#recebt stupid automaker decisions get me so angry

[tedkaczynskiofficial]

As an engineer, touchscreens in cars drive me batshit crazy. You want to know how you know that touchscreens are lazy and bad design? Actual luxury brands still have physical buttons. They may also have a screen that is touch screen, but they have hella buttons.

Yeah, having to take your eyes off the road to access basic features like audio or air conditioning is unsafe, and I hope these automakers get the shit sued out of them when someone gets hurt. The result is probably going to be people getting deadlocked out of accessing anything while driving rather than the reintroduction of buttons, but still.

Replacing physical buttons and controls with touchscreens also means removing accessibility features. Physical buttons can be textured or have Braille and can be located by touch and don't need to be pressed with a bare finger. Touchscreens usually require precise taps and hand-eye coordination for the same task.

Many point-of-sale machines now are essentially just a smartphone with a card reader attached and the interface. The control layout can change at a moment's notice and there are no physical boundaries between buttons. With a keypad-style machine, the buttons are always in the same place and can be located by touch, especially since the middle button has a raised ridge on it.

Buttons can also be located by touch without activating them, which enables a "locate then press" style of interaction which is not possible on touchscreens, where even light touches will register as presses and the buttons must be located visually rather than by touch.

When elevator or door controls are replaced by touch screens, will existing accessibility features be preserved, or will some people no longer be able to use those controls?

Who is allowed to control the physical world, and who is making that decision?