Hard vs. Soft buttons

Our world is surrounded by buttons and dials with permanent labels. They are labeled with numbers, letters, symbols, and words, telling us what will happen if we push them. There is no better example than with remote controls.

The problem is that complex devices contain many functions. Remote controls then become button behemoths that require squinting and searching through a ridiculous amount of clutter to find the single button you want. Too much clutter leads to long visual search times and frustrated technology users.

So how do you make it easier to access a variety of functions without presenting too many choices at once? A great example that isn’t often thought about is that of the menus in a computer interface. The large number of functions are organized (and hidden) under larger category titles. Remotes attempt to mimic this by at least organizing similar functions together. For example, Play, Pause, and Stop all tend to cluster together.

The one hardware requirement for something like menus is a screen. You can create buttons of any size or shape at any time, leading to a dynamic display, similar to opening menus on a computer. This philosophy is taken by several products, including the iPhone and a universal remote, the Logitech Harmony 1000. By not having (many) dedicated hardware buttons, the user interface becomes infinitely flexible, allowing for more creativity to get at a multitude of functions.

One unexpected, interesting, and downright sensible complaint, however, is the lack of tactile feedback by pressing on a screen. Users don’t actually know if they’ve pressed the button or not. The iPhone, for example, displays an on-screen keyboard, and users have complained about how hard it is to type on a keyboard like that. Other devices, such as the BlackBerry or Palm Treos, have a dedicated hardware keyboard. While this leaves less screen space for the device itself, users love being able to quickly hammer out messages.

The BlackBerry may offer the proper compromise: have some dedicated hardware buttons for commonly used features, but have a touchscreen that can hide away other features and provide the dynamic interface that is so often called for. In terms of remotes, the Logitech Harmony One may do the trick: a number pad to change channels, video controls, and a directional pad. Buttons that are common to many electronic devices, and then a touch screen to take care of the rest.