5 ms·
As an example, amongst the buttons on our old microwave: * a picture of a whole chicken * one ice cube * two ice cubes * something that might have been a bu
by blowski 13y ago
As an example, amongst the buttons on our old microwave:
* a picture of a whole chicken
* one ice cube
* two ice cubes
* something that might have been a burger or a slice of bread
* 3 x straight lines
* 3 x wavy lines
Never being sure, I ignored all of those buttons. But even the basic 'set a time, a power and go' method was awful.
* Choose a power. There was no default. You had to do this before you'd set the time, or the time would reset back to 0.
* Turn a wheel which increases the time. The first two minutes increment 1 second. After that they increment in 10 seconds. So to get to 5 minutes, you had to spend ages turning it.
* Press 'Go'.
Next to the 'Go' button there was a 'Cook' button, which reset everything.
There was a defrost mode, which seemed to heat the contents for 2 minutes and 10 seconds (couldn't change the time). The results were identical to just heating it on full power.
- Ellipsis753 13y agoWe must have had the exact same microwave! If it was the same however you missed one more thing that I found really annoying. It makes a beep every time you make an action - so the whole time you're choosing the amount of time turning the wheel it will be beeping over and over. Horrible design. Furthermore when the timer reaches 0 it will do 5 very long beeps to alert you and then keep beeping every minute until you take the item out. If you instead want to just cancel before the timer gets to 0 then you must press cancel twice making more beeps. It was still better so I found myself standing by the microwave so that I could turn it off in time. It made midnight snacks impossible without waking everyone up. My solution was to open up the microwave and (after shorting the capacitor) I removed the damn beeper. I still have that microwave today and while it's still a terrible user interface it brings me happiness each day when I hear the microwave finish cooking something without beeping.
- wikwocket 13y agoAs someone with a passion for good UI, this is infuriating. We've had microwaves for 50 years; their UI should be solved by now. After a half-century, we should have a standard set of controls that are simple, intuitive, efficient, and forgiving. Instead, we all have stories like this about microwaves with dials, modes, stages, levels, pre-programmed jobs, and recipe databases, but that lack a simple way to microwave something for 30 seconds! I assume this is because every microwave designer wants to invent some new feature they can tout on the box. I have often fantasized about enacting a law that requires designers of new interfaces to be forced to use said interfaces in their personal lives for a month. Hopefully this would promote better design; alternatively, it could be used as a form of penance.
- blowski 13y agoAs you say, microwaves are sold on the number of features they offer. I guess every 'program' is an extra feature (even though it's just a preset time and power). And if you have enough programs, then nobody will need the manual controls, so they don't need to be easy to use. At least, that's how the mind of microwave designers seems to work. In reality, most food that you want to microwave has precise instructions on it, so I really only need quick and easy to use manual controls. Some ideas for my ideal microwave (should any manufacturers be reading): * Small camera with OCR that can read the instructions and program accordingly * Thermometer which checks whether the food is ready. * A way of mixing the food, instead of relying on me to stop it halfway through and do it manually. * Cover which goes over the food automatically, so I don't realise I forgot only when there's a load of food baked onto the top. * Something which cooks the food without heating the container to an untouchable heat.
- BHSPitMonkey 13y agoA camera+OCR would be so painfully less reliable than a QR code or even a traditional barcode, either of which could represent a short string that could contain a power level, heating/standing times, and wait characters (like the special pause/wait characters traditionally supported by cell phones). It would take some hefty marketing muscle for a manufacturer to get the ball rolling for including this on food packages, though. Perhaps there's a professional organization within the food/appliances industry that could make this happen.
- ekianjo 13y agoIn Japan the UIs are decent and Microwaves are automatic : you dont have the set the time unless you really want to, they auto-adjust themselves and detect what they are cooking up.
- gaadd33 13y agoHow do they figure out what they are cooking? Like if I want to reheat some pizza how does it know when its done?