Knobs or buttons or touch screens?

[BenTreece1987]

I just want to ask a little question for some of you. What has been your experience with knobs or buttons or touch screens whenever it comes to technology. Which one do you find to be better.

[Action_Johnson]

Kind of depends. Car's are not a place for touch-only interfaces (for example, turning on the wiper blades on a Tesla is a total safety hazard, and I believe became banned in some countries). I prefer knobs and buttons on my stereos and TV remotes too. The Apple TV Siri Remote is a textbook example of piss-poor design. 

 

I'm also really glad my iPhone isn't like a Blackberry. A full mechanical QWERTY keyboard on a phone seems insane in 2021.

 

 

[PlayStation 2]

I like a mixture of all of the above in a car.

[WaggishOhio383]

I personally don't like touchscreens in cars at all. For using the radio buttons are definitely the way to go for me. For AC I prefer knobs because it's much easier to change things without getting too distracted by making sure I did the right thing.

[Moonzy]

Having sweaty palms, touchscreen can sometimes be hard to use

[kasugatei]

I would be in "depends" category as well.

Since it was already mentioned in cars all functions that will be used often while driving SHOULD be physical buttons. If you remove your eyes from the road, you are bringing yourself, your passengers and other traffic participants in danger. If your car system forces you to often remove your eyes from the road it is a shit design, not to mention extremely hazardous and it is not different from texting while driving.

 

Generally speaking IMHO if there is an application where you need to react fast, all commands for fast functions should be physical. I also read some time ago that some US navy ships wanted to show "ultra modern design" by putting steering to touchscreen only interface which was obviously decided by someone who has no idea how to steer a ship.

 

The bottom point is that UX/UI specialist exist for reason. However, not every UX/UI is suitable for designing a interface for every application. Eg. great web app UX/UI specialist is not automatically competent do design airplane UI etc.

[dalekphalm]

9 hours ago, BenTreece1987 said:

I just want to ask a little question for some of you. What has been your experience with knobs or buttons or touch screens whenever it comes to technology. Which one do you find to be better.

There is no "right" answer to this question - it entirely depends on context.

 

For example:

If I want to interface with a small mobile computing device that fits into my pocket, a touchscreen offers the most flexible experience. On the other hand, if I'm in a factory, operating heavy machinery while wearing thick protective gloves, I will want physical buttons.

 

As for knobs vs buttons - same thing, just used for different purposes. Example: volume control is better with a knob, but can still be useful with a button. Speed control on a machine - again, better with a knob, can still use a button.

[minibois]

They all have a time and place and can all be used when needed.

 

Volume is something I would only want to handle with a knob, as it allows for the fine analog controls and it's just quick and easy to use.

Turning something on/off should IMO be done with a button most of the time.

Touchscreens should mostly be used for scenarios where a specific part of the interface is used for multiple uses. Think a satnav with multiple different menus or just about everything on your phone.

[Intergalacticbits]

Touch for iPad works great but I prefer a  physical button to turn them on.

The unlocking after with anything secure is ok.

For computers no touch. I hate it on them.

For surround sound I like the satisfying feeling of turning the volume knob up but honestly I wish both the TV and it were voice controlled.

That would be so nice and science fiction like for me lol.

 

I want a car that is cheap to rent monthly or lease whatever that is completely self driving and is voice controlled also.

Then I'd feel like this is the twenty first century for real. 

Right now just doesn't feel much like that to me. More like ugly, nasty and stuck in the almost old days.

 

I say Geezers who want to live in the past and relive the past need to go. 

So the young in heart and mind whoever they are can live in the fun nice future lol.

[airborne spoon]

i love my touchscreen, its just a cleaner way to do things. 

Like in my tesla its so simple in there, i had to drive a maserati a few months ago and it was a nightmare, there was buttons and knobs everywhere and it was a very unfriendly user experience. I drove a charger the other day and again f**k its a pain in the ass to deal with all those buttons and crap.

 

14 hours ago, Action_Johnson said:

Kind of depends. Car's are not a place for touch-only interfaces (for example, turning on the wiper blades on a Tesla is a total safety hazard, and I believe became banned in some countries).......

I dono anything about using a touchscreen to turn on wipers, that must be some new shit because mine has a lever for the wipers and turn-indicators, one lever for shifting into D or R, one lever for autopilot.

[Grabhanem]

For me, almost anything is fine, as long as it has a physical control as backup. I'm happy to use a touchscreen as long as I can force-reboot it with a mechanical button if it crashes.

[Andreas Lilja]

Depends.

 

My printer and thermostat have terrible touch screens.