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Hidden interface controls that affect usability

(interactions.acm.org)
559 points cxr | 8 comments | 05 Jul 25 23:10 UTC | HN request time: 1.651s | source | bottom
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BLKNSLVR ◴[06 Jul 25 00:08 UTC] No.44476587[source]▶
Only tangentially related, and a seemingly lost old-man battle: stop hiding my scrollbar.

Interesting article. Some points I didn't quite agree entirely with. There's a cost and practically limitation to some things (like a physical knob in a car for zooming in and out on a map - although that was probably just an example of intuitive use).

I just recently switched a toggle on a newly installed app that did the opposite of what it was labelled - I thought the label represented the current state, but it represented the state it would switch to if toggled. It became obvious once changed, but that seems the least helpful execution.

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userbinator ◴[06 Jul 25 02:18 UTC] No.44477272[source]▶
I hate toggle switches IRL too. They are just as ambiguous there. Checkboxes and pushed-in buttons are far clearer, but have unfortunately been sacrificed at the altar of "modernity".
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1. wpm ◴[06 Jul 25 06:09 UTC] No.44478237[source]▶
Toggle switches in real life can and often are labeled. A toggle pointing to OFF means it’s off. Moving it to on turns it on.
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2. Nevermark ◴[06 Jul 25 07:04 UTC] No.44478485[source]▶
And a toggle colored/glowing red & green, for off & on, is clear.

Boggles my mind how badly many interfaces manage to be.

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3. rasur ◴[06 Jul 25 07:19 UTC] No.44478562[source]▶
Unless you're red/green colour-blind, of course ;)
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4. Nevermark ◴[06 Jul 25 07:37 UTC] No.44478633{3}[source]▶
Perhaps chartreuse and teal?

More seriously, my understanding is that the octopus retina does not have color receptors, just aggregate light, I.e. brightness.

But the octopus practically has a sub-brain behind each respective eye, and the eye brains can extract color from the slight lensing differences across frequencies.

They are amazing magical creatures.

Taking that approach, and some sort of ocular lathe, and we can fix this.

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5. kergonath ◴[06 Jul 25 07:45 UTC] No.44478665{4}[source]▶
We can always use more chartreuse.
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6. ahartmetz ◴[06 Jul 25 09:41 UTC] No.44479218{5}[source]▶
The name sounds nice, but it's just a muddy green.
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7. eru ◴[06 Jul 25 10:51 UTC] No.44479560{4}[source]▶
> Taking that approach, and some sort of ocular lathe, and we can fix this.

Well, you can also just give people different coloured lenses for their two eyes. Eg one that filters out red and one that filters out green.

8. kergonath ◴[06 Jul 25 18:20 UTC] No.44482883{6}[source]▶
The liqueur is nicer :)