Gregory's ServerStill waiting for any company to implement this: obvious and unmistakable mute audio/disable video buttons
 30 comments
@nikitonsky I recall this being a huge problem when I worked at Signal. It was ALWAYS confusing. Meanwhile Google: what if we play with buttons’s shapes? You are solving the wrong problem!  @nikitonsky I absolutely hate the Google meet ui it’s so frustrating and to be honest breaks so often for me   @nikitonsky @puresick I like your solution of displaying both 👍  @claudius @nikitonsky @puresick AH! now i know the name for it.(airplane mode is its own criminal category!) So how did the internal reasoning go, and was the team hell bent on one of the two only? @clusterfcku @nikitonsky @puresick I think we just didn't work on that aspect a lot. We basically argued which way to go. But it was also a couple of years ago.  @nikitonsky Are these meant to be an example of unmistakable buttons? I find them completely ambiguous. @nikitonsky @MisterMoo if i slide it left i still don't know what happens, and the current mode is implied not explicit. "Sliding it turns on so must be off now". But if they were not ovally connected it would be better. Like a pair of radio buttons each. Coloring and graphics are fine imo. (Only because you asked) @clusterfcku @nikitonsky Thanks, agreed. This isn't an intellectual thing. I just didn't find it intuitive when I saw it this morning. @clusterfcku @MisterMoo so is it that control itself is unclear to you? I am really curious @nikitonsky @clusterfcku The most common way to do this kind of toggle is to use color to identify when something is active. Your icons for 'off' and 'on' are gray, with only luminance to distinguish them. You're asking people to intuitively understand that the brighter icon means it's on. That's going to be a leap for some people. I'd be curious what this would look like without the 'off' icons in the slider space, and instead having that area be filled in green. @MisterMoo @clusterfcku yes, colors is something I didn’t spend much time on, just copied Google Meet design. Could be tuned @nikitonsky @MisterMoo indeed i am not criticizing, but share "gut reaction" thoughts because that's what matters here. More than once did i press the bright red button with intent to unmute and of course that ended the call instead...! If i press the brighter microphone and slide it left, do i get what's bright on top or what's going under the slider. It shows mic is on, and slide to mute, or tap to make mic on and slide over mute to make mute go away?  @nikitonsky These controls look disabled to me out of context, but I agree this problem needs solving, and switches are clearer. I always prefer a control with a steady label that also shows its state to one that changes its label with its state such that you're not sure if it's showing the current state or the effect of the next click.  @malwareminigun cool! Not clear which side is on and which is off though, but maybe there’s a LED indicator or smth? @malwareminigun Nice! I would’ve made them both go in the same direction, but otherwise it’s great!  @nikitonsky The dentist chair, rectangle fish, and red mushroom top icons are not necessarily obvious. You know what is obvious... the language we learned when growing up and has a documented structure of meaning. Tons of usability studies show that actual language increases cognitive ease. https://bookofadamz.com/general-user-experience-design-guidance/#labelbuttons #UX #Usability   @nikitonsky Wait? You think having UI/UX that is obvious and unmistakable is desirable? What is wrong with you... Are you some weird anti-ableist freak?  @nikitonsky I swear this used to be a thing but then they "revamped" the UI and just made it objectively worse 💀 |
@nikitonsky ugghh yes. I keep getting confused over whether such toggle buttons should display current status, or the status you want to go to. I like the idea in your image.