4 ms·
> The innovative rubber membrane and the “volcano” shape to the keys has been called “the most influential button design ever”, and combined with the eye-poppin
by jacobolus 9y ago
> The innovative rubber membrane and the “volcano” shape to the keys has been called “the most influential button design ever”, and combined with the eye-popping orange color, makes this a really stunning piece, especially when seen and held in person.
These kinds of rubber membrane buttons were popular because they were incredibly cheap.
They also suck.
(At least, every example I’ve ever tried was functionally terrible compared to real switches; I’ve never tried the Olivetti originals, but I would expect them to also suck.)
- TeMPOraL 9y agoThey didn't disappear, though. You know what's even cheaper and sucks even more? Capacitive surface "buttons". The ones that we now have on everything, including phones.
- jacobolus 9y agoI’m not sure what your point is. If you want to attach an external keypad to your phone, those certainly exist. A touchscreen is a trade-off between shitty button feel vs. profoundly expanded UI flexibility, making it a much more general purpose input device. Touchscreens are not built into phones because they are cheaper than buttons. If you want a phone that does nothing but make phone calls using numerical codes, nice physical buttons are surely better. If you want a “phone” that does 1000 other things, the physical buttons are untenable. I think desktop computers should come with much better physical keyboards (ideally properly hand-shaped instead of stupid rectangular slabs) with nice buttons and many analog inputs (trackballs, sliders, jog wheels, ...), but for a pocket device forget it.
- projektfu 9y agoI think this is a better example of what GP was talking about: https://goo.gl/images/5YLQk3 https://goo.gl/images/5YLQk3 The "buttons" are hard to find and the only feedback is audio. And they can't be reconfigured like a phone screen.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- TeMPOraL 9y agoI didn't mean a touch screen. I meant those glowing surfaces you have e.g. on appliances. Like these: http://www.rapidkeypads.com/img/uniform-led-lighting/selective-led-lighting-white-icons.png http://www.rapidkeypads.com/img/uniform-led-lighting/selecti... They are popular primarily because they're as cheap as they can possibly get - they have no moving parts. It's a combination of worst aspects of physical buttons (non-reconfigurable) and touchscreens (no tactile feedback).
- CydeWeys 9y agoThe rubber dome switches are far from the worst part of that design. I mean just look at it: https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/2000/1*PqZdydEI8lo0nzrc3szG5Q.jpeg https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/2000/1*PqZdydEI8lo0nzrc3... The key surfaces are oddly small and spaced apart, and the entire keyboard is a protruding shelf above the desk surface with no wrist rest. I don't even know how you're supposed to comfortably use that abomination. It's a serious triumph of form over function. I would gladly take a $10 Dell rubber dome keyboard lying flat on a desk over that any day of the week.
- jacobolus 9y agoWe’re talking about two different things. The rubber Olivetti buttons under discussion were the ones from the yellow calculator. I’m not sure what kind of switches were on this typewriter. Anyway, the rest of your comment is in my opinon quite misinformed about typing ergonomics. If you want to have an extended discussion about why offline, shoot me an email.
- CydeWeys 9y agoCan you summarize it here, so that others may benefit from it as well? I'm sure others will be curious as to your thoughts in addition to me.