@cstross I wouldn't care if they were only affecting their own awful customers, but by glamorizing these shit UI elements, they've got all the other car manufacturers copying them and endangering everyone. NTM kids who didn't consent to die in a fire.
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@cstross tja, design is like a joke: if you have to explain it, it wasn't good.
@cstross I read a book titled “The Design of Everyday Things” in college that greatly influenced my design philosophy as an engineer. The author’s main point was “doors should not need owners manuals.” This example clearly fails that test.
@cstross I wouldn't care if they were only affecting their own awful customers, but by glamorizing these shit UI elements, they've got all the other car manufacturers copying them and endangering everyone. NTM kids who didn't consent to die in a fire.
You've sort of put your finger on a missed opportunity in motor vehicle #marketing.
Instead of all vehicle manufacturers having the current lot of samey weird advertisements where unicorns chase them down the streets in camera drone shots whilst children shout 'Play Peppa Pig at max volume!' at the computer from the rear seats and it suddenly does, there's a niche for a manufacturer to be disruptive …
… and run an #advertising campaign where they simply show that *their* cars have proper door handles, physical control knobs that don't need one to keep reading a screen away from looking at the road, and where a 5 year old cannot cause a motorway pile-up with 'Hey Google! Emergency stop!'.
It's a product differentiator. The marketers could use it.
@cstross
#MotorVehicles #Google #GoogleGemini #SafeAtAnySpeed
@cstross core user interface interface actions are like jokes: if you have to explain them, the problem is not in the audience.
@cstross That was written by a tech author. Why didn't the tech author not say "I'm not writing that, if those instructions are needed your product is crap"?
@TimWardCam@c.im @cstross@wandering.shop
Probably because those people are only involved when it's way too late and they want to keep the job.
@TimWardCam @mort NO LOVE for modern electronics where the paper manual is a 10cm square glossy white pamphlet printed in pale grey 4-point type that's so tiny and illegible I need to photograph and enlarge it before I realize it's not the manual, it's just the warranty declaration.
@cstross The door handle did not need disrupting.
Apparently you open the glovebox from a pull down menu. That didn’t need disrupting either.
Having ridden in one as an Uber, they also appear to have disrupted the concept of “needing suspension”. I now never select “eco” when hiring an Uber in case I get a Tesla. I’m in my 50s. My back doesn’t deserve that.
Agree this design is bad and dangerous. China may ban it.
But, is there a cultural element to obviousness: is a door handle obvious to someone who hasn't seen one used before? That unobvious link between lever and larger body action used to be sufficient to stop forest dwellers like bears, but no more. They've even learned to operate hidden trashbin handles. I have seen a foreigner completely stumped by a can opener. The Irish made a sport out of stumping foreigners 🤣
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@avi2022 @cstross is a handle on a door obvious? yes, if it looks like a handle. it's a space to put your fingers when pulling something. tell me about a culture that does not have handles?
the aztecs had no wheels, but, what do you want to bet they had handles?
edit: actually if you're looking to open a door then you'll probably put your fingers in a handle if there is one, whether you recognise it as a handle or not. you're looking for purchase to pull on the door…
@cstross A terrible car, the product of a terrible company owned by an extremely terrible person
@cstross Why would anyone want to get inside a literal Nazi-car? Putting aside neonazis of course
@cstross more importantly, safety critical, a number of people have burned alive in Teslas because their door controls became inoperative and they did not know where the emergency manual release latch is.
Also, China just banned recessed door handles like Tesla's. They may help aerodynamics a tiny bit, but once again a safety hazard.
@cstross Let‘s not start talking about the emergency handle under the diriver’s side floor mat.
