4 ms·

A Brief Rant on the Future of Interaction Design (from Bret Victor in 2011): http://worrydream.com/ABriefRantOnTheFutureOfInteractionDesign/ http://worrydream.c

by panic 8y ago

A Brief Rant on the Future of Interaction Design (from Bret Victor in 2011): http://worrydream.com/ABriefRantOnTheFutureOfInteractionDesign/ http://worrydream.com/ABriefRantOnTheFutureOfInteractionDesi... We need to stop thinking about touchscreens as futuristic. They're a one-size-fits-all, budget option. The true "luxury experience" would be a custom, tactile control panel, designed not just around how it appears in design renderings, but also around how it feels to actually use.

megaman22 8y ago
One reason not to buy new vehicles. I'm not sure I can be bothered with anything newer that doesn't have actual knobs and buttons for the radio and heater. Being able to operate things by touch without taking your eyes off the road should be an iron-clad rule.
- nerpderp83 8y ago
  You can't though, controls started going modal with screens even though they have buttons around 1997. The mode is cycled through using a button press in most devices, so you have to _look_ at it know what mode it is in. It would be o.k. if the mode selector switch was a toggle or to a lesser degree a rotor.
  - megaman22 8y ago
    This is the control panel in my pickup: http://www.1factoryradio.com/2010-ford-f-150-pickup-radio-temperature-ac-heat-control-panel-al3t-19a802-hb/ http://www.1factoryradio.com/2010-ford-f-150-pickup-radio-te... So many glorious buttons with unique raised labels. But just about everything you actually need to manipulate is controlled by the four large knobs. If you need to change the clock or mess with the equalizer, that is modal, but I have to pull out and read the manual to remember how that works anyway... My friend has a newer Edge and it's all touchscreen. You need a copilot to adjust the AC.
    - setr 8y ago
      >My friend has a newer Edge and it's all touchscreen. You need a copilot to adjust the AC. Whats even more fun is that they then went and realized that touchscreens while driving is dangerous, so now you can't change settings even with a copilot, unless you're at a complete stop.
    - nerpderp83 8y ago
      That is nice, you could operate it blind. Which oddly, enough is how car controls should be designed.
joe_the_user 8y ago
It's nice argument that hands are the future of good design. It seems like clever combinations would be useful. Hands, feet, even arms and legs. Everything appropriately seems like what could design could look like. The worry in my mind is whether good interfaces are the future. Perhaps the future is "good enough" interfaces. Once basic usability is achieved, the software developers simply have other agendas and no particular reason to further empower their users. Instead fluff, branding, corporate egos or whatever will prevail - look at the evolution of PC interfaces as an example. So as long as the horrible Prius touch screens don't cause actually large numbers of crashes, they'll stay around in all their annoying "glory".
- panic 8y ago
  There's no reason to settle for "good enough" in a car that costs $100,000, though. The reason Tesla can get away with using a touchscreen instead of a better interface is that people think of them as futuristic and cool.
  - joe_the_user 8y ago
    Indeed, but the challenge is how many people have a strong idea of what an actually good interface is. People may continue thinking how touch screens are futuristics for a long time, for all we know. It seems like the lesson of Steve Jones career and the old Henry Ford saying ("If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse") is that UI advancement needs a lot of leadership.
- baud147258 8y ago
  > It seems like clever combinations would be useful. Hands, feet, even arms and legs Hold your steering Wheel with your legs so that you can change your radio station?
grblovrflowerrr 8y ago
Another vision which provides an alternative(evolution?) to touch screens is Hiroshi Ishii's "Radical Atoms" from the Tangible Media Group: http://tangible.media.mit.edu/project/radical-atoms/ http://tangible.media.mit.edu/project/radical-atoms/

by panic 8y ago

megaman22 8y ago

One reason not to buy new vehicles. I'm not sure I can be bothered with anything newer that doesn't have actual knobs and buttons for the radio and heater. Being able to operate things by touch without taking your eyes off the road should be an iron-clad rule.

nerpderp83 8y ago
You can't though, controls started going modal with screens even though they have buttons around 1997. The mode is cycled through using a button press in most devices, so you have to _look_ at it know what mode it is in. It would be o.k. if the mode selector switch was a toggle or to a lesser degree a rotor.
- megaman22 8y ago
  This is the control panel in my pickup: http://www.1factoryradio.com/2010-ford-f-150-pickup-radio-temperature-ac-heat-control-panel-al3t-19a802-hb/ http://www.1factoryradio.com/2010-ford-f-150-pickup-radio-te... So many glorious buttons with unique raised labels. But just about everything you actually need to manipulate is controlled by the four large knobs. If you need to change the clock or mess with the equalizer, that is modal, but I have to pull out and read the manual to remember how that works anyway... My friend has a newer Edge and it's all touchscreen. You need a copilot to adjust the AC.
  - setr 8y ago
    >My friend has a newer Edge and it's all touchscreen. You need a copilot to adjust the AC. Whats even more fun is that they then went and realized that touchscreens while driving is dangerous, so now you can't change settings even with a copilot, unless you're at a complete stop.
  - nerpderp83 8y ago
    That is nice, you could operate it blind. Which oddly, enough is how car controls should be designed.

joe_the_user 8y ago

It's nice argument that hands are the future of good design. It seems like clever combinations would be useful. Hands, feet, even arms and legs. Everything appropriately seems like what could design could look like. The worry in my mind is whether good interfaces are the future. Perhaps the future is "good enough" interfaces. Once basic usability is achieved, the software developers simply have other agendas and no particular reason to further empower their users. Instead fluff, branding, corporate egos or whatever will prevail - look at the evolution of PC interfaces as an example. So as long as the horrible Prius touch screens don't cause actually large numbers of crashes, they'll stay around in all their annoying "glory".

panic 8y ago
There's no reason to settle for "good enough" in a car that costs $100,000, though. The reason Tesla can get away with using a touchscreen instead of a better interface is that people think of them as futuristic and cool.
- joe_the_user 8y ago
  Indeed, but the challenge is how many people have a strong idea of what an actually good interface is. People may continue thinking how touch screens are futuristics for a long time, for all we know. It seems like the lesson of Steve Jones career and the old Henry Ford saying ("If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse") is that UI advancement needs a lot of leadership.
baud147258 8y ago
> It seems like clever combinations would be useful. Hands, feet, even arms and legs Hold your steering Wheel with your legs so that you can change your radio station?

grblovrflowerrr 8y ago

Another vision which provides an alternative(evolution?) to touch screens is Hiroshi Ishii's "Radical Atoms" from the Tangible Media Group: http://tangible.media.mit.edu/project/radical-atoms/ http://tangible.media.mit.edu/project/radical-atoms/