03/10/in-touch-with-foo...
- phyllostachys 9y ago
  As their menu has grown it has been getting a little harder to figure out where things are but moving around the menu is really easy. I suspect the latter helps with the former. Also, what's wrong with a ham and cheese sandwich with mayo and Cesar dressing (in the article)? That's one thing that is great about the Sheetz UI is that I can add buffalo sauce, ranch/mayo, and bacon to nearly every sandwich, which is delicious. My all-time favorite is a bacon, lettuce, mayo, and buffalo sauce cheeseburger or chicken sandwich on a pretzel bun.
merraksh 9y ago
I don't want to wait in line for 3 minutes while some old guy tries to figure out Please rewrite, this is borderline discriminatory and quite offensive. Some "old guys" can be as capable to handle such UI as some "young guys". Disclaimer: half-old guy. [EDIT] thanks for replacing "old guy" with "technophobe".
- Ensorceled 9y ago
  Not sure why you are being downvoted. Perhaps because ageism is still a borderline ok form of discrimination?
  - brink 9y ago
    I believe he's being downvoted because some believe that there should be a balance between political correctness and skin thickness rather than just full on PC. (This includes me.)
    - annabellish 9y ago
      It's a lot easier to have a thick skin when you're in a demographic nobody discriminates against.
      - brink 9y ago
        I'm sure it is. I'm not trying to minimize discrimination.
        Ensorceled 9y ago
        Well, you did talk about "balance" so you are to some extent. [Edit] Also, you called it "PC" so, yes you are minimizing it.
        brink 9y ago
        How dare I?
        Ensorceled 9y ago
        Well, you do you.
      - valvar 9y ago
eru 9y ago
That's why I am always delighted when I see an iPad hooked up as a point-of-sales system. Not because iPads are inherently superior to old style PoS systems (they are not, they can't provide tactile buttons) or because any one UI they offer is particularly good, but because they herald a new era of lower barriers to entry into the PoS terminals market.
- photojosh 9y ago
  I set up the Square POS app with their credit card reader for my kids' school uniform shop. It's got a grid of icons with the products. Even the most utterly technophobic volunteer mum can operate it. So good.
LeifCarrotson 9y ago
It's because it's way, way cheaper and more flexible to use a touchscreen PLC, like one of these: https://www.automationdirect.com/adc/Shopping/Catalog/HMI_(Human_Machine_Interface)/C-more_Touch_Panels/C-more_Touch_Panels_EA9_Series/C-more_EA9_Series_Touch_Panels/EA9-T7CL-R https://www.automationdirect.com/adc/Shopping/Catalog/HMI_(H... than a huge mess of buttons and wires. Just look at that linked product! Less than $500 and you have as many buttons and labels as you can shake a stick at, and it's all behind a pretty color display. I can hardly buy 3 buttons, a vinyl overlay, and pay for the labor for the wiring of that stuff (plus the PLC that you'd now need behind it all) for $500. Much less pay someone to make physical modifications to the completed machine when someone decides they need 4 buttons. You say it's the fault of the "UI designers" who think they're working with pixels and X/Y coordinates. The situation far worse than that! The person who writes the UI for these is probably an EE thinking in terms of the primitive ladder logic that drives the machine. And it doesn't help that the software you use to configure these things is pretty terrible.
- FussyZeus 9y ago
  Honestly I have zero beef with touchscreen interfaces, some are a little clunky but I've never found one I couldn't figure out. That said, DUMP THE GODDAMN RESISTIVE SCREENS IN THE TRASH. Seriously those things were fucking garbage when they were invented, now that we have capacitive screens, there is NO REASON WHATSOEVER to keep making me endure the touch technology of 2001. While we're at it get them out of my fucking car too.
  - moduspol 9y ago
    Don't you want to be able to control your radio with gloves on?
    - FussyZeus 9y ago
      They make gloves that can work capacitive screens, and they aren't even expensive anymore. Meanwhile resistive screens suck just as hard with gloved or ungloved hands.
    - 9y ago
dhmeyers 9y ago
What does refusing to navigate a bad UI have to do with being a "technophobe"? User interfaces (and webshit) aren't technology.
lostboys67 9y ago
Same with the newer ATM's hopeless UX design my back hides the deposit cash function in the "card payments" menue FFS
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
stronglikedan 9y ago
Heck, I'm the complete opposite of a technophobe, and I could barely navigate a similar UX trying to get some food and drinks at Newark Int'l Airport. Every table had an iPad with a UI like this. IIRC, I even screwed up part of my order because the UX was so overly complex.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

gm-conspiracy 9y ago

Have you ever been to a Sheetz gas station? They seem to have a good UI (although they started working on it over 20 years ago). https://www.cstoredecisions.com/2011/03/10/in-touch-with-foodservice/ https://www.cstoredecisions.com/2011/03/10/in-touch-with-foo...

phyllostachys 9y ago
As their menu has grown it has been getting a little harder to figure out where things are but moving around the menu is really easy. I suspect the latter helps with the former. Also, what's wrong with a ham and cheese sandwich with mayo and Cesar dressing (in the article)? That's one thing that is great about the Sheetz UI is that I can add buffalo sauce, ranch/mayo, and bacon to nearly every sandwich, which is delicious. My all-time favorite is a bacon, lettuce, mayo, and buffalo sauce cheeseburger or chicken sandwich on a pretzel bun.

merraksh 9y ago

I don't want to wait in line for 3 minutes while some old guy tries to figure out Please rewrite, this is borderline discriminatory and quite offensive. Some "old guys" can be as capable to handle such UI as some "young guys". Disclaimer: half-old guy. [EDIT] thanks for replacing "old guy" with "technophobe".

Ensorceled 9y ago
Not sure why you are being downvoted. Perhaps because ageism is still a borderline ok form of discrimination?
- brink 9y ago
  I believe he's being downvoted because some believe that there should be a balance between political correctness and skin thickness rather than just full on PC. (This includes me.)
  - annabellish 9y ago
    It's a lot easier to have a thick skin when you're in a demographic nobody discriminates against.
    - brink 9y ago
      I'm sure it is. I'm not trying to minimize discrimination.
      - Ensorceled 9y ago
        Well, you did talk about "balance" so you are to some extent. [Edit] Also, you called it "PC" so, yes you are minimizing it.
        brink 9y ago
        How dare I?
        Ensorceled 9y ago
        Well, you do you.
    - valvar 9y ago

eru 9y ago

That's why I am always delighted when I see an iPad hooked up as a point-of-sales system. Not because iPads are inherently superior to old style PoS systems (they are not, they can't provide tactile buttons) or because any one UI they offer is particularly good, but because they herald a new era of lower barriers to entry into the PoS terminals market.

photojosh 9y ago
I set up the Square POS app with their credit card reader for my kids' school uniform shop. It's got a grid of icons with the products. Even the most utterly technophobic volunteer mum can operate it. So good.

LeifCarrotson 9y ago

It's because it's way, way cheaper and more flexible to use a touchscreen PLC, like one of these: https://www.automationdirect.com/adc/Shopping/Catalog/HMI_(Human_Machine_Interface)/C-more_Touch_Panels/C-more_Touch_Panels_EA9_Series/C-more_EA9_Series_Touch_Panels/EA9-T7CL-R https://www.automationdirect.com/adc/Shopping/Catalog/HMI_(H... than a huge mess of buttons and wires. Just look at that linked product! Less than $500 and you have as many buttons and labels as you can shake a stick at, and it's all behind a pretty color display. I can hardly buy 3 buttons, a vinyl overlay, and pay for the labor for the wiring of that stuff (plus the PLC that you'd now need behind it all) for $500. Much less pay someone to make physical modifications to the completed machine when someone decides they need 4 buttons. You say it's the fault of the "UI designers" who think they're working with pixels and X/Y coordinates. The situation far worse than that! The person who writes the UI for these is probably an EE thinking in terms of the primitive ladder logic that drives the machine. And it doesn't help that the software you use to configure these things is pretty terrible.

FussyZeus 9y ago
Honestly I have zero beef with touchscreen interfaces, some are a little clunky but I've never found one I couldn't figure out. That said, DUMP THE GODDAMN RESISTIVE SCREENS IN THE TRASH. Seriously those things were fucking garbage when they were invented, now that we have capacitive screens, there is NO REASON WHATSOEVER to keep making me endure the touch technology of 2001. While we're at it get them out of my fucking car too.
- moduspol 9y ago
  Don't you want to be able to control your radio with gloves on?
  - FussyZeus 9y ago
    They make gloves that can work capacitive screens, and they aren't even expensive anymore. Meanwhile resistive screens suck just as hard with gloved or ungloved hands.
  - 9y ago

dhmeyers 9y ago

What does refusing to navigate a bad UI have to do with being a "technophobe"? User interfaces (and webshit) aren't technology.

lostboys67 9y ago

Same with the newer ATM's hopeless UX design my back hides the deposit cash function in the "card payments" menue FFS

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

stronglikedan 9y ago

Heck, I'm the complete opposite of a technophobe, and I could barely navigate a similar UX trying to get some food and drinks at Newark Int'l Airport. Every table had an iPad with a UI like this. IIRC, I even screwed up part of my order because the UX was so overly complex.