Power Meters?

Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 5/7/2021 5:46 PM, Lou Holtman wrote:

We have a different definition of a user interface . I don't mean the
buttons and the display but what you see on the display and how you
navigate through the screens and how you change the setting. Had an
argument with the user interface guy at work yesterday. They tend to
over complicate/over think matters.

I often gripe about user interfaces, on everything from microwave ovens
to my wrist watch to web pages.

Microwave ovens: Why does every one have its control buttons arranged
differently and apparently randomly? Why are the functions not
standardized?

Wrist watch: Why is it as easy to change time zones as it is to start a
timer? And when I accidentally change it, why does it take 48 pushes of
a button to return to the time zone I want?

It may be worst on certain phone apps, where essential functions are
sometimes buried a couple levels down in menus. (Example: a "music speed
changer" app that can slow down a recording's sound file, change its
pitch, etc. but in which finding a sound file can take four or five steps.)

But it occurs to me, the problem predates modern electronics. I remember
printed equipment manuals in which a critical photo or diagram was
several pages away from its explanatory text.

I don't know if there is a specialized field of instruction that teaches
programmers how to communicate with human beings - "Control Psychology"?
- but there should be.

Never mind this is going nowhere.

Not unusual here.



Read some Donald Norman or Bruce Tognazzi. Unfortunately, their teachings
appear to have fallen out of favour with whoever is programming modern
stuff. Right now the goal seems to be to make the user interface invisible
and completely inscrutable.

Am Sat, 8 May 2021 02:35:45 +0000 (UTC) schrieb Ralph Barone
:

Read some Donald Norman or Bruce Tognazzi. Unfortunately, their teachings
appear to have fallen out of favour with whoever is programming modern
stuff. Right now the goal seems to be to make the user interface invisible
and completely inscrutable.

That's why I dislike almost every device having a touchscreen. I used a
Garmin GPSMap 60Csx for navigating on the bike, for a long time
which served me well.

https://www.mystrobl.de/Plone/radfahren/technik/komponenten/navi/IMG_1405.jpeg
A while ago, it got replaced by a GPSMap 64s, which has a faster
processor, more memory and slightly enhanced firmware.

https://www.mystrobl.de/ws/pic/fahrrad/garmin64s.jpg

I am very glad that the user interface didn't change much. I can find
and touch the various buttons easily without looking at them, even with
gloves and when it is wet. Even better, I can move around, zoom in and
out, without hiding the tiny display with my fat fingers.

Now that I don't ride while it is raining anymore, I've got rid of the
waterproof Ortlieb bag, mounting the 64s on top of the ahead set using
the universal Garmin mount. That way, opening the bag while riding is
somewhat easier.
--
Wir danken für die Beachtung aller Sicherheitsbestimmungen

On 5/7/2021 8:32 PM, AMuzi wrote:
On 5/7/2021 6:35 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 5/7/2021 5:46 PM, Lou Holtman wrote:

We have a different definition of a user interface . I
don't mean the buttons and the display but what you see on
the display and how you navigate through the screens and
how you change the setting. Had an argument with the user
interface guy at work yesterday. They tend to over
complicate/over think matters.

I often gripe about user interfaces, on everything from
microwave ovens to my wrist watch to web pages.

Microwave ovens: Why does every one have its control buttons
arranged differently and apparently randomly? Why are the
functions not standardized?

Wrist watch: Why is it as easy to change time zones as it is
to start a timer? And when I accidentally change it, why
does it take 48 pushes of a button to return to the time
zone I want?

It may be worst on certain phone apps, where essential
functions are sometimes buried a couple levels down in
menus. (Example: a "music speed changer" app that can slow
down a recording's sound file, change its pitch, etc. but in
which finding a sound file can take four or five steps.)

But it occurs to me, the problem predates modern
electronics. I remember printed equipment manuals in which a
critical photo or diagram was several pages away from its
explanatory text.

I don't know if there is a specialized field of instruction
that teaches programmers how to communicate with human
beings - "Control Psychology"? - but there should be.

Never mind this is going nowhere.

Not unusual here.


in re watches:
Vintage Swiss mechanical automatic[1].
When people our age die, their children sell those for just nothing. No
batteries!

[1]Right now I'm wearing a beautiful Rado

I treasure the chronograph wris****ch my father gave me when I got my
Bachelor's Degree. All mechanical, of course. Landeron 248 movement. But
I wear it only for special occasions.

Unfortunately, the chronograph movement's clutch is a bit iffy. Pushing
the button starts the hand moving maybe 70% of the time. I've opened it
and dismantled it that far but found no cause yet, in part because it
seems to work better when opened. (Intermittent problems are the worst.)

--
- Frank Krygowski

On 5/8/2021 4:42 AM, Wolfgang Strobl wrote:
Am Sat, 8 May 2021 02:35:45 +0000 (UTC) schrieb Ralph Barone
:

Read some Donald Norman or Bruce Tognazzi. Unfortunately, their teachings
appear to have fallen out of favour with whoever is programming modern
stuff. Right now the goal seems to be to make the user interface invisible
and completely inscrutable.

I heartily agree, and heartily complain. Examples abound. One member of
our extended family recently got a new refrigerator, and I volunteered
to hook up the water line for the in-door ice maker. But then I couldn't
figure out how to test it. I was sure the dim icons on the black panel
meant something to someone, but they might have been Martian code.

Vaguely related: Back in the 1970s, an artist friend of mine designed a
unique clock. It was a black panel with a series of hidden LEDs. The
LEDs lit up in an apparently random pattern, until you "got" the code.
Then you could read the time.

Back then it seemed to me a silly bit of exclusionary theater - "Hah, I
can tell time and you can't!" But the idea seems to have been adopted by
lots of gadget makers. "Look at our sleek black featureless control
panel. Isn't it cool?"


That's why I dislike almost every device having a touchscreen. I used a
Garmin GPSMap 60Csx for navigating on the bike, for a long time
which served me well.

https://www.mystrobl.de/Plone/radfahren/technik/komponenten/navi/IMG_1405.jpeg
A while ago, it got replaced by a GPSMap 64s, which has a faster
processor, more memory and slightly enhanced firmware.

https://www.mystrobl.de/ws/pic/fahrrad/garmin64s.jpg

I am very glad that the user interface didn't change much. I can find
and touch the various buttons easily without looking at them, even with
gloves and when it is wet.

Finding and touching buttons is un-stylish and passe'. To change a
modern car's radio station, you have to take your eyes off the road to
look at a touchscreen. If that makes you hit a bicyclist, just use the
SMIDSY defense.


--
- Frank Krygowski

On 5/7/2021 10:23 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Fri, 7 May 2021 19:35:08 -0400, Frank Krygowski wrote:

It may be worst on certain phone apps, where essential functions are
sometimes buried a couple levels down in menus. (Example: a "music speed
changer" app that can slow down a recording's sound file, change its
pitch, etc. but in which finding a sound file can take four or five steps.)

Ummm... I just say "Hey Google. Play (name of tune)". If it's on the
device, it will play. If nothing found, my Android finds and plays it
from Pandora...

I doubt that would work for my music. The CD (!) I'm listening to right
now has all the track titles in Scots Gaelic, I think. I can't even
pronounce them. A couple weeks ago I was searching online for Klezmer
compositions. And the CD that arrived a couple months ago was Bojko (or
Carpatho-Rusyn) folk songs, modernized a bit.

--
- Frank Krygowski

Op zaterdag 8 mei 2021 om 18:45:34 UTC+2 schreef Frank Krygowski:
On 5/8/2021 4:42 AM, Wolfgang Strobl wrote:
Am Sat, 8 May 2021 02:35:45 +0000 (UTC) schrieb Ralph Barone
:

Read some Donald Norman or Bruce Tognazzi. Unfortunately, their teachings
appear to have fallen out of favour with whoever is programming modern
stuff. Right now the goal seems to be to make the user interface invisible
and completely inscrutable.
I heartily agree, and heartily complain. Examples abound. One member of
our extended family recently got a new refrigerator, and I volunteered
to hook up the water line for the in-door ice maker. But then I couldn't
figure out how to test it. I was sure the dim icons on the black panel
meant something to someone, but they might have been Martian code.

Vaguely related: Back in the 1970s, an artist friend of mine designed a
unique clock. It was a black panel with a series of hidden LEDs. The
LEDs lit up in an apparently random pattern, until you "got" the code.
Then you could read the time.

Back then it seemed to me a silly bit of exclusionary theater - "Hah, I
can tell time and you can't!" But the idea seems to have been adopted by
lots of gadget makers. "Look at our sleek black featureless control
panel. Isn't it cool?"

That's why I dislike almost every device having a touchscreen. I used a
Garmin GPSMap 60Csx for navigating on the bike, for a long time
which served me well.

https://www.mystrobl.de/Plone/radfahren/technik/komponenten/navi/IMG_1405.jpeg
A while ago, it got replaced by a GPSMap 64s, which has a faster
processor, more memory and slightly enhanced firmware.

https://www.mystrobl.de/ws/pic/fahrrad/garmin64s.jpg

I am very glad that the user interface didn't change much. I can find
and touch the various buttons easily without looking at them, even with
gloves and when it is wet.
Finding and touching buttons is un-stylish and passe'. To change a
modern car's radio station, you have to take your eyes off the road to
look at a touchscreen. If that makes you hit a bicyclist, just use the
SMIDSY defense.


--
- Frank Krygowski

The worst user interface is on our coffee machine at work. The guy/girl that designed that should be shot on sight. Touchscreen, browsing, swiping WTF.. You have to 'program' your cup of coffee. The undrinkable kind is for free, for the just bare-able kind you have to pay euro 0.33 with your card which takes ages. I brought my own coffee machine (Senseo machine, one button operation) to work and installed it in the coffee corner and told everyone they can use it if they don't make a mess. I do clean it every day. It is heavily used.

Lou

On Sat, 8 May 2021 12:49:45 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 5/7/2021 10:23 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Fri, 7 May 2021 19:35:08 -0400, Frank Krygowski wrote:

It may be worst on certain phone apps, where essential functions are
sometimes buried a couple levels down in menus. (Example: a "music speed
changer" app that can slow down a recording's sound file, change its
pitch, etc. but in which finding a sound file can take four or five steps.)

Ummm... I just say "Hey Google. Play (name of tune)". If it's on the
device, it will play. If nothing found, my Android finds and plays it
from Pandora...

I doubt that would work for my music. The CD (!) I'm listening to right
now has all the track titles in Scots Gaelic, I think. I can't even
pronounce them. A couple weeks ago I was searching online for Klezmer
compositions. And the CD that arrived a couple months ago was Bojko (or
Carpatho-Rusyn) folk songs, modernized a bit.

"Change your language or use multiple languages"
https://support.google.com/assistant/answer/7394513
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lingua_francas

I haven't tried it don't know how it works with multiple languages
simultaneously.
"You can talk to the Google Assistant in either language, but not a
mix of both."
"You can use up to 3 languages with the Google Assistant..."
Perhaps the next release will support lingua franca.

Foreign titles is a poor excuse for complaining about the lack of user
interface support. Presumably, your device can be purchased with a
replaceable escutcheon in the language of choice. Or, make your own.
For titles, some search engines allow spelling the name, letter by
letter. Sometimes, transliterated English might work. If you're
really desperate, hum a few bars, and various apps will find the tune
for you.
https://blog.google/products/search/hum-to-search/





--
Jeff Liebermann
PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On 5/8/2021 3:57 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Sat, 8 May 2021 12:49:45 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 5/7/2021 10:23 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Fri, 7 May 2021 19:35:08 -0400, Frank Krygowski wrote:

It may be worst on certain phone apps, where essential functions are
sometimes buried a couple levels down in menus. (Example: a "music speed
changer" app that can slow down a recording's sound file, change its
pitch, etc. but in which finding a sound file can take four or five steps.)

Ummm... I just say "Hey Google. Play (name of tune)". If it's on the
device, it will play. If nothing found, my Android finds and plays it
from Pandora...

I doubt that would work for my music. The CD (!) I'm listening to right
now has all the track titles in Scots Gaelic, I think. I can't even
pronounce them. A couple weeks ago I was searching online for Klezmer
compositions. And the CD that arrived a couple months ago was Bojko (or
Carpatho-Rusyn) folk songs, modernized a bit.

"Change your language or use multiple languages"
https://support.google.com/assistant/answer/7394513
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lingua_francas

I haven't tried it don't know how it works with multiple languages
simultaneously.
"You can talk to the Google Assistant in either language, but not a
mix of both."
"You can use up to 3 languages with the Google Assistant..."
Perhaps the next release will support lingua franca.

Foreign titles is a poor excuse for complaining about the lack of user
interface support. Presumably, your device can be purchased with a
replaceable escutcheon in the language of choice. Or, make your own.
For titles, some search engines allow spelling the name, letter by
letter. Sometimes, transliterated English might work. If you're
really desperate, hum a few bars, and various apps will find the tune
for you.
https://blog.google/products/search/hum-to-search/

I'll let you try humming a few bars of this to see if you can find it
elsewhe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaGoq3jsztQ


--
- Frank Krygowski

On Saturday, May 8, 2021 at 9:32:51 AM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 5/7/2021 8:32 PM, AMuzi wrote:
On 5/7/2021 6:35 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 5/7/2021 5:46 PM, Lou Holtman wrote:

We have a different definition of a user interface . I
don't mean the buttons and the display but what you see on
the display and how you navigate through the screens and
how you change the setting. Had an argument with the user
interface guy at work yesterday. They tend to over
complicate/over think matters.

I often gripe about user interfaces, on everything from
microwave ovens to my wrist watch to web pages.

Microwave ovens: Why does every one have its control buttons
arranged differently and apparently randomly? Why are the
functions not standardized?

Wrist watch: Why is it as easy to change time zones as it is
to start a timer? And when I accidentally change it, why
does it take 48 pushes of a button to return to the time
zone I want?

It may be worst on certain phone apps, where essential
functions are sometimes buried a couple levels down in
menus. (Example: a "music speed changer" app that can slow
down a recording's sound file, change its pitch, etc. but in
which finding a sound file can take four or five steps.)

But it occurs to me, the problem predates modern
electronics. I remember printed equipment manuals in which a
critical photo or diagram was several pages away from its
explanatory text.

I don't know if there is a specialized field of instruction
that teaches programmers how to communicate with human
beings - "Control Psychology"? - but there should be.

Never mind this is going nowhere.

Not unusual here.


in re watches:
Vintage Swiss mechanical automatic[1].
When people our age die, their children sell those for just nothing. No
batteries!

[1]Right now I'm wearing a beautiful Rado

I treasure the chronograph wris****ch my father gave me when I got my
Bachelor's Degree. All mechanical, of course. Landeron 248 movement. But
I wear it only for special occasions.

Unfortunately, the chronograph movement's clutch is a bit iffy. Pushing
the button starts the hand moving maybe 70% of the time. I've opened it
and dismantled it that far but found no cause yet, in part because it
seems to work better when opened. (Intermittent problems are the worst.)
I prefer my Casio Solar that is totally electronic, recharges from sunlight or even tabletop lamps and resets to accurate time every time a GPS satellite passes overhead. The only problem with it is that it is a metal link watch and I have a narrow wrist so that it doesn't fit me well. My Seiko diving watch has the pendulum winding mechanism and is pretty accurate date and time but it does have a rubber watch band and fits me well. I tried to get a similar band for the Casio but so some reason it wouldn't fit. I would take it to a watchmaker but it isn't like they are common anymore.

On Saturday, May 8, 2021 at 10:51:23 AM UTC-7, wrote:
Op zaterdag 8 mei 2021 om 18:45:34 UTC+2 schreef Frank Krygowski:
On 5/8/2021 4:42 AM, Wolfgang Strobl wrote:
Am Sat, 8 May 2021 02:35:45 +0000 (UTC) schrieb Ralph Barone
:

Read some Donald Norman or Bruce Tognazzi. Unfortunately, their teachings
appear to have fallen out of favour with whoever is programming modern
stuff. Right now the goal seems to be to make the user interface invisible
and completely inscrutable.
I heartily agree, and heartily complain. Examples abound. One member of
our extended family recently got a new refrigerator, and I volunteered
to hook up the water line for the in-door ice maker. But then I couldn't
figure out how to test it. I was sure the dim icons on the black panel
meant something to someone, but they might have been Martian code.

Vaguely related: Back in the 1970s, an artist friend of mine designed a
unique clock. It was a black panel with a series of hidden LEDs. The
LEDs lit up in an apparently random pattern, until you "got" the code.
Then you could read the time.

Back then it seemed to me a silly bit of exclusionary theater - "Hah, I
can tell time and you can't!" But the idea seems to have been adopted by
lots of gadget makers. "Look at our sleek black featureless control
panel. Isn't it cool?"

That's why I dislike almost every device having a touchscreen. I used a
Garmin GPSMap 60Csx for navigating on the bike, for a long time
which served me well.

https://www.mystrobl.de/Plone/radfahren/technik/komponenten/navi/IMG_1405.jpeg
A while ago, it got replaced by a GPSMap 64s, which has a faster
processor, more memory and slightly enhanced firmware.

https://www.mystrobl.de/ws/pic/fahrrad/garmin64s.jpg

I am very glad that the user interface didn't change much. I can find
and touch the various buttons easily without looking at them, even with
gloves and when it is wet.
Finding and touching buttons is un-stylish and passe'. To change a
modern car's radio station, you have to take your eyes off the road to
look at a touchscreen. If that makes you hit a bicyclist, just use the
SMIDSY defense.


--
- Frank Krygowski
The worst user interface is on our coffee machine at work. The guy/girl that designed that should be shot on sight. Touchscreen, browsing, swiping WTF. You have to 'program' your cup of coffee. The undrinkable kind is for free, for the just bare-able kind you have to pay euro 0.33 with your card which takes ages. I brought my own coffee machine (Senseo machine, one button operation) to work and installed it in the coffee corner and told everyone they can use it if they don't make a mess. I do clean it every day. It is heavily used.

I've tried most coffee machine types and brand of coffee but cannot get the taste of the sort I used to have at work. Or in Paris.