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Hidden interface controls that affect usability

(interactions.acm.org)
559 points cxr | 7 comments | 05 Jul 25 23:10 UTC | HN request time: 2.555s | source | bottom
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temporallobe ◴[06 Jul 25 00:32 UTC] No.44476722[source]▶
My car’s audio system seems to go out of its way to bury sound settings (bass, treble, balance, etc.) in as many nested menus as possible. And when you do finally find the settings, they are greyed out. I had to actually watch a youtube video to figure out that they are configured at the individual source level. Super confusing and unintuitive, and especially egregious considering that this is in a vehicle you are DRIVING - confusion, distraction, and frustration are the last things you want drivers to experience.
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1. pipe2devnull ◴[06 Jul 25 00:41 UTC] No.44476759[source]▶
I would argue though you shouldn’t be messing with treble and bass settings while you are driving.
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2. vel0city ◴[06 Jul 25 01:01 UTC] No.44476859[source]▶
I fully agree with you on this. If the car is moving you shouldn't really do anything more than previous/next/volume. And of those they should be on the steering wheel.

You want to mess with your equalizer, do it when stopped. IDGAF if it's dozens of physical buttons and knobs and sliders or hidden in menus; you're supposed to be driving not mastering an audio file.

3. mook ◴[06 Jul 25 01:11 UTC] No.44476922[source]▶
I imagine that makes having the settings be specific to each source even worse. How else are you going to adjust them for navigation instructions?

My car has something like that, but thankfully I have only needed to adjust volume, which can be done from the steering wheel…

4. hamburglar ◴[06 Jul 25 01:36 UTC] No.44477049[source]▶
I used to drive a Camry where on the factory radio, bass and treble had individual knobs and you could adjust them without taking your eyes off the road. Oh, those were the days.
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5. bluGill ◴[06 Jul 25 02:22 UTC] No.44477288[source]▶
but I'm not driving - my wife is. Thus I should be able to mess with those settings
6. temporallobe ◴[06 Jul 25 04:40 UTC] No.44477889[source]▶
Respectfully disagree. My point is that it should be easy and intuitive to do things like this while driving, just like anything else such as adjusting HVAC controls, operating turn signals, shifting gears, etc. Most major controls and operations should be tactile and easily understandable even if you have never driven that particular car before. I believe that drivers feel more distracted by modern vehicles’ UI/UX than ever before, and I rented a BMW last year that perfectly exemplifies this. It was a nightmare of unintuitive screens and menus just to do basic things - actively driving or not. It really turned me off to BMWs.
7. userbinator ◴[06 Jul 25 06:45 UTC] No.44478400[source]▶
Some had a whole equalizer: https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/btcaraudio-v...