On Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:30:45 -0500, Nick Sabalausky <[email protected]> wrote:
"Steven Schveighoffer" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
On Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:59:46 -0500, Nick Sabalausky <[email protected]> wrote:
"Walter Bright" <[email protected]> wrote in message
Ever since the industry helpfully stopped labeling switches with "on"
and
"off" my usual technique is to flip it back and forth until it goes
on.
Is
it really progress to change from a system where 99% of the world
knows
what it means to one where 2% know?
I'd say more like "from 99% to 90%". And those who do know can read it
more
easily, at a further distance, with worse eyesight, in worse lighting
conditions, at a breifer glance, etc.
This has nothing to do with it. They could have come up with a
*million*
better choices.
So symbols are bad because they chose the wrong symbol?
No, in a weird way I was saying the opposite -- the symbols they chose
were a bad choice, not the fact that they chose symbols. I've seen much
better on/off symbols than O and |. If you have no idea what that means
in EE terms, then you are just associating on/off with what seems like
random symbols. Even a single dot on the "on" side is 10 times better.
I think you'd be better off without *any* symbols, or with only a single
symbol indicating 'on'.
I think we'll have to disagree on it...
I just stayed in a hotel this past weekend, where the bedside lamp had
those same O and | symbols. When I wanted to turn the light on or off, do
you really think I spent a single microsecond contemplating or
interpreting what those symbols mean? Fuck no! I just flipped the
switch! If the switches had no symbols I would get the same result. The
symbols added 0 benefit to the switch.
For my money, the *best* on off switch is the lighted pushbutton, which
has the two symbols combined. I know that it's a power button, and if I
see no light, I know it's off.
Until the light burns out (granted, less of an issue with LEDs).
I'm thinking in terms of my PC, I have a pushbutton to turn it on. When
it's off, the button is dim, when it's on the button is lit. How much
more obvious/simple can you get?
Also, I *hate* how thanks to modern electronics *everything* in the
goddamn
room has to be lit up like a fucking tree. And they keep making the damn
things brighter, and brighter, and BRIGHTER...Shit, the light on the USB
HDD
enclosue I just got is so bright it genuinely *hurts* my eyes just to
look
at it.
Such things should be tucked away, but it does not need to be extra
bright, I agree there. Some simple common sense would work here. If it's
something that's normally not needed for diagnostics, put it internal, but
visible through a vent or something. Make it possible to see, but not
intrusive.
I find a large lack of common sense in most designs today. You may hate
to hear it, but the company that usually gets this right is Apple :) My
palm phone had an LED that flashed telling me "hey I have a signal
still!" My iPhone which is on and working gives me no indication until I
try to use it that it is still on and connected. Which is exactly the
time I need to know. Who fucking cares if it lost a signal while sitting
on the table not being used?
I had to tape tiny pieces of paper over it just to make it tolerable.
And it's still brighter than I'd like. But I don't want to totally
obscure
it because then I can't see when it's active.
I want *less* lights. Much, much *much* less. Not more.
But you have to admit, it is universal that when a light is on, you know
something is "on." It's hard to misinterpret (except for those cursed off
lights).
And the WORST on/off design ever (mandated by regulation, I believe) is
to
have a light turn *ON* when something is off. For example, my TV
helpfully has an LED that turns on when it's off, presumably to let me
know that it's connected to power.
I *HATE* those "off" lights. I've started to just tape over the fucking
things with black electrical tape.
Me too :) We have a TV in the bedroom where the light was so bright, my
wife couldn't sleep. So I taped over it.
My new TV has a much dimmer light, but it's still there. You can
configure the light to turn off when it's on, but you can't configure it
to be off all the time. Again, I think genius politicians who know much
better than me how to keep my family safe have decided this for me...
-Steve
