"Reaction [beta]"
An unusable games controller 6 Sep 2007
"History of the Button" points out this great example of poor button labelling:
It's a game controller that's used to control the types of TV (or "entertainment centre") you find in hotel rooms.
What's so bad about it? Well, take a look at the four buttons on the right-hand side. As you can see, they are labeled "A", "B", "X" and "Y". But which button is which? Is "Y" the button at the one at the top or is it the one on the left? Is "A" the button the one on the bottom or the one on the right?
...and what about the shizophrenic orange button at the top of the pad? It's labelled both "Reset" and "Order". But aren't these polar opposites? "Reset" means "forget what I just did, take me back to the start"; while "order" means "let me buy something, let's proceed". Thus pressing this button in the wrong context could lead to devastating results.
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2 comments so far
Tickets 26 Feb 2008 02:44 PM
The best thing for me about this is the “L” and the “R” on either side of the LodgeNet logo. Left and Right? Left and Right what? Hands? Can you really hold it upside down by mistake? Given that you’re not going to be looking down at the labels much while playing (not if you want to win), I would think the design here would rely a lot more on tactile and spacial characteristics and not silly color codes.
oem software 16 Jan 2012 12:57 PM
Sa8QxJ comment2