As I went over to my TV to turn it on, I noticed that I was surrounded by five seperate remotes, each of which has an infinite amount of buttons. Which of these do I even use? I just want to watch TV!
To do that, I have to first turn on the TV using one remote, then the cable box with another, then the sound system with the third. Eventually when all my devices come on and I can hear that screachy kid on American Idol loud and clear, I’ve forgotten how to switch the channel. I look down only to see about 50 tiny buttons, none of which point me in the right direction.
That reminded me of a post I saw on Gizmodo today. I think that manufacturers need to pay a bit more attention to simplicity. If I only use 10 buttons on a remote frequently, make them large and easy to use, the rest you can hide behind a bezel or put them in a less-convenient place.
Value the importance of using less to accomplish more. If you can combine the play, pause, and select buttons into just one, do so. Why do we still have seperate buttons for fast forwarding and skipping to the next chapter? Press the button to go to the next chapter, and hold it to fast forward. For example, here’s the remote for an Apple TV:
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