I see alot of good responds. I myself believe that IF reducing features can make a thing more userfriendly, then that should be done right away. It all depends on the context. My DVD remote control has the following buttons- eject/switch off (same button) standby/switch on (same button) a clear button (dont know why its there) subtitle Audio Angle Mute Random programme Display previous Next Revind Forward Pause/step Stop Slow intro Mark title a-b menu/PBC setup repeat ENTER surrounded by arrow up, arrow down, arrow left and arrow right volume up volume down zoom play 1, 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,10 GOTO Thats 45 buttons in total. I know that people have different needs but I bought my dvd player at a local electronic shop, and only need the following button- eject/switch off (same button) standby/switch on (same button) subtitle Mute previous Next Revind Forward Pause Stop setup (maybe dont know whether I really do need that one) ENTER surrounded by arrow up, arrow down, arrow left and arrow right volume up volume down play
Thats 19 buttons only. This means that 26 buttons could be removed. I asked my entire family to look at the remote control and give me their opinion. They said that only 14 buttons `could be used` but they only used 9 of them. They also stated that just looking at the remote control confused them and they had to look at the remote control several times before pressing a button in order to ensure that the wrong button wasnt pressed. Here a REDUCTION would have helped. We have to keep in mind that we as interaction designers know the difference between simplicity/complexity etc. But the average user (my family in this case) relates simplicity with reduction. Therefore devices that are intended to be used by `average people` should contain few features that can do the work. A remote control for a dvd player, which is being sold at a local electric shop should not have buttons and features that confuses people and reminds them of a mainframe system at NASA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=35089 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
