Re: OT: Stupid User Interfaces (Part 2)

[Jenda]

Trains? Buttons? Oh ... some designers LOVE buttons.

Some local trains where I live have got a (fairly spacious) lavatory right in the middle of the carriage with wide sliding button-operated door and the toilet facing the door and the designer had a button overdose. You press a button to open the door. You wait. You step in and press a button to close the door. You wait. You press a button to lock the door. Or not. You sit down. People gather right outside that door to be ready the moment the train stops. Someone else comes and presses the open button ... well if you forgot the lock button, the doors will spend about five seconds opening and once one of you finds the right button another five seconds closing.

Of course apart from the close and lock button there's also an open button and flush button and water button and two or three more buttons I forgot the purpose of. ALL LOOKING THE SAME!

The designer is an idiot, but you still find people defending the design because "all the buttons are clearly marked".

Later versions kept the design, but now the button you are supposed to press next blinks.