
Building a Better Kindle (or, Why Buttons Matter) - ingve
https://kottke.org/18/04/building-a-better-kindle
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djsumdog
This feels simple and powerful for a post about UI. The old Kindles had full
keyboards!

I really hate this trend to "Do everything with one button." So many devices
have one button and different LED flashing patterns. LEDs are seriously cheap,
cheap enough you can just add a few more to make the interface not-garbage;
where I don't have to memorize a lot of rubbish.

A great example: The Crafty Vaporizer. It has one button you push to turn on,
hold to turn off, double tap to use the boost temperate (which can be changed
from the mobile app you pair it with. WTF?)

Compare that to the Boundless CF Vaporizer. It's an exact clone except it has
multiple LEDs, all labeled, which can indicate temperate and battery life.

One button is stupid. Touch screen instead of hardware buttons for the most
common tasks is stupid (I'm looking you Telsa Model S) and removing hardware
buttons for simplicity is sometimes a great idea, except when it's a horrible
idea, which it more often is.

