
Urinals and Usability - Brykman
http://www.propelics.com/ux-of-up-urinals-and-usability/
======
jsnk
Whenever I read someone write about UX about anything, one common quality I
spot is how negative the writer is about the object in discussion. They all
take the tone that they know something more than the people who created it.
Have these UX people given any considerations to countless number of factors
involved in something seemingly simple as installing a urinal?

Immediately questions sprung up for me. Has the writer thought about possible
regulations surrounding installation of urinal in millions of localities
around the world? How about the regulations of manufacturing urinals? There's
also countless rules surrounding import/export laws for 200s countries around
the world. I'm not even accounting for interstate laws within US and other
countries. This was just grand legal issues alone. Consider availability of
time before deadlines, experts who can install the urinal, money budgeted for
urinals and bathroom space, etc... You can imagine countless situations where
even installing "subpar" urinals are actually really hard.

My criticism also extends to the book that started it all, The Design of
Everyday Things. It's such a simplified platonic world view, I couldn't take
the book seriously. The condescending tone of voice the author had was really
annoying as well.

~~~
kijeda
Reminds me of building codes for waterless urinals. Here is California the
building code requires them to be plumbed with incoming water even though no
water is needed, as a sop to the plumbing community.

"Provide water distribution and fixture supply piping, sized as required
elsewhere in this code, roughed-in immediately adjacent to each waterless
urinal fixture installed."

~~~
aroch
Surely flushless urinals still need to be cleaned and having piped in water is
both more efficient and safer (no sloshing water buckets around)?

~~~
Johnny555
The janitor gets water from a wall mounted faucet or from the sink in the
janitor's closet to clean the urinals, the capped off pipe above the urinal
does nothing except make the installation more expensive.

At one new building I worked in, they had to put in standard water based
urinals to pass inspection then replaced them with waterless urinals for their
LEED certification -- presumably now the codes allow for waterless urinals,
but apparently still require the plumbing.

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an_account
As a modestly tall guy, using a short urinal is a bad experience. It's almost
impossible to control splash, and the large attack angle makes the target area
appear very small. And I'm not even that tall.

Viva the high urinal

~~~
upbeatlinux
Completely agreed - short urinals have the worst user experience for tall or
dare I say average height males. In fact the average height in the US is
approximately 5' 10". Claiming all urinals should be short ones seems instead
like misplaced aggression or dare I say a bit of Napolean complex.

This being said selecting urinals as a comparison to enterprise mobile UX/UP
patterns is a bit off-putting, sexist and simply unprofessional.

~~~
sliverstorm
I'm not sure I see why it's sexist, aside from the fact that it is
tangentially related to gender.

Which is not to say it isn't, but I'd like to hear you explain/justify your
claim that it is sexist.

~~~
Fomite
I'll take a swing at this...with the note that something can be 'mildly
sexist'. Sexist, without being a four alarm fire.

The problem is it feeds pretty heavily into the notion of "Male as Default"
and that when you're talking to a tech audience, you're talking exclusively to
guys. The thing being discussed, compared to, etc. is supposed to be a common
experience, something that you've actually thought about, or at least would go
"Yeah, that is weird..."

For half the population, urinals are not so much something they interact with.
By assuming it's a common experience, you're assuming the reader is male.

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bcohen5055
In the united states there are very specific rules about the height and
spacing of almost all plumbing fixtures in public places due to ADA and other
local plumbing codes. Lots of the examples in the article are clear violations
in the United States. Same goes for trip and flush levers, their
identification and style.

FYI I'm a product design engineer at a plumbing fixtures manufacturer

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panglott
The advantage of trough-style urinals is not so much the large catch area,
it's that they handle a large number of users in situations where rule #1 can
be broken. It's unpleasant, but it sure makes the lines to the infield men's
facilities shorter during the Kentucky Derby.

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beloch
"You want me to pull this thing? That’s way more physical contact than I’m
comfortable with."

This. Hand-operated manual flush levers on urinals need to die. Why? I happen
to be flexible enough to flush urinals with my feet. I usually feel too self-
conscious to do this if other people are present, but if I'm alone I do it
every time. I know I'm not the only person who does this, so I also know that
whatever is on the floor of bathrooms has a high probability of coating flush
levers too. This behaviour is probably even more common for sit-down toilets
because the handles are lower and privacy is greater.

Motion detectors work. You almost never see foot pedals, oddly enough. I
really hate the two-mode flush buttons on toilets that are too small to hit
with your foot, not that it will stop me from trying.

UX lesson: Pay attention to people's pre-existing habits. You can try to force
people to use your interface in a certain way but, if there are no tangible
benefits, they may insist on mashing it with their boots.

~~~
douche
Eh, are you really going to die if you have to touch a urinal handle that
might have had a little splash on it?

Anyway, this reminds me of an old joke:

A doctor, a forester, and an old-time Mainer walked into a restroom and used
the urinals.

Afterwards, the doctor walked over to the sink, and used copious amounts of
soap, hot water and hand towels washing his hands. "At med school, they taught
me the importance of making sure your hands are good and clean," he said.

The forester walked over to the sink, and washed his hands, using the barest
minimum amount of towels to dry off. "At forestry school, they taught me the
importance of conserving natural resources," he said.

The old timer walked straight out of the bathroom, saying as he went, "I
graduated from East Millinocket Elementary school, and they taught me not to
piss on my fingers."

~~~
Fomite
Honestly, as an Epidemiologist, you should view hand washing less as "I got
pee on my hands" and far more "You have to pee regularly, and bathroom implies
water, which implies the ability to wash your hands. You should probably wash
your hands."

You should also wash your hands before eating. And after laundry. And all
manner of other things. It's just a particularly convenient prompt.

------
nkurz
This parody of "Male Restroom Etiquette" illustrates many of the design
constraints brought up in the article:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTXNvzTbe8Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTXNvzTbe8Q)

~~~
harryf
Reminds of the Urinal Flash Game -
[http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/games/urinal](http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/games/urinal)
\- one of the first flash games to go viral in early 2000's if I remember
right.

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astazangasta
I've also thought about those dual-flush handles while sojourning in various
airports. To me, up-for-2 makes more sense: most people are going to pee in
the thing, and most people are going to flush down, because that's what comes
most naturally. Down should be the flush that conserves best, since that's the
intended function of the thing. If a down flush is not sufficient, you can
just flush again. Actually, why do we need an up flush at all?

~~~
anon4
When you use more water, it comes out over the same time (roughly) as less
water, so it carries more kinetic energy and can unstick solid waste from the
walls, plus additionally it can help bigger pieces pass through the u-bend.

Source: I poop.

~~~
mjevans
I agree.

Source: I hate double-flushing toilets that are trying to save water, but
always end up doing it. (I often also /pre/ flush on those low flow toilets
because I'm not sure the water is sufficiently clean for splashback events.)

~~~
JustSomeNobody
A thin layer of tp layed directly on the water helps minimize splashback
events.

~~~
mjevans
They are thankfully rare and unpredictable, but always a psychological
consideration. I also don't think I'm the only one who questions the
sanitation of what is left behind by others.

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afarrell
The problem with the two-mode flush on toilets is that the designer is trying
to be subtle in communicating "do this for urine, this for feces." If we
wanted to be explicit, one button would be brown and log-shaped and one would
be yellow and drop-shaped. We don't want to be crude, so we instead have more
cryptic symbols.

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mstade
In Stockholm I once went to a place where the urinal was the wall type, and at
viewing height there was this big Rube Goldberg-esque contraption behind a
pane of glass. As you relieved yourself you "charged" this machine somehow,
and pinballs would roll through the machine. It was all pretty odd.

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robbrown451
"About half the world’s population uses them" "Design with everyone in mind."

I don't think this article was designed with everyone in mind.

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Retra
Speaking of UX: what is the justification for disabling text highlighting on a
web page?

~~~
mianos
It is usually a sign that designers are somewhat unfamiliar with the people
that use their work or designers who have not learnt anything since the 99s.

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kylec
These urinal photos make me uncomfortable, there's basically zero privacy for
any of them. Is it too much to ask to toss up some dividers between them?

~~~
afarrell
As a dude, I am a fan of urinal dividers, but they are kinda uncommon, at
least in the US.

~~~
dave2000
One thing I noticed on my travels in the US was that it's always possible to
see into cubicles. Everywhere else it's impossible to see any part of anyone
using them but in the US it's normal to be able to see inside. I have no idea
why that is.

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jules
In my experience the metal urinals are less splash prone. Perhaps it has
something to do with the material itself being hydrophilic?

