Doorknobs are the work of the devil, designed only to make people suffer. "Yes, I would like to apply inordinate force on a small slippery sphere" -- statements dreamed up by the utterly deranged.
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Come to Germany.
We usually have lever handles (is that what you call them?) on doors. Except for exterior doors which have a dummy doorknob (or other form of dummy handle) on the outside, so noone can get in, even when the door is unlocked.
Only in rare cases, you will find a turning knob in Germany. Turning knobs are used when you want to pretend that a door cannot be opened without a key.
@hallunke23 I just left Germany 😅
@Gargron locksmiths: that's the point
@Gargron It actually boggles my mind that they make doorknobs in assisted living homes. As we plan for our own old age, we are thinking about all these small details for remodeling our home. Including press switches instead of the small ones, lower down, and of course voice activated everything.
@Gargron … and through the doorway, into the kitchen to use a 1980s butterfly-style can opener with ferociously sharp tips to its stainless steel wings.
@Gargron
You should try the 80+ year old doorknobs I've stubbornly left on a couple outside doors (backed up with modern deadbolts) on our early 1940s house. Add on the old wooden doors swollen by our damp coastal climate, settling foundations that have taken everything slightly out of square, and you've got a grand time every instance you have to open one of these things.
@carstenfranke Why is it a doorknob that is supposed to keep the bears out and not the door lock? Do people not lock their external doors in the US? And how does that pertain to doorknobs inside houses?
@Gargron speaking of bears and doors, this was in the news this morning 😐
@Gargron Bears are not dextrous enough to operate a doorknob, and unlikely to understand how they work. Any animal can press on a lever, even accidentally. But rotating a knob is not intuitive for them, and most can't do it even if they figure it out.
Raccoons, some cats, and a few other critters can figure them out, but they usually can't put enough force to them to operate them. A bear is obviously strong enough, but it doesn't have 'hands' the way we do, and can't grip it.
@Gargron a lot of my friends in rural areas don't lock their doors, it is baffling. Had to pick something up from friends on a farm and asked when a good time would be to meet them. They were: just come by, the door is open, we'll leave it in the kitchen. ??!
Indoors it's purely from keeping the cats out of your rooms they should not be in...
It is astonishing how little change there is in components for houses. "We came up with this doorknob or light switch 150 years ago. It's fine forever."
@Gargron this is why in commercial buildings in America we have the long sticks that go all the way across the door and you kick them violently to open them. Or we just shoot the door with our mandatory assault rifles
@Gargron They are a cursed invention. Thankfully, they are very rare in Norway.
@Gargron yep they are a dumb design. vestigial holdover from more naive era hundreds of years ago perhaps. unsanitary too
@Gargron In their defence, it is hard to get caught on one when door is open.
@Gargron They were named after the inventor.
@Gargron This toot just reminds me to read Don Norman's Design of Everyday Things again
https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262525671/the-design-of-everyday-things/
@Gargron...
Bears.
Not a concern in every place, mind you. Your likelihood of Bears will inform your tolerance for door knobs.
@GordonFawks Do you typically expect bears inside your home?
@Gargron We have bears where I am, and it's really down to enticement more than anything else. You keep garbage in plastic bags inside sturdy bins, to reduce enticement and make it a hassle for them. You don't leave pet food outside at night, or more than necessary. In the dead of winter, one might take interest in food provided for birds.
Rarely, an individual bear might become a problem in a given small area, because they've overcome fear of humans or have trouble foraging or something.
@wesdym I'm pointing out that the bear argument doesn't make sense for doorknobs on internal doors, if it wasn't clear. I'm going to be walking from the living room to the kitchen way more times than any bear.
In some parts of California it's not at all uncommon for bears to get into houses.
@Gargron Depends where you live.
Where I live now, no. Where my uncle lives, which is a fairly populous town within day-tripping distance of Toronto, that is an extremely real possibility. A lot of little things have to be done with bear (and more commonly racoon) intrusion in mind, and those bastards know how to operate a door handle well-easily.
@GordonFawks A bear must first get into the house before it can operate door handles inside your house. Given the existence of locks I find this kind of defense in depth redundant.
I hear you. We have door knobs at home too and I detest them. Have been meaning to change them for 21 years! 😄😅🤦♀️
On the one hand, some people can't operate them, and that blows
On the other hand neither can dogs and cats and that's honestly a relief
The best doorknobs I have ever "handled" are at the #gevangenismuseum in #veenhuizen in the #netherlands . These handles look and feel like the handle of an expensive knife. They installed them all over the building, and they are a joy to use. Obviously they are not knobs as such. But indeed why, oh why, would anyone choose a knob instead of a perfectly normal handle? What knobhead would do that?
@Gargron My Aunt's house in the UK has a doorknob in the bathroom that has been successfully trapping small children inside for at least 26 years and counting at this point.
@Gargron Joking aside, however, I've long suspected that modern-style smooth doorknobs are at least partly conceived with small children in mind, to promote their safety. Small kids and some pets can understand their principle, but have a hard time operating them.
@Gargron Through most of history, most doorknobs were textured in some way to make them easier to manipulate. Check out the knurled metal jobs in great old buildings, or the decorative 'crystal' designs in many older homes. Some of the oldest ones aren't even knobs, but rotating levers. Modern smooth ones are only about a hundred years old, if that, and are apparently the product of 'modernist' sensibilities by psychos.
You're making Aunt Clara cry! 
@Gargron
Just wait until you bang your thigh into one. Leaves a real mark!
@Gargron
Yes! And:
Toilet doors should never require pulling open when leaving; that just concentrates dirty/wet hands touching the same places.
Pull to get in, push to get out.
@Gargron I replaced front exterior door hardware with a lockset that has a knob on the outside for safety and lever on the inside for accessibility - yes, you can buy them with that configuration. Back door has a number pad deadbolt and non-locking lever. If I need help (I'm disabled) and can't get to a door, trusted folks can get in the back door with their programmed personal code. No need to hand out keys. Also good for when my husband locks himself out of the house.
@Gargron so you’re saying, Eugen 0 Doorknob 1?
our house came with these:
they're pretty great when your arms are loaded, you can still fumble your way in
one closet hides behind it a giant bag of dry cat food
our cat watches intently from down the hall when we refill their bowl from this closet
the cat is perfectly physically capable of operating the handle
but it hasn't figured it out yet (or it knows we exist to serve it)
@Gargron Doorknobs are made of brass for it's antibacterial properties, and designed to maximise contact before anyone has to shake hands. Levers are easier to operate, but should only be used if your visitors will have already been thoroughly scrubbed.
@wibble Handles can be made of brass too, in fact at my old place they were.
@Gargron Taking a smug look at my door handles.
@Gargron
Doorknobs should only be used on the kind of latch that's basically a roller on a spring so pulls to open without turning...
@Gargron we have handles on all the critical, exterior doors on the inside leading out and knobs on the side leading in. Apparently spouse retrofitted two knob sets for safe egress, but didn’t want to spring for full replacement and says knobs are harder to force open.
Now looking and interior doors (that mostly stay open) have salvaged antique interesting knobs. And one has a cool salvaged lever opener.
@Gargron Time to replace them! Very easy task. Maybe 10 min a door. Future residents needing to use the door will thank you. Instantly makes the door feel "new" and "fresh."
@Gargron The first thing I did when I bought my house in 2007, was replace all the doorknobs with handles.
@Gargron living in a house where it's been "upgraded" for seniors and every single knob is now a lever that snags everything that passes makes me wish for knobs.
@Gargron Given that we typically do not hear such vitriolic statements coming from you, I am trying to imagine what horrific struggle occurred that prompted this strongly worded toot. 😅
@Gargron They don't seem to have them here - only handles
@Gargron Real world user interface design is a fascinating subject. VAST numbers of shop doors with a pull handle that must be pushed - it is there for 1 use a day - to pull the door shut when the shop is shut.
@Gargron Well, in other parts of the world, doors have handles not knobs. You can open them with an elbow :)
@Gargron
Am I wrong in assuming the world can be divided in geographical areas based on whether doors in that area have knobs or handles? And maybe there are areas where both are equally used?
This assumption stems from the fact that I've yet to encounter a single door knob here where I've been living for over 40 years. We only have handles here.
Further yet, it would be interesting to learn what, if any, cultural factors are at play behind this phenomenon.
