Terrible User Interface Design

December 11, 2005 | General, Rants and Raves | By: Mark VandeWettering

44 Keys of Confusion

Well, as a stop gap measure to replace my dead Philips DVP-642 DVD player, I went ahead and picked up a TruTech TT 320 DVD player ($34.95 from Target). It’s small, and plays VCD and SVCD (although not DivX like the Philips). I figured I will use it for a while until I figure out what to spend a more serious amount of money on.

It seems to work fine, but it triggers a pet peeve of mine: bad remote control design. I mean really, look at that thing. No less that 44 buttons, all EXACTLY alike, with labels that are printed in gray on gray. Holy crap, how are you expected to actually be able to use this thing? Good remote controls should be able to be used in the dark (yes, kudos to TiVo!). This thing not only needs light, but good lighting, and some glasses.

Bleh.