3 ms·

If by "toilet" you mean "a seat with a hole in it" then, yeah, sure, toilets "still operate almost exactly the same". The way they collect and dispose of the w

If by "toilet" you mean "a seat with a hole in it" then, yeah, sure, toilets "still operate almost exactly the same". The way they collect and dispose of the waste has changed dramatically over time. And even in modern day, there's a huge range of toilets out there in the world: from basic outhouses and primitive developed toilets, to portable toilets, to composting toilets, to squat toilets. All of which operate in slightly different ways. Many might have bidets, seat warmers, deodorizers, etc included. Some bidets might be in the form of an integrated nozzle, or a hose, or a separate bowl. There's a lot of variations in toilets, most of which improve on a basic idea. But they all still are improvements or changes, the equivalent of UX changes discussed here.

dijit 4y ago
> The way they collect and dispose of the waste has changed dramatically over time And? The user interface of every toilet on the planet (except perhaps Japan) is similar enough that anyone from any other country could use one and this has been the case for the better part of 100 years. Despite what public bathrooms might tell you about peoples abilities to use a toilet. The UX is at least the same.
- mynameisvlad 4y ago
  Composting toilets most definitely are completely different. You are explicitly not supposed to mix liquid and solid waste. Bidets are different and work differently. Squat toilets almost always result in issues because people don't know how to stand above them. Pit toilet lids are almost always kept open, resulting in smells lingering. I gave those examples for a reason. They all have specific quirks and differences in use. Only the most basic of user interaction is there, and in the case of squat toilets even that isn't there. Just admit you chose a shit example.
  - dijit 4y ago
    > Just admit you chose a shit example. This might have been intended to be a pun, but it just comes across as absurdly rude and not at all in-keeping with your "DE&I" background. That there are new and different toilets in existence (which are notable in the fact they differ from traditional toilets, btw) doesn't remove the fact that the vast majority of toilets in use have not changed their interface design in many decades. You can think of it as: "We developed notepad.exe, and someone else developed vscode.exe", as in they didn't change notepad.exe to become vscode.exe, which seems to be what you're implying by the fact that composting toilets exist. Toilets are a poor example for another reason: they're just about as basic as it gets, crap in a hole and dump water on it with a chamber hanging above. The UX, is of course the same. And, please don't shit into a bidet, I hope you're referring to the optional additional thing that some people have added to their toilets as an extension, which doesn't change the core functionality at all of the toilet.
    - mynameisvlad 4y ago
      > This might have been intended to be a pun, but it just comes across as absurdly rude and not at all in-keeping with your "DE&I" background. If you're that offended over a single line, get a thicker skin. It wasn't even criticizing you but your choice of example. > crap in a hole and dump water on it with a chamber hanging above. Some toilets have flush buttons. Some have multiple buttons. Some have levers. Some have levers above you. Some are electronic and require a button push in a completely different place. Some require you to manually get and dump water. Even the act of dumping water has differing UX, and has UX which has certainly changed over the years. > And, please don't shit into a bidet, I hope you're referring to the optional additional thing that some people have added to their toilets as an extension, which doesn't change the core functionality at all of the toilet. It's different UX which in most high end modern day toilets is integrated into the toilet itself. The point is that the UX of modern day toilets is only the same in that there's a hole over a chamber. The hole may be at seat level or on the floor, there may be buttons or levers or many other things. Old toilets would also certainly not have had such wide holes -- another UX difference. In your Notepad vs VSCode example, the thing you describe as a "toilet" is more akin to the UI element which shows you editable text. Your basic toilet is Notepad, a modern day toilet is VS Code. The only thing even remotely similar about them is that they both have a text editing UI. Just like the only thing in common with toilets is that shit goes into a hole. Everything else is different.

dijit 4y ago

> The way they collect and dispose of the waste has changed dramatically over time And? The user interface of every toilet on the planet (except perhaps Japan) is similar enough that anyone from any other country could use one and this has been the case for the better part of 100 years. Despite what public bathrooms might tell you about peoples abilities to use a toilet. The UX is at least the same.

mynameisvlad 4y ago
Composting toilets most definitely are completely different. You are explicitly not supposed to mix liquid and solid waste. Bidets are different and work differently. Squat toilets almost always result in issues because people don't know how to stand above them. Pit toilet lids are almost always kept open, resulting in smells lingering. I gave those examples for a reason. They all have specific quirks and differences in use. Only the most basic of user interaction is there, and in the case of squat toilets even that isn't there. Just admit you chose a shit example.
- dijit 4y ago
  > Just admit you chose a shit example. This might have been intended to be a pun, but it just comes across as absurdly rude and not at all in-keeping with your "DE&I" background. That there are new and different toilets in existence (which are notable in the fact they differ from traditional toilets, btw) doesn't remove the fact that the vast majority of toilets in use have not changed their interface design in many decades. You can think of it as: "We developed notepad.exe, and someone else developed vscode.exe", as in they didn't change notepad.exe to become vscode.exe, which seems to be what you're implying by the fact that composting toilets exist. Toilets are a poor example for another reason: they're just about as basic as it gets, crap in a hole and dump water on it with a chamber hanging above. The UX, is of course the same. And, please don't shit into a bidet, I hope you're referring to the optional additional thing that some people have added to their toilets as an extension, which doesn't change the core functionality at all of the toilet.
  - mynameisvlad 4y ago
    > This might have been intended to be a pun, but it just comes across as absurdly rude and not at all in-keeping with your "DE&I" background. If you're that offended over a single line, get a thicker skin. It wasn't even criticizing you but your choice of example. > crap in a hole and dump water on it with a chamber hanging above. Some toilets have flush buttons. Some have multiple buttons. Some have levers. Some have levers above you. Some are electronic and require a button push in a completely different place. Some require you to manually get and dump water. Even the act of dumping water has differing UX, and has UX which has certainly changed over the years. > And, please don't shit into a bidet, I hope you're referring to the optional additional thing that some people have added to their toilets as an extension, which doesn't change the core functionality at all of the toilet. It's different UX which in most high end modern day toilets is integrated into the toilet itself. The point is that the UX of modern day toilets is only the same in that there's a hole over a chamber. The hole may be at seat level or on the floor, there may be buttons or levers or many other things. Old toilets would also certainly not have had such wide holes -- another UX difference. In your Notepad vs VSCode example, the thing you describe as a "toilet" is more akin to the UI element which shows you editable text. Your basic toilet is Notepad, a modern day toilet is VS Code. The only thing even remotely similar about them is that they both have a text editing UI. Just like the only thing in common with toilets is that shit goes into a hole. Everything else is different.