Do toasters have bad UX?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41301766

by smugglerFlynn • 2 years ago

6 5 2 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

The core problem is that toasts always show up far away from the user's attention. Hacker news, surely we can find a better way to toast our breads?

Hear me out.

= The Problems with toasters =

The entire interaction is quite jarring:

  - I push down the lever on the side of the device
  - There is often little to no indication that something started processing and that bread is heating up; I need to look inside of the device to see if something is really heating
  - The toast is delayed without a loading indicator
  - The toast appears on the top of the toaster, despite lever being located on the side

= The Solution: No Toast =

Just eat your breakfast without bread, or eat your bread fresh, instead of toasting it.

= It Could be Worse =

What's worse than a toast? No breakfast at all. Don't skip it.

  p.s. this post is intended as lighthearted satire!

talldayo• 2 years ago

The problem is that toasting is too deterministic. Users have gotten used to adjusting their toaster to suit the toast they want, when in reality they should be open to radical suggestion from an agent knowledgeable on the topic of toast. A copilot, if you will.

What the industry desperately needs; no, what every kitchen needs; is a private and safe integration with a next-generation machine learning platform. I want you to think, "ChatGPT of bread" here. There's a huge amount of capital being invested in both toaster innovation and LLM technology, which is the perfect opportunity to capitalize on some underbaked synergy.

Obviously, we'll need a sort of "Core Toaster Fee" to ensure users don't accidentally use the toaster for something other than branded bread. Perhaps a bread-DRM could be invented to avoid these sorts of toast crimes, so our bread manufacturers could better protect their IP and prevent users from poisoning themselves on such follies as homemade bread.

joey_spaztard• 2 years ago

An acquaintance of mine has a fairly expensive Sage brand toaster that has an LED bar graph showing remaining time and an 'a bit more' button. Overall it is a nice toaster, but the linear variable resistor for the slide control that sets the toasting time has become noisy so the LEDs light up unexpectedly now and again. We are hesitant to spray aerosol switch cleaner into a food appliance, sliding the time control end to end a few times clears it for a few days.

marssaxman• 2 years ago

The office I work in has that brand of toaster. The countdown timer is a nice feature, but the push-button interface seems needlessly fussy. People routinely need to be shown how it works the first time they encounter it.

Perhaps a mechanical twist-timer like this would make a nice toaster interface:

https://www.mcmaster.com/products/twist-timers/wall-mount-ti...

adamomada• 2 years ago

There is another brand that works like you want it to, Breville smart toaster. It generally gets the toast to a consistent toastiness, but if you want a bit more you just twist one of the two wheels on it

tonetegeatinst• 2 years ago

I pose a better question to pose.

Why can't we invent a method to consume carbs that is healthy. Everyone in the health community tells me carbs are unhealthy, and they spike blood sugar and make you gain weight. Its shocking despite how bad obesity is, we have very limited options of treatment. I'm following some second stage clinical trials for medication in hopes they get approved, because research shows that the major difficulty is not only losing weight but keeping it off.

Do toasters have bad UX?

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