Bad human interface design 101

[unixronin]

Lest there be any doubt about the matter, the following is how NOT to design the controls for a kitchen timer integrated into a stovetop.

The perpetrator of this abomination markets the stove in question under the brand name Roper.  It's an all-electric stove having a green LED digital clock/timer on the backboard.  The display shows only hours and minutes.  There are four controls for this device; all four are membrane pressure switches.  They are labelled Clock, Timer, and an up and down arrow.

The up and down arrow buttons increase and decrease, respectively, the time displayed.  The switches are quite insensitive and quite slow to act, and require a firm push-and-hold to operate.  For about the first four seconds they are held down, they increase or decrease the time by about one minute every second.  After four seconds, they switch instantly to incrementing or decrementing by ten minutes about every one-sixth of a second.  Given that the average human reaction time is around a third of a second, this almost guarantees overshoots.

There is no start button for the timer.  It starts counting down the moment you finish setting it -- or, actually, what's worse, it doesn't so much start counting down as never actually stop.  It counts along with the clock.  This means, if the timer reads 15, you do not necessarily have 15 minutes set on the timer.  You could be off by anywhere from 1 to 59 seconds.  This means if you want a 3-minute interval from the timer, it could be off by as much as a third.  Should you mistakenly think you have to hit the Timer button again to start the timer, you will erase whatever time interval you have just painstakingly, and painfully, set.

And after all that, what you get from it is a few weak beeps that you probably won't hear unless you're right there next to the stove when the timer goes off.

Where's my nut-kicking boots?  I have a mission to perform for the sake of humanity.  This thing is one of the worst, crappiest, most half-assed pieces of so-called appliance design I've seen in recent years.  Someone needs to feel pain for it.

Comments

[greyman.livejournal.com]

You've got FOUR buttons! We have one knob... left does the clock, right does the timer. Unless it's already decided you are in clock or timer MODE, then left does down and right does up. Or not. The labels are worn off, so it's hard to determine what the original intent was.

I feel so tempted to join the Blinking 12:00 crowd every time we have a power outage. But I'm afraid the damn thing will decide the timer has been set and start cooking on its own. Like the coffee maker.