Reply to post: Re: 711

Re: 711

But look at how your phones changed in the past forty years... in the '70s I had a rotary deal fixed phone. Later they had a button keyboard - then they became mobile, still with a keyboard. Then the keyboard went away, and to make a call you have fist to unlock the phone, get to the phone app, and then either select from a list of contacts or invoke the keyboard... of course what didn't change depends on the relative position of your ears and mouth...

Cars didn't see much changes because retraining the drivers could be expensive and dangerous - that's why you don't see joystick instead of wheels, even if some high-end cars may have F1-alike gear commands. Of course some components like wheels needs to be in the same place because physics dictates so, like doors on the roof or bottom will be a little uncomfortable. Some controls like turn indicators have been in the same place for ages, up to the point that people don't care about them at all today, and forgot to use them when they should - especially since they don't use the rear mirror but to check lipstick or tie before getting off the car, and find that position today a little uncomfortable, in the middle of the wheel it would be more useful.

But there was a time around the '80s when some genial engineers decided to put the claxon button on the indicator lever insted ot the wheel, or putting the parking brake command in places where the passenger can't activate it in case of an emergency. And most moder cars require you to disassemnble half engine to replace a failed bulb... and in my car the gear stick interferes with the climatization controls.... bad UI design as well. Also, it is now often common to put the tachimeter and rpm dials apart from each other, with some display with far less useful (but colorful) informations in the middle, like the current date, outside temperature, radio station, etc. Some have rpm on the right, others on the left. I would by far prefer to have speed and rmp data in the center (and always in the same order), and auxiliary informations on the sides. Again, bad UI choice dictated by marketing reasons and not ergonomics.

But looks at airplanes, where specific training for each model is needed. Boeing planes still have a yoke, while Airbus models have joystick-like sticks on pilot sides (meaning pilot an co-pilot use one the left hand and the other the right hand...). But cockpit UIs follow much more stricter rules - important controls and dials are well placed and always in the same position, because a pilot is trained to scan them in a given sequence which ensure safety.