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I hate these kinds of articles. He gives the example of a TV remote with never-ending complexity like pause, record, slow motion, rewind, and so on. However, wh

by biot 13y ago

I hate these kinds of articles. He gives the example of a TV remote with never-ending complexity like pause, record, slow motion, rewind, and so on. However, what is the solution? Saying that one should say "no" to all but essential features is a nice platitude but, after saying "no" all those times and whittling the features down to the bare essentials, what are the underlying principles with which one can present those essential features to the user without over-complicating the user experience? I'd like to see a case study taking all the complexity that a modern remote has and yielding simplicity. Would you go from a 50 button remote down to the Apple TV remote which has only three buttons and a four-way directional pad? What would Jared Spool's properly designed remote control look like?

nemesisj 13y ago
You raise a good question, and it's really annoying to read articles that tease out specific examples and never offer the alternative. However, I'd say you answered your own question. The TV remote really needs to be nothing more than a D pad, select button, and back button (could probably even dispense with that). You then just work on the software which is context aware and presents you the simple 2-3 choices you need within each context.
- biot 13y ago
  If you're offloading buttons from the remote into a context-aware software interface, the interface now becomes an integral part of the UX. And avoiding an additional button on the remote control in favor of a software menu may, in fact, degrade the experience. Having a "swap to previous channel" button is likely a better experience than making someone access that functionality via a software menu. Saying "just make it context aware" is a bit too much like "How to draw an owl": http://www.maniacworld.com/how-two-draw-an-owl.jpg http://www.maniacworld.com/how-two-draw-an-owl.jpg

by biot 13y ago

nemesisj 13y ago

You raise a good question, and it's really annoying to read articles that tease out specific examples and never offer the alternative. However, I'd say you answered your own question. The TV remote really needs to be nothing more than a D pad, select button, and back button (could probably even dispense with that). You then just work on the software which is context aware and presents you the simple 2-3 choices you need within each context.

biot 13y ago
If you're offloading buttons from the remote into a context-aware software interface, the interface now becomes an integral part of the UX. And avoiding an additional button on the remote control in favor of a software menu may, in fact, degrade the experience. Having a "swap to previous channel" button is likely a better experience than making someone access that functionality via a software menu. Saying "just make it context aware" is a bit too much like "How to draw an owl": http://www.maniacworld.com/how-two-draw-an-owl.jpg http://www.maniacworld.com/how-two-draw-an-owl.jpg