# Poor designs in everyday life **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 10, 2019, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358 "2019-04-10T21:36:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/161 "2019-04-17T17:32:48Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > This is a minor one but for many many years I had a microwave where you can just start punching in numbers to set a time to cook something. Now I have a new one (it is actually an old one but new to me) where you must hit a Cook button to enter a cook time. Why? I am almost always hitting a button on here to set a time to cook and for the one time out of 500 I’m not, then make me hit a button first (to set the clock for example). It’s stupid and annoying. If they’re like the microwaves I’m familiar with, you have to press Cook or Cook Time to manually enter a number, because just pressing 1, 2, etc. will immediately start cooking for that many minutes. So, it’s supposedly a time saving feature, because you can just put in your stuff and hit 2. I do agree though, that I prefer the old way. ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/162 "2019-04-20T22:35:12Z")
> [@galen\_ubal](#): > > Additionally, almost all Aussie toilets are dual-flush - one button uses a half-tank of water, the other uses the full tank. It’s a water-saving measure, along with having a lot less water in the bowl. There’s just barely enough to comer the bottom, here. > When my wife-to-be first visited me in the States, she thought for a moment that there was something wrong with my toilet, as the bowl was half-full of water. She also said she hadn’t understood the idea of the dogs drinking out of the toilet until she saw that. I’ve only seen dual-flush toilets in 2 places: public restrooms in Durango, CO, and in a friend’s house in NM. The problem in NM was that I had never seen one before, and it wasn’t labeled. I didn’t know how to use it. After seeing the ones in Durango, I knew how to use the one in NM, except I didn’t know which one to push because it didn’t say. I’ve never seen one anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/163 "2019-04-30T17:39:39Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Because the design of subtitles references the picture, not the screen. But the design of /closed captions/ is not entirely the same as the design of /sub titles/, and for historical reasons and international markets, most receivers and many sources contain and or display a textual representation as well as the bitmap representation. You could say that people are just too cheap to allow full user control of the display, but of course the more options you support, the more things go wrong or don’t work properly, and even very high end consumer equipment doesn’t ever support/display all the options. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/164 "2019-04-30T18:39:15Z")
I have never read so much about flushing a toilet as I have in this thread. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/165 "2019-04-30T18:50:06Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Australia, New Zealand, South Africa? The answer is obvious. \*\*\*Flush toilets in the Southern Hemisphere were designed to flush in a manner opposite those in the Northern Hemisphere to compensate for the Coriolus Effect! > > * * * So they flush _up?_ :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/166 "2019-04-30T19:22:32Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > But the design of /closed captions/ is not entirely the same as the design of /sub titles/, and for historical reasons and international markets, most receivers and many sources contain and or display a textual representation as well as the bitmap representation. > > You could say that people are just too cheap to allow full user control of the display, but of course the more options you support, the more things go wrong or don’t work properly, and even very high end consumer equipment doesn’t ever support/display all the options. Whether you call them closed captions, subtitles, whether they’re embedded in the original file or sent through teletexto… it doesn’t matter, the reference is the picture and not the screen. That way you don’t need to control the text with one set of parameters and the image with another. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/167 "2019-04-30T22:30:07Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > So they flush _up?_ :eek: According to long-distance research conducted by Dr. Bart Simpson of the International Drainage Commission, the water flows clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/I0sZOQjHqGg/hqdefault.jpg "Bart calls Australia | THE SIMPSONS HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0sZOQjHqGg) ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/168 "2019-04-30T22:55:33Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I’ve got a dishwasher that, when it’s finished washing dishes, beeps. Every fifteen minutes, until you go in and turn it off. Which means I can’t wash up, start the dishwasher, and go to bed, because the beeping is loud enough to wake me up. There’s absolutely no reason it needs to keep beeping. It is not an oven. My dishes aren’t going to get over-cleaned if I don’t turn off the washer. They are not going to catch fire. But, apparently, it is very important to the manufacturer that I get up and press a button to make the fucking thing shut up. My dishwasher did this by default, but there was an arcane way to hold buttons down to make it not work. I called up tech support and had them walk me through it. > [@](#): > > Also, my oven displays not just the time, but also the date and year. Which isn’t a problem, exactly, it’s just… why? Time traveling bakers? For mine: our dryer has a child-lock that disables the buttons until you do a specific thing. Which is great, because we have small children who like to press buttons. Except: it doesn’t disable the _power button_. Which is the largest button and _flashes_ while the dryer is running. Aaargh. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/169 "2019-04-30T22:57:55Z")
The microwave at my work is some heavy duty one that automatically turns on a fan to air out the microwave whenever the door is open. But the fan is so powerful that anything that isn’t a regular plate gets blown out, so since you’re at work if you try to put a paper plate or a layer of paper towels to warm something up they’ll automatically get blown out of the door unless you weigh it down. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/170 "2019-04-30T23:09:43Z")
One thing I’ve never understood is the USA insistence on having bedside lights activated by a tiny clicky wheel that you have to reach up under the shade to twist. Why? I’ve never seen it used anywhere else in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/171 "2019-04-30T23:47:00Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > One thing I’ve never understood is the USA insistence on having bedside lights activated by a tiny clicky wheel that you have to reach up under the shade to twist. > > Why? I’ve never seen it used anywhere else in the world. What? I’m in Canada, but that’s an extremely ubiquitous switch. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/172 "2019-05-01T07:27:50Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > What? I’m in Canada, but that’s an extremely ubiquitous switch. Right, I’m not sure why you are quite so surprised, if I’ve never been to Canada I’m unlikely to have seen it there. The fact remains that I’ve travelled pretty widely and the USA is the only place I’ve ever seen it and it is an idiotic design. It is like a hold-over from the oil-wick adjusters on lanterns of days gone by. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/173 "2019-05-01T08:14:22Z")
One thing I cannot understand is automobile designers. Do they all live on the Equator, in a tropical climate? Where I live, we get winter; real winter. When it is -20C (below 0F), and you’re bundled up in a parka, and you’re wearing thick gloves–why are the “seat belt release” buttons so tiny? You cannot get them to disengage while wearing a parka and gloves–you have to, at the very least, take the gloves off, and touch the very cold release button with bare hands. Then, once outside the car, try hitting the “Lock” button on the key fob while wearing winter gloves. The folks who came up with these obviously never lived in a cold climate. Not to mention the “Ice possible, drive with care” message that appears on the dashboard, when the temperature dips below freezing. Gee, it’s -20C, do you really think ice is _possible_? No, it’s more of a _certainty_. I wish I could get rid of that stupid message. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/174 "2019-05-01T14:39:11Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > I’ve travelled pretty widely and the USA is the only place I’ve ever seen it and it is an idiotic design. I’m curious. What type of lamp switch are you used to at home? I’ve got several different types in my house, and I don’t find the type I think you’re talking about any harder to use than any of the others. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/175 "2019-05-01T14:56:41Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > One thing I’ve never understood is the USA insistence on having bedside lights activated by a tiny clicky wheel that you have to reach up under the shade to twist. > > Why? I’ve never seen it used anywhere else in the world. Pretty sure you mean something [like this?](https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/85943/SOCK-90421.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwh6XmBRDRARIsAKNInDEr51W3nJdt0tYzw3RC6gBZpa0gaBPJwHp5bt2oykUyeTmk9lGoSEkaAjF8EALw_wcB) It’s been pretty standard for as long as I can remember. It’s just basically a connector between a two strand wire and a light bulb with a switch. What is more common in other countries? Is the switch somewhere along the cord? Is the fixture the same but the switch is a pull chain or flip switch? ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/176 "2019-05-01T15:12:48Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I’m curious. What type of lamp switch are you used to at home? Pretty much always a rocker-switch in line with the cord or on the base. Certainly never-ever the rotating clicky-type that I find in the states. > [@](#): > > I’ve got several different types in my house, and I don’t find the type I think you’re talking about any harder to use than any of the others. For the inline switch I use a single finger, one press, “on” or “off”. For the rotating switch you have to either look for it, or feel for it up in the lampshade (near the hot bulb). When you find it you have to rotate it in the right direction. In some cases you have to rotate, regrip, then rotate some more. When reading in bed with the first type I can position the switch for easy access, for the rotating type I can’t. I definitely think it is more awkward to use. If you had never seen a bedside lamp before and had to design a switch for efficiency, the rotating type would be bottom of the list. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/177 "2019-05-01T15:17:47Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Pretty sure you mean something [like this?](https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/85943/SOCK-90421.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwh6XmBRDRARIsAKNInDEr51W3nJdt0tYzw3RC6gBZpa0gaBPJwHp5bt2oykUyeTmk9lGoSEkaAjF8EALw_wcB) That’s the fella > [@](#): > > It’s been pretty standard for as long as I can remember. It’s just basically a connector between a two strand wire and a light bulb with a switch. sure, I know what it is, just don’t know why that is considered to be a useful solution. What is the benefit in getting people to reach up under the lampshade? > [@](#): > > What is more common in other countries? Is the switch somewhere along the cord? Is the fixture the same but the switch is a pull chain or flip switch? Riocker switch inline or on the base is by far the most common that I see, though more and more “touch” control is becoming more common. As I say, I can’t ever recall seeing that rotating version outside of the States. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/178 "2019-05-01T15:30:20Z")
I’m an American who grew up with the “clicky wheel” switches or the similarly located stick that you poke switches. Both are annoying because you have to reach under the lampshade and fiddle with something you can’t see. It’s a pretty dumb idea even though cooler light bulbs have solved the heat problem. The rocker switch inline with the cord is generally worse. The switch for a floor lamp is on the ground. With a table lamp, the cord is often routed behind the table so the switch is both invisible and less accessible than an under-the-lampshade switch. Or, if your outlet is close enough, you can leave enough of the cord on the table to expose the switch but this just highlights the unsightly cord and takes up table space. The best solution is the light switch on the base of the lamp. I usually see these in hotels but not generally in home lamps. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/179 "2019-05-01T16:19:52Z")
**Tired and Cranky** speaks the truth. A clearly visible rocker switch at the base of the lamp on a table lamp, or high enough that you don’t have to bend over to reach it on a floor lamp is the best lamp switch type. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358/180 "2019-05-01T18:19:47Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Riocker switch inline or on the base is by far the most common that I see, though more and more “touch” control is becoming more common. Ah. I have cats. I really don’t want light switches that are easy, or even reasonably possible, for the cats to turn on. I do have one lamp with a touch button on the base; but it’s in a use in which I unplug it whenever not actually using it. I also don’t like switches inline because I always have to hunt along the line for them. ETA: It’s actually my theory that that’s why we have doorknobs instead of levers. Cats (and many dogs) could easily use the levers; they can’t get a grip on the doorknobs, though I’ve seen some cats try to. Even when I want to let the cats out, they won’t shut the door behind them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-designs-in-everyday-life/832358.md?page=10)