108
votes
Accepted
Why do showers have "hot" and "cold" knobs rather than "temperature" and "quantity" knobs?
You are totally right
As with many other devices (eg the QWERTY keyboard) the hot/cold tap persists not because it's the most usable design, but because of:
Cost since proper temperature control ...
- 40.4k
33
votes
Why do showers have "hot" and "cold" knobs rather than "temperature" and "quantity" knobs?
I suppose it's mostly a question of how much money you want to invest into your fittings. In most cases you'll have one pipe for hot and one for cold water. The knobs then just open and close those ...
- 3,220
26
votes
Accepted
Controlling movement direction in isometric view
Very few isometric games have a keyboard control scheme.
The few I remember playing that used the arrow keys to move treated a single key as an orthogonal direction. To get diagonal movement you ...
- 8,848
20
votes
Accepted
Why don't commercial products use Logarithmic Volume Controls?
Working as a sound designer in the games industry the response I have get from most programmers regarding this is that they simply don't realise that linear volume scaling is wrong. Once shown the ...
- 216
20
votes
Controlling movement direction in isometric view
An isometric view of a game doesn't have to be presented as a symmetric view.
For example PacMania is pacman with a pseudo-3D isometric view, but still lets you use the left-right, up-down keys ...
- 70.7k
19
votes
Why do showers have "hot" and "cold" knobs rather than "temperature" and "quantity" knobs?
I can honestly say I have never seen a shower that has separate hot/cold knobs like you describe, and I've lived everywhere up and down both the east and west US coast.
Every shower I've ever seen ...
- 607
15
votes
Is it acceptable to place video controls at the top of a video?
The top of panels is usually reserved for controls over the panel itself, not the content of the panel.
For instance, in your example you have the Full Screen icon in the top-right, which at a glance ...
JonW♦
- 36.9k
13
votes
Accepted
The Name of a Full-size Device-independent Start View with tagline only content and downward pointing arrow to access the site?
There's no official pattern name for it but the NN/g termed it as "False Floors". They've written an article on it and have discussed how this practice leads to bad UX as it does not naturally ...
- 3,410
12
votes
Why do showers have "hot" and "cold" knobs rather than "temperature" and "quantity" knobs?
Hot and cold knobs work great, and everyone intuitively understands that turning the knob makes more water come out, ie more water pressure. The practical reason is it gives maximum control with the ...
- 398
12
votes
Controlling movement direction in isometric view
If you want it to be intuitive then you could be a bit clever about it.
Add an item into the level a few squares away from them, and tell them to "Using The Arrow Keys, Move Forward Towards The ...
JonW♦
- 36.9k
10
votes
Why do showers have "hot" and "cold" knobs rather than "temperature" and "quantity" knobs?
They don't any more. They used to because it is the most mechanically simple implementation of temperature control. However, this is only historical.
None of the other answers mention the ...
- 101
9
votes
Accepted
What is the name of this moveable multiselect list?
What names are there?
Microsoft calls this a List Builder. As does the 2006 book 'Designing Interfaces' by O'Reilly.
Google calls this in Material Design UI a "transfer list" (or "shuttle").
...
- 8,271
7
votes
accordions vs tabs
Accordions
What Problem Does This Solve?
When there are too many items to fit into a limited space or when the number of items, if displayed all at once, would overwhelm the user, then the question ...
- 1,790
7
votes
A new way to display true / false values to user
The short answer
Simply use labels.
The long answer
If you are to design anything based on future possibilities, you will never finish a design, because possibilities are endless.
There are ...
- 32.1k
7
votes
Accepted
What is this sliding window element called?
It's a splitter and pane…
The draggable control itself is a splitter, of one kind or another. The separate space that is created by dragging the splitter usually called a pane or sometimes a panel. ...
- 6,376
7
votes
Is it acceptable to place video controls at the top of a video?
Instead of asking "why shouldn't I?", ask "why should I?".
Currently the de-facto standard is to put the timeline at the bottom. Changing this will cause mental friction, so you've got to have a good ...
- 8,271
6
votes
Why does the Xbox controller have non-symmetrical analog sticks?
The answer is simple. There is no "ergonomics", "fatigue" and other speculation. When Sony made a gamepad for original PlayStation - its design was patented. Therefore, Microsoft had no choice but to ...
6
votes
Accepted
What is an surface-perpendicular wheel control called?
In aviation this is called a "trim tab" or a "trim wheel":
In this context, it is used to adjust control surfaces (commonly the elevator), so that the "hands-off" pitch ...
- 12.1k
6
votes
The Name of a Full-size Device-independent Start View with tagline only content and downward pointing arrow to access the site?
I have always heard them called "splash screens" (especially on mobile). I think the traditional splash screen doesn't include the down arrow but this site includes many examples that include them.
...
- 15.2k
5
votes
Inline editing - does it work on small screens?
I think there are a few large considerations to keep in mind here:
How big is the edit area (both in width and height)? If it is to be usable, it has to be very easy for users to see where it begins ...
- 161
5
votes
A new way to display true / false values to user
To show this as a two state controller, you could try any of the following. Depending of the audience's knowledge of the matter, 1 and 0 could replace true and false to save space.
If they are to be ...
- 4,163
5
votes
Controlling movement direction in isometric view
History shows a few approaches of handling isometric controls.
The oldest game to use absolute isometric controls I can think of is Q Bert:
This was usually played on the joystick - which had 8 ...
- 274
5
votes
Controlling movement direction in isometric view
I can imagine two more ways (apart from the ones already presented) for this:
Separating direction change from position change
Left-Right for direction: The first consist in using left/right arrows ...
- 10.4k
5
votes
Accepted
Radio buttons or Dropdown for same list of options
I'd go with radio buttons based on this following the article "Checkboxes vs. Radio Buttons" by Jakob Nielsen.
The article references the radio buttons vs dropdown menu as the following:
If ...
- 1,029
5
votes
Accepted
Is there a better solution for picker control on iOS
No
For really large lists add separate screen with all options in a list (with filter). Here is an example for a Ringtone in iOS:
Use picker for small lists.
That's it for standard controls. I saw ...
- 155
5
votes
Accepted
How to clearly differentiate sort by creation vs sort by comments
Just say what you mean
Sometimes you just have to say it out loud. What is the most succinct way to clearly describe it in plain language? It also helps to ask others in a sort of guerrilla testing ...
- 21.1k
5
votes
Accepted
Which form widget for (seemingly) linear input without default value?
There is already a an interface in hardware design where a potentiometer or rheostat has a switch at one of the ends of the range. In some cases, it is used as an on/off switch, e.g. for a cheap ...
- 66
5
votes
Which form widget for (seemingly) linear input without default value?
I will suggest you go with radio buttons over slider, because sliders lack the very important features such as: Precision, Speed, Cognitive Load etc.
Here's a fantastic study done on this topic (the ...
- 16.1k
5
votes
Add-to-cart action for two separate upsell items in the checkout flow
Less clicks, please 😬
The trouble here is that you're asking your customer to change how they think about adding to the cart.
Ask yourself a simple question when creating the control:
Is there ...
- 21.1k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible