It used to be easy, even on digital microwaves. Something like [Cook] [2] [0] [0] [start]

Or even [2] [0] [0] [start]

specifying the power was optional.

In my experience if I try that on that microwave.. nothing will happen or it will start doing stuff by itself that i don't want it to do. o!

Does this mean that Windows based PC should have this keyboard?

http://www.geeksbearinggifts.com/humor/newkeyboard.jpg

The vast majority of microwaves sold in Germany have two controls: a timer and a power regulator. The more expensive ones might have a button or two in addition. Nobody would buy a microwave like the one on the picture. At least I certainly wouldn't, simply because the controls make the thing plain ugly.

Very good point

A good control layout helps a lot.

For example, my microwave at home has all of its autocook features, but in a separate panel, clearly marked by decals is "Time Cook", the numeric keypad, and start.

I saw a great blog post about microwave controls a few months ago but I can't find it now. The gist of it was that they only used the "extra minute" button. Pressing it once turns on the microwave for a minute, with no other button presses required. This bloggers parent (or grandparent?) knew how to use it because it was easy. Press that button 4 times for popcorn. Twice for soup.

My work has a microwave that has a toaster built in. Both of them have separate controls on the control panel, including their own on/off and reset buttons. But, and this is my favorite part, you can't use the microwave and the toaster simultaneously. So it's really easy to try and stop the microwave but hit the stop button for the toaster.

Hi Jeff, if it's not beyond the scope of your blog, could you do some sort of user interface analysis for Wikipedia. Because as far as I can tell, it's not very accessible to the average user (sometimes I think that's a good thing ;)). But I don't just mean in editing, but also in viewing, searching and finding the information they need.

Actually, I prefer the digital controls over the knob. I cook with mine, so the ability to have it on for more than 10 minutes and at 50% power is useful. The beverage button works great for re-heating coffee. Press a keypad button, and the microwave turns on with 1 minute times the number pressed. The other buttons are useless. On yours the Dinner Plate struck me as odd, because it is the one non-food option, and a reheat of the contents of a plate would vary widely.

I just bought a new stove. There wasn't a *single* frikkin' model that had a knob for the oven temperature. So instead I have this piece of crap with 12 buttons for a bunch of features I doubt I'll ever use. Worse, when it lets me know it's warm, it shuts off the timer which I just spent 30 painful seconds setting through buttons (because there's no knob for that, either).

I would take the older microwave any day. I hate the new fangled cannot work out what to do million and one button new microwaves :)

Interesting post, Jeff. I think that you're missing a key factor, though. The 'high-tech' microwave interface is designed to diffuse the 'gunk' delivered by mucky hands (think hygiene). Check out the single dial interface - it's filthy. The keypad interface design, however, looks spotless, and that's because it spreads hand movements across a larger surface area. Ingenious.

Are you serious? Most new microwaves sold in europe have power & time knobs again. Here you don't really see those ugly digital 90's ovens anywhere anymore.

No I like the digital one better. In my office our digital one died and someone picked up a two knobber. At first it was neat and retro and now it just burns popcorn...I miss the popcorn button. My desk is 15 feet from the microwave and it seems like on one can make popcorn with out it burning.

Bryan

I'd be very interested in surveys as to how many people actually use any of those extra features. I'd be surprised if it is over 1%. I can't recall ever using, or even ever seeing anyone use anything over than "300[start]" with variations in the time with the possible exception of changing the power setting.

Too many designers fail to understand that sometimes adding a feature makes a product worse.

> The keypad interface design, however, looks spotless, and that's because it spreads hand movements across a larger surface area. Ingenious.

No, it's clean because I cleaned it prior to the photo. Seriously.

The fairly recent (digital timer and everything) microwave I have has a grand total of 5 controls (well maybe it has more, in fact I'm pretty sure it has like 4 or 5 more, but I *never* used them. One of them sets the clock, that's about all I know), 3 of them I actually use often:

* A start button, clearly labelled as such, at the bottom right of the microwave. This can start a heating, but if you just tap it it starts heating at max power for 30 seconds, and every subsequent tap bumps the count by 30 seconds

* A stop button, clearly labelled as such, which... well... stops the microwave

* At the top (right under the timer) is an unmarked knob. Turning it clockwise increases the timer, turning it CCW decreases it. I usually use it to fine-tune the heating time.

* Under that is the grill on/grill off button, which I never came close to

* And right under the grill button (about halfway between the start and the timer) is the power button, to cycle between the preset 150W, 200W, 300W, 450W, 550W, 650W and 800W (the maximum)

I usually just slam the start button and then turn the knob, if I want control over the power I tap the power button until I get the required power, then tap the start button. Or I select the power, then turn the knob until I reach the needed time (the knob starts at 0 in that case though, inefficient) and then I end the operation by tapping the start button.

5 controls I notice, 4 I use, 3 that are both completely clear and of utterly trivial use.

And no keyboard.

My pet peeve:

Have you ever noticed how much microwaves beep? Every single button press emits a highly irritating beep. Why? WHY??

It looks like two of the most expensive microwaves at Target have dials:

http://tinyurl.com/2hxnat

page 3 of that same search, second row, the first and third, second one is out of stock, next row down is a convection oven not a micro.

To heat a sammich, place in oven, set for 30 seconds on high.

Toaster ovens are just as hard to use, although you end up with a better tasting sandwich.

Bjarne Stroustrup may have said a very true thing about this :

“I have always wished for my computer to be as easy to use as my telephone; my wish has come true because I can no longer figure out how to use my telephone.”

And it seems that it is not something that will disappear, since it's driven by market demands [http://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/simplicity_is_highly.html].

"I cook with mine, so the ability to have it on for more than 10 minutes and at 50% power is useful."

that's the rub - most people don't cook with theirs, they just heat stuff up. However these people (the majority i would say) have to be inconvenienced for the sake of those who want finer control over their microwaves.

There was a neat, tiny little controversy about this in the world of design / ui blogs a few months ago. Basically, a UI expert went to Korea, and found that car dashboards there are packed with controls. On one SUV dashboard he found three different switches to control the same light. His Korean hosts said Koreans were obsessed with new features, so the unnecessary switches were added as a marketing ploy. There were then blogs and comments saying this was definitely not just a Korean thing, and a very interesting point that users **say** they want simplicity but almost always **buy** gadgets with extra features. Dan Something, in his book "Stumbling On Happiness," also points to research that retailers should put fewer gadgets on their shoproom floors, as there's a ceiling on the number of options people will consider before giving up the whole process, and this probably creates lost sales for retailers.

Obviously I forgot the blogs and even the Harvard psych researcher's last name, sorry about that, but there's enough here for a good Google session.

Obviously also the iPod's packaging and design versus the packaging and design of most MP3 players is also relevant. Users **do** in some cases pay for simplicity.

Thank you! I'm glad I'm not alone on this. Some food service industry microwaves use very simple interfaces with only a handful of preprogrammed times - minimal thinking involved, and very fast to use (over and over again).

@Bryan
Yuck, burned popcorn has to be the worst thing ever. Or maybe about as bad as not burned popcorn. I hate it when that smell permeates my work environment. Because then I have to go and get some myself.

C

I find it's often interesting to compare consumer products to their industrial grad cousins. The business world tends to go for function over form.

For example, if you look at a microwave oven in Subway it just has a row of 10 buttons across the top, presumably for specifying 1-10 minutes, which also start the oven.

Don't you hate it when buttons in new microwaves stop working. After a few years of use, you have to push them very hard to get them to work, if they work at all. I'm sure that doesn't happen with a single analog knob.

Two buttons are used the most at our house: [Popcorn] and [30 sec].

Our microwave was recently zapped by lightning and my wife & son are suffering microwave withdrawal. I'll be getting a new one tonight.

Recently, we seriously evaluated upgrading all our appliances and doing the whole kitchen make-over thing. Its actually hard to find a basic microwave. Now they want you to cook with microwaves, halogen lights and convection all at the same time. http://products.geappliances.com/ProdContent/Dispatcher?REQUEST=PHOTOGALLERY&SKU=SCB2001KSS&SITEID=GEA

You see less buttons now? They replaced them with a knob and a display. Turn the knob to go through the "menu." Push the knob to go one level deeper. Its like a vi interpretation of fly-out menus! My new microwave? http://products.geappliances.com/ProdContent/Dispatcher?REQUEST=PHOTOGALLERY&SKU=JE2160WF&SITEID=GEA
Notice the [Popcorn] and [30 sec] buttons? Yeah, that's all that matters.

Disclaimer: I am _not_ curious orange.

A quick glance at the control panel reveals that the 'start' button also says '/speedy cook'- my guess, at it's default state, with no prior input, pressing this button will set the microwave to 'high' power and increment the cook time by 30 seconds for each push, within a certain time limit. Pausing for that limit would then enable the button's 'start' function.

My microwave has a separate button for that feature- a 'quick-set' button that increments time by 30 sec's. This feature is (and has been) standard on microwaves for years now, at least on 'better' or more competitive models.

Thus, I think there is a parallel for software UI's (which you've most likely already covered)- intuitive (or more so) hotkeys. Obviously, the most oft-used power setting on a microwave is 'high' or maximum, and the most common cook times have a GCD of 30 seconds. So, when designing a(n) UI for software, I would think having hotkeys for the most oft-used features is a necessity. Then the battle becomes making them _intuitive_. CTRL+s for 'save' is intuitive- CTRL+SHIFT+F9 is not.

TTFN,
Tarkin

I think the thing I find most amusing is that it seems as if the control layout for every microwave I see is different. I mean they crank these things off the assembly line by the millions, and yet, it seems as if no two are the same model.

Maybe it's just me...

UI complexity is a timeless problem. On one hand, you want to be accessible to novice users. On the other, you want offer the capability to do complicated things. The challenge is to provide a tool that serves the needs of all kinds of users.

One solution is to offer two user interfaces. I've done this in Photoshop plug-ins I've written. The user is initially presented with a menu of simple processing choices. If they are more adventurous, they can switch to another tab which has an array of sliders and dials that provide fine control over the effect.

For the microwave situation, perhaps there could be a door concealing the advanced controls. I've seen some remote controls that do this.

jeff, you notice it because you are in the software biz, if you were in the microwave biz you would say the same thing about software...

2 2 2 start

I admit, my microwave is 7-8 years old. I wouldn't consider it hard to use, though.

To use it, I just type in a time and hit Start. There is also a way to change the power level, but I never use it... everything I've ever run into says to Microwave on HIGH, and the microwave has a separate Defrost button.

The only other buttons on it that I ever use are the Popcorn, Defrost, and Clock buttons.

Nowadays it seems that the popcorn I buy has instructions on it that says: "Do NOT use the Popcorn button on your microwave". WTF, that was the only convenience button I ever used. Now, I fear that button.

your post threatens my job security... if i ever do that type of programming.

the ONLY problem i have with new microwaves is when they have more action buttons than just a START and a STOP button. like i remember this one microwave that had a button that was called start, and all it did was start a timer counting down for the time amount you entered in.

but in a completely unintuitive place, there was a "bake" button, that actually did the cooking action for the specified time.

i was like "wtf?" and then i started just boiling water on the stove for my ramen. if i couldn't figure out the oven, i was gonna get a can of chicken noodle soup and the blow torch.

Check out the book The Design of Everyday Things. It's fairly old, but still very informative: <http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/dp/0385267746>

Here, here! The only control every microwave has ever needed is a knob that goes from "off" to "15 minutes". No other buttons, not even a "door open" button, is needed.

One dial will do fine thank you.

OK, maybe two dials, one for power level, one for cook time.

---

My motto in life, if it doesn't have a keyboard and a mouse I don't buy it.

@Jeff "Quick! What do you press?"

Easy - the popcorn button. :)

Seriously, the problem is that all these microwaves are slightly different - the one at my work has a +30 button on it that is pretty easy to use (once you know what to do). Hit it 3 times and your meal is hot and delicious. At home, the Quick button expects me to press a number afterward, to indicate how many minutes to cook. Neither of these, however requires me to hit the Start button.

Don't ask me how to use the convection feature - my wife knows, but I'm clueless.

Some programs are that way too. My goal is to "iPod" my programs - easy interface with intuitive features with cluttered displays - sometimes easier said than done.

The microwave I had growing up (mid 80s) was not very easy to use

To cook something for 1:30

1) Insert object into Microwave
2) Press "Cycle 1"
3) Use 4 buttons underneath the 4 digits on the timer to set the time, so, press the third button from the right once, and the 2nd button from the right three times.
4) Press start.

For my grandmother, of course, we got the Microwave With A Knob.

Software interaction designers may be amused / interested / inspired / instructed by:

http://www.noideasbutinthings.com/

I wonder if that's where Jeff found one of today's photos:

http://www.noideasbutinthings.com/ixd/2007/10/sanyo_maxichef_knob.html

Microwaves, like all technology, have been overcomplicated by the weakest link. Sure, the dial worked fine, but what about people who don't know how long to pop popcorn? We don't want to make them have to learn, so we better build a microwave with a 'popcorn' button and write algorithms that take the size of the bag into account and produce the correct cooking time. A classic example of technology being over-engineered to suit the absolute laziest of users. What would happen if people had to figure out on their own how to make popcorn? Less people would eat popcorn? Unlikely. Less people would buy microwaves? Even more unlikely.

The same thing happens to me when building information systems, people complain that they need a feature to control some minute business exception that occurs in 1 out of every 1,000 iterations of a process, but do they really need that? No, there are other, more simple ways, like using the provided comment field to mark the exception. However, the user would then actually have to READ the comments (of which there are maybe 2-3), and well that's just way to much effort.

To make things worse I have a webmaster here who bends right over to adding new buttons and features in ever spare inch of control realty to accommodate such asinine requests. So many things could just as easily be fixed with a minor change to a business process, or a personal education process in the case of microwaves. However, people want technology that does absolutely everything for them, and rarely do they consider the actual complexity of such technology.

Whoops, first link should have been:

http://www.noideasbutinthings.com/ixd

They point here is that they put those buttons there because they want to sell more waveovens.

And plain people when want to buy a waveoven and don't know anything about waveovens doesn't have a criterion to choose what is 'best' for them.

So they usually look for the one that looks more complete, capable of doing complex stuff and, of course, the one that looks more expensive to impress the people that comes to home.

I think that the last sentence is the one that sells more waveovens.

> I wonder if that's where Jeff found one of today's photos:

Good eye. Indeed it is-- that, plus my perplexing sandwich experience from yesterday's lunch.

> Easy - the popcorn button. :)

I just discussed this with a coworker, and ironically when he tried the "popcorn" button on our microwave (it's the one in the photo), it burned his popcorn. Irony of ironies.

> Basically, a UI expert went to Korea

Hi Giles-- I liked that too. I wrote a little bit about that here, with citations to the original posts: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000880.html

Has anyone used the "Frozen Pizza" button? I never got that...are you supposed to stick a mini frozen pizza in there or something?

There is a trade off with simpleness in UI and discoverability of features.

If your UI is too simple, people will never know of what your product can do. Then there is the critical mass that Jeff is pointing out. Where so many buttons kill discoverability because its so cluttered.

Code Rush (a productivity tool for .net developers) is a tool that nails simplicity and discoverability. There is a help (training) window that you can keep open while you write code. Instead of one long list of key commands, it dynamically shows only relevant keystrokes given the context of where you are in source code. There is also a skill setting that you can change as you learn shortcuts and key commands. It filters the complexed ones from basic users and basic ones from expert users.

Obviously a dynamic set of buttons on a microwave is fantasy, but i think the point was to draw parallels to software.

I hate to say this but on most consumer devices, the knob and dial interface was much more intuitive, useful and controllable than the flat panel digital crud created by befuddled marketing types and clueless engineers.

I can't help but notice that when controls are expensive to produce (like knobs and dials), their number is quickly minimized to the most efficient possible arrangement. It forces the engineer to *think* about what they are doing. Something many managers seem to perceive as "nonproductive."

As a personal aside, I believe that the designers of television and DVD remotes should be sent to a Hell where they are forced to use them forever.

BTW.

Any true popcorn aficionado knows that you never rely on the popcorn button when using a foreign microwave. You always have to listen for the slow down in the popping interval.

Good post. Just having a rotary control instead of a keypad is not good enough. Seeing the photograph of the old microwave made me realize why the control on my microwave does not work well. I have a Panasonic with a knob (with a digital display) that lets you set the time. I bought it thinking that was a very good idea. But it fails miserably. With the old microwave in the photo you can see how far you must turn 'before' you start to turn it. With my microwave I have to watch the changing display to figure out when to stop and the dial itself offers no resistance (or feedback) while turning it. I can never set it right quickly.

The presets are too much. Button overload.

The auto start by pressing a single time button and then adding additional time with another one button press is great. Much better than pressing Start, Time, Go. But the knob was better than this too.

Perhaps a better title for this post would be: "Popcorn Button Considered Harmful".

What'd work better is a simple alarm-clock interface:

H+10
H-10
H+1
H-1
M+10
M-10
M+1
M-1

These would be expressed, of course, as a series of &#9652;/&#9662; buttons.

And, of course, the “Start” button.

Simplicity at the cost of function? No thanks!

I agree with you that microwaves are more complicated than they need to be, but I think your single-knob version is trying to go too far in the other direction.

How do you know if you're nuking something for 1 minute or 55 seconds? The analog control doesn't give you enough control.

Granted, maybe that doesn't matter... But what if you need to nuke something for, say, 5 seconds? It's not exactly easy to set that for 5 seconds.

Plus, there's no way to change the power settings.

And, finally, the knob in the picture is limited to 10 minutes...

One dish I enjoy, pre-packaged Rice Pilaf, calls for 20 minutes at 50% power... Trust me, 10 minutes at 100% power isn't the same.

Thanks for this post! I thought it was just me.. :-)

I've got no problem programming computers. But microwaves...

Why do you think that the intent of the extra buttons was for a better, simpler user interface? Sure most people are going to use the functions (and most buyers know they won't either). But they have to "know" that they could use those features - so they have to be displayed, after all, they aren't going to read the manual.

When someone else sees their microwave, do they want to be showing off the plain one (even if it is the easier to use) or that they could afford to get the one with all of the bells and whistles?

I suppose I should clarify that in the case of a microwave oven, they should be M and S buttons rather than H and M buttons. I'm pretty sure that anything will turn to a cinder if you nuke it for one or more hours. &#9786;

Clock, Power, Time and a Start/Stop. Plus a up and down to adjust the time and power. Only 6 buttons. That would make a very simple interface.

I don't like knob in this case because it is more difficult to clean.

But analog knob are awesome in home theater. I remeber my old VCR with fast foward and rewind knob. I miss it so much! Now I have foward and next chapter that are almost indentical and are side by side. It is really not good desing.

To be fair to the designer, they obviously went for accuracy over simplicity. Ever tried to get a 20-minute knob microwave to heat for 1:45 minutes?

I think its a north American kind of thing, I noticed that whether it be cars, toasters, power bars, you-name-it, they are usually littered with controls and LED's.

Sadly the designers will probably 'fix' this by adding a 'sandwich' button :)

The time control is about the only specific feature of a microwave that is important to me. 15 seconds can ruin a good sandwich, where as 10 second can leave it too cold. Not too hard to do it either.
[1]
[2]
[Start]
In the case of the User's Responsibilities with the microwave, they only have to keep track of time. Power is okay for more advanced users, in which case the [Power+] and [Power-] buttons serve fine. Though, I've never had an excuse to use them.

The add 30 second button is amazing. Sure I have to press it a bunch, but it doesn't require much thinking.

I have a toaster oven with a timer dial, and it works great. Except for one interesting little quirk: the timer doesn't even need electricity to work. If I unplug the toaster oven for some reason, and forget to plug it back in, I only notice when the timer goes off 10 minutes later and I find my food stone cold.

This post reminds me of a riddle:

Q: When does 99 > 100?

A: When you're setting the cook time on your microwave!

If you only want to apply microwaves for an approximate amount of time (until the dial wears out and does something funky, like turn on all the time or never), the dial is fine.

The digital interface allows for more precission, more features and less physical wear.

Beyond that, anyone overwhelmed by a few buttons on the front of a microwave might want to reconsider using a microwave in the first place.

"Beyond that, anyone overwhelmed by a few buttons on the front of a microwave might want to reconsider using a microwave in the first place."

Isn't that the same idealogy the *ix folks have on operating systems?

Everytime I see 10:24 on digital clocks I think "Wee! It's 2^10 o'clock!"

Many, many years ago when my mother bought her first microwave she deliberately bought one of the last models that had a knob (time) and a slider (power) as all the new models had the keypad. Recently we replaced our microwave and I was delighted to find one with two knobs - not even a start button! Perfect.

> Everytime I see 10:24 on digital clocks I think "Wee! It's 2^10 o'clock!"

Neeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrdddddddddddddddssssssss! http://www.sillyape.org/trash/nerds.jpg

Yeah, I stupidly sold my two-knob microwave to work (they wanted a cheap uWave, I didn't need mine at the time), but now I do need it we've ended up with this hideous thing that doesn't even have a one-button start mode. That is the rescue mode for many of the stupid UIs out there - if you hit "start" you get 1 minute at full power, and it's all a lot of people ever use. Our new one, on the other hand, requires me to hit time-numbers-start and the time+start buttons are in the middle of a bank of 2x3, so I actually have to look closely before hitting the buttons. FFS!

I hate my knobbed microwave at work, actually--they try to solve the precision for small times problem by relating rotation to time quadradically with an unlabeled dial and an LED display, so the only way to know how far you've gone is to bend over close to the display. Ugh.

I too like the simplicity of the older microwaves.

Recently though I've become a fan of the new microwave at work. It has an 'auto reheat' button.

Just put in whatever you want to reheat, press the button, come back when it's done. It's pretty good at heating whatever I put in there to the expected temperature.

Digital controls don't bother me. What bothers me is the idiocy and counter-intuitive nature of newer microwave controls.

The one I had around the house was simple - you typed in a time and pressed start. It then did its thing for the next however many minutes and seconds, then beeped when it was done.

What we have at work is a number pad that jumps to "x minutes" based on the number you push. This isn't really expected behavior and you lose the ability to input any precise amount of time... at least from what I've seen. I haven't examined too closely for fear of discovering the "incinerate user" button.

I concur.

My previous microwave cost me AUD400, had all the digital crap on it and blew up because the heat from control pad and the LED display attracted bugs which fried the circuit board.

I went out and bought an old fashioned made in china 80 dollar one with the dial. Cooks better and doesn't attract bugs.

Dials aren't always perfect. My alarm clock has has a dial with 3 settings - off, radio, and alarm - in that order. If I wake up early before the alarm goes off and want to turn it off so that it doesn't wake my wife up, I must turn it through the radio setting to get it to off. No matter how fast I do it, the radio still goes on for a second or two, which usually wakes her up.

> But what if you need to nuke something for, say, 5 seconds?

Turn the knob forward, wait five seconds, then turn the knob back.

Honestly.

>>Cooks better and doesn't attract bugs.

Good God man, clean your kitchen.

You _could_ make a more simple microwave knob that would actually be useful. But I haven't seen it yet. The first minute should be a quarter of the knob; the second should be the next quarter; and from then on it should be graded upwards to 20 minutes or so. Or something along those lines. The imprecision of such knobs to work for small times is irritating as hell.

Oh, and one more idea—maybe we could just leave it up to the ol' free market here?

I mean, I like microwaves without knobs. You like microwaves with knobs. You buy the ones with the knobs, I'll get the ones with the buttons.

I know, it's a silly little point to make, but we needn't pretend that the entire world is going to like the same interface. If the microwave display were entirely virtual, of course, we could have both. But in most "real world" applications you can't. Fortunately we're really just concerned with software here, right?

Hit [popcorn] setting, then [start]. Usually works for most stuff. May blow up some hotdogs.

...

When I first moved out of home I had a microwave that I think must have been a prototype or something. It had a lever at the bottom which had three positions. The lever when moved, moved a triangular prism inside which had a number of foods written on it. Running perpandicular to the lever was a slider which ran up the side of the triangular prism. When moved up from it's resting position it would turn the Microwave on and then slowly settle back down to the bottom.

The idea was that you would use the lever to find the power setting with your food on it, and then use the slider to select a time. It sounds complicated but it was far easier than the digital interface we have now. My Microwave is like MS-Word. Feature packed and underused.

If I can dig up a photo, I'll post it.

The other day, I tried to get a normal printer...
They didn't even have buttons before!
I understand your pain.

@ Kieran: You might want to report these bugs to the manufacturer...

I know I'm late to the party, but it's worth mentioning that commercial microwaves still use this single-knob design, or, failing that, a simpler multi-button approach. You've seen the latter in 7-11.

Dial: http://www.atlantafixture.com/Detail.aspx?ItemId=201487
11-button: http://www.atlantafixture.com/Detail.aspx?ItemId=201484

Nice Jeff. However some microwaves will start with a single button push. '3' for 3 minutes, etc. Mine does that for digits 1-6. It and the 'add 30 seconds' button are more convenient IMO. But then there's nothing that instant for the in-betweens, which the dial could always hit, in case you know just that *perfect* setting for something you're always cooking... I sometimes find myself entering it manually... ugh.

(PS. searching your comments so as not to repeat something someone already said sucks. :p But then we all know and encounter that...)

Actually, there do exist modern microwaves that have the simplicity of the older ones, even without sacrificing the features of their competitors. Mine, for example, has a simple dial you can turn that increments the time as you turn it clockwise and decrements it as you turn it counter-clockwise. End of story if that's all you need. There are also lots of fancier settings in the form of buttons (with REAL tactile feedback, at that).

most of the time i just hit some absurd amount of time and hit start. and then stop it manually after a while.

the worst is the microwaves where you have to hit 'cook' before the time. of course i want to cook. if i hadn't wanted to cook, i wouldn't be messing around with the microwave. the best is the ones that have a big button up top for +1 minute, which turns it on for a minute more with each press. it still would be nice to set the power level so easily

Well the obvious solution to all UI issues, as several products have been showing us is the touch panel.

Then all you need is to be able to adjust the layout of your touchpanel. Of course no one would be using a stylus in the kitchen and touchpanels are bad at catching wethands, so that might be a slight issue.

Many a time I have choked down congealed ricotta or viscous goulash, staring glumly into the haughty countenance of a cafeteria microwave.

The same thing is happening with programming. Instead of delete we now have "the Dispose pattern".

Don't you think there are users (buyers) out there who would just assume that if the microwaves have more buttons, they would offer more functionalities, and therefore 'better', worth more money, etc. Isn't that the same thing with software some time?

I think it's the ability to add in a ton of features with little extra cost to the machine these days. Manufacturers want to cover all possible uses that someone out there might have with just one model, which actually, isn't a bad thing at all.

But that being said, my family used to have one of those digital ones with a gazillion keys on it, and we rarely use it at all because it was just too complex, having to set a dozen options to cook some instant noodles. We finally got rid of that and got the big knob model and everyone is happier.

Yes, contribute to the dumbing down of society by designing our products so that they can be operated by the lamest of cavemen. After all, interface is something which is there to prevent the user from understanding how the machine works.

/sarcasm

... What I mean is that digital is by far, more complex than analog. And with the complexity comes more features naturally. We can interface the extra features but to do it as easily as 'a dial' would take extra interface that requires more. And it also seems archaic so That could be why it remains avoided by the engineers.

What bothers me is when I want to microwave something for less than a minute (which, admittedly, is not all that often, but enough). I used to be able to hit cook-3-0-start and it would go for 30 seconds. Then we got a new microwave. I would instinctively try to enter the time this way, but when I hit the 3 the timer would start for 3 minutes. It had a "add 30 seconds" button, but this didn't work unless it was already going. Fortunately the one I have now allows me to start it at 30 sec.
I really haven't paid enough attention to the presets to even think to use them most of the time. I know how much time I need, and I don't necessarily trust that the slice of pizza the manufacturer had in mind requires exactly the same time that mine does.

@Joshua : make things unecessarily complex and even the brainiacs will cause accidents, because you're not 100% of your time in "thinking mode". Unecessarily complex interfaces don't make anyone smarter. They'll almost always frustrate and discourage.

You could reorder the interface a little bit and use a little more color - you'd make it twice as simple while still allowing users to use the complex options; without the manual, too.

Hey Now Jeff,
This post makes me think of the old KISS principle. Keep it simple stupid. I'll keep the post in mind the next time I'm adding one more field or button. I love hot keys. On the microwave just press #1 & it heats up my food, similar to a phone just one number pressed & my favorite #'s are dialed. From Alt + tab to Ctrl + S we gotta love hotkeys.
Coding Horror Fan,
Catto

Microwaves in germayn are easier, to "analog" controls, one for time, and the other for power. Bought a more advanced thing with a sort of toaster in it, also just the two controls... and little icons at the power regulator shows if you had microwave / comined /toast power.

Quite easy (most of the time i just use the timer).

I know models with more complicated user interfaces, a friend of mine has one of them. First thing that does not work after some time was the display and afterwards it was even for him some sort of luck to get a special program like for warming up sthg.

I personally would say that the first picture is a typical US microwave. Who else would need a special button for popcorn? ;-)

The real problem is that people assume more buttons = more functions but a microwave cooks you can vary the power, you can vary the time.... and that's it ....

So two controls, or four for up/down controls, or a number pad (10), what are the rest for!

A popcorn button is silly - which brand, how much, what packaging, and what happens when this changes next month..?

I hate dial-style microwaves. I don't trust that they will work properly with the silly analog timer thingy.

I hate the segmented LCD displays - how expensive is a matrix display anyway?

All the cooking programs are bung, and the defrost never seems to work properly. I end up with partially cooked chicken most of the time.

Full power is usually far too high, and why is it by selecting 50% power will just makes it go full power 1/2 of the time? Sure it averages 50% power during the time requested, but really, who are we kidding.

The reason why there are heat lamps and toaster bits in microwave ovens is because they're just not that good at cooking. I'm impressed by what can be made with a micro, but a real gas oven is centuries ahead.

The one lesson that hit me the hardest from The Design of Everyday Things (a book I think has been mentioned previously on this site) was that while as few controls as possible *looks* the easiest to use, what's *actually* the easiest to use is having one control per thing you want to do. E.g. in a microwave oven, you're likely to want to set a time and the power, so two dials are appropriate.

The "as few controls as possible" mentality was so ingrained in my brain that it took me several re-reads to actually get that "no, you should put in the extra controls iff they map to things you want to do."

Going back to the basics, EVERY microwave only has 2 (two) settings:

Power level and time to nuke.

All these fancy buttons and settings, dials, and whatever are just fancy buttons.

Maybe some people don't want to remember how long does their favorite popcorn brand takes to cook, well, too bad. All microwavable foods have instructions in the packaging.

My microwave has some kind of weird sensor which decides how it cook what I tell it to, and it works *most of the time*.

However, me being a programmer, I know how much time my favorite foods (pizza and popcorn, if you must know :P) take to cook like I want them to, yet, I can't tell the microwave how much I want it to cook with < 2 buttons! What gives ?

Microwave designers seem to think that they know better than me how I want my food...

-ZaidaZadkiel

PS: Your latest posts have little to do with coding horrors...

totally agreed

things became sooo complicated, i dont need these features

normally though the best solution is to buy the CHEAPEST because these things are normally the SIMPLEST as well

I've got an LG microwave with a similarly complex layout, but also a "Start" button. Each time you press this button, it cooks on full for 30 seconds. We've had this microwave for about 7 years, and have only ever used this button, even to the extent of pressing it 10 times for 5 minutes.

That's why I bought a microwave oven that has only 5 buttons (add 10 minutes, add 1 minute, add 10 seconds, change power / grill, start), but to simply turn it on, you hit the "Start" button and it turns on for two minutes with max power, easy as you can get.

The important thing was, when choosing the oven, that the most expensive ones actually had MUCH less controls than the el-cheapos. And it was impossible to find a good company oven with knob or two - they all must have digital controls. And yes, it's really essential for an oven to serve as another green ghostly light in your kitchen.

Options are the sign that the vendor does not have any clue what problem the machine solves. And this knowledge is inverse proportional to the number of options.

At home I have an old Panasonic with 10min, 1min, 10s and 1s buttons for time, power toggle button and bunch of presets (that are never used) and I think it's great. I much prefer it over dial-based ones. One feature I often use is the delay/stand timer. Unfortunately it isn't very intuitive and the minute buttons become hours and the second buttons become minutes. Here in the UK, most new microwaves are the two-dial type.

That must be an american thing. I've never seen so many buttons on new microwaves here in Scandinavia. Mine has three buttons and a time selection dial.

if you want knobs..

+10s
+1m
Stop

No start. the thing starts when you press one of the buttons. it stops / resets /aborts when you press the stop button. you can add time with the + buttons. multiple presses for adding more of the same.
If you need more than 5 presses, put it in the oven. It turns itself off after not doing anything for some time. It powers on when you open the door of the microwave.

So what's the problem.

As has been noted, the microwaves here in Scandinavia have simple dials -- I hate them and long for the fine control of buttons. When I know that a frozen pizza is best with "2 min 15 sec", I want to type "215 Start" instead of dialing 2:00 or 2:30 and having it under- or overdone. Control fetish? Perhaps, but it's just as easy for me to feel that everyone else is afraid of numbers. Absolutely no insult intended since what I'd really like to see is variety. Why not offer both kinds for all markets?

And you cannot do any repairs. The light bulb burned out on a Panasonic. They use special security screws. A new bulb install was over $50.00. Just buy a new one.

Couldn't agree more. It's a shame we're in an infinitesimally small minority. Ask any person on the street (or just about any of the people developing requirements on the system I maintain that's now EOL) and they will tell you that more features = better.
I tried to explain to my wife that the fact that I honestly cannot figure out how to properly use my stove is a failure in the design of it's controls. She knows instinctively that we (she can't figure it out either) are the morons and that whoever designed the thing is right.

reminds me of the Windows shut down menu. it used to be just shut down.. now in vista you have the option to sleep, hibernate, relax, snooze, shut down, die, feign dead, or log out.

simple is beautiful.

Another great example of this is the new cell phone voicemail systems you encounter all the time. In the old days it was "Hi, you've reached the phone of so and so, please leave a message after the beep." BEEEEP. And that was it. Now instead of beep you get "To cure cancer press #1245*02 to end world hunger play jingle bells by pressing the buttons, now to leave a message, which is really the whole point of this stupid service, please wait till I'm done blabbing about a bunch of useless stuff." BEEEEP.

There is no worse design sin than to think it's possible to "improve" a simple interface with a more complicated one. Seriously, all I ever do is press the quick minute button on the microwave a couple of times and open the door when I feel like it's ready.

Last time I checked a parts catalog (a while ago!) digital keypads were much cheaper than analog controls. Maybe instead of a design issue it is primarily economic? Not that this excuses it, having no explicit design effort is also a design effort.

I love digital controls, especially when I get to enter 99 seconds and the microwave doesnt convert that to minutes. I feel like Ive beaten the computer!

Someone at my office bought us a microwave oven having a knob instead of the now-traditional touch buttons. You push the knob to start the time setting, then twisted the knob for increments of 30 seconds. It was so different that it actually comes with a voice prompt on how to operate the thing. I was thinking the same thing: "This is progress?!" Now your point about the dial makes me rethink my satisfaction when we went back to a device with "normal" touch buttons.

Worst microwave horror story:

One place I worked, if the power went out, as it did from time to time, the microwave was unusable until you set the clock! If someone hadn't told me I'd still be there trying to heat up my lunch.

I can't imagine what the designers were thinking.

As to repairs, a microwave is pretty dangerous if the microwave tube is started without the door closed, or worse yet, with the case off. So it's understandable. Still a PITA about the bulb, though.

> However some microwaves will start with a single button push. '3' for 3 minutes, etc. Mine does that for digits 1-6.

I used to have one of those too. It always bugged me that that feature only worked for 1-6 minutes. Granted, it's not often that you need to heat something beyond that, but the logic is obviously already there -- how hard would it be to wire it up to 7-9 also?

A similar issue with digital camera's.

If two variables on a uwave (time & power) confuse the average user, try three variables in photography aperture (f-stop), time (shutter speed) and sensitivity (ISO); not to mention color temperature or focus. How many people take their digital camera off the auto setting? How many would even consider going into manual mode? We live in a point and shoot world.

i can't believe a post like this generated so many comments.
to answer the question, "quick, which button do you press?", DUH! START! I thought it would be obvious.

Whenever I shop for a microwave, I have one question: does it have a "plus 1 minute" button? I always operate microwaves by just pressing that one button repeatedly, and I ignore everything else.

What happened to the good old oven? Different food takes different time to cook depending on the food and manufacturer. Like some pizzas are to be heated on 250C and some 175C with different times. So I couldn't use "Frozen pizza"-button (unless I buy "frozen pizza"-compatible pizzas). Surely power and time -instructions are given for microwave too in the pizza packages. That is two buttons.

But generally I would like to have settings for different things. And I would like to be able to program settings. So I could choose what reads in my quick buttons and what they do. Though there could be also preset buttons. The quick buttons should be in the main role of the user interface so that I could clearly see what are quick buttons and what are just helping tools.

Also I would like that my oven emitted a louder beep when it is heated. Now it is only a small click-sound, I have no chance to hear it from my other rooms when I listen music.

try heating up a babies bottle that requires precisely 20 seconds in one of the old analog microwaves.

It is more important to sell an item, than design an item for ease of use.

Yep - simplicity was my consideration when I bought a new microwave. Just 2 controls - power and time - what else do you need?

Personally I only use the [+] and [-] buttons, just close the door then press + until the minutes I want is displayed (it already started).

At rare occassions I also use the effect level button. I have a whirlpool by the way :-)

http://www.whirlpool.se/app.cnt/whr/sv_SE/pageid/pgproddtl001/catid/1/subcatid/5/prodid/20790

Simple and elegant layout.

I find that appliances which can not be thoroughly "test driven" tend to have the most byzantine control systems, designed to provide a checklist of "features" and "one-touch controls", not to provide ease of use on an ongoing basis.

When was the last time the store let you heat up a bag of popcorn in a microwave in the store? No, instead, they have a "popcorn" button, which runs at full power for a time approximately equal to the time recommended on the popcorn bag's packaging. Still burns it half the time and leaves half the kernels unpopped the other half if you don't follow the bag instructions (listen until the pops come 1-2 seconds apart and stop the microwave).

At our office we have two different microwaves with completely different control systems. Both have "one-touch" buttons for 1-6 minute intervals. Anything which doesn't ask for one of those six settings requires examining the control pad and five or ten seconds of experimentation.

Personally, the only "convenience" feature worth the complexity is the addition of the "Add 0:30" (or "Add Minute") button. Other than that, give me a simple keypad where I enter the time needed, optionally modify the power (it should allow me to specify the time and power in either order) then hit "start".

Even better: a logarithmic-scale dial (equal intervals for 5 seconds, 15 seconds, 30, 45, 60, 90, 2-10 minutes on each minute, 12, 15, then 20) for time and a dial for power, plus a single "start" button. Adding thirty seconds would be accomplished by turning the dial clockwise 30 seconds further. That's it.

But, instead, I get a control pad that tries to outthink me, and assumes I'm entering some multi-step program of consecutive cooking steps if I tell it the power level before the time (or vice versa, on the other microwave). It is an absolute usability mess.

Alarm clocks are even worse. I would KILL to be able to get an alarm clock that I did not have to read a manual to set. They get worse when they are clock radios. Why must we have digital controls on analog radios -- even worse - digital controls tied to analog controls

Hi Jeff (& co.)
Have we talked about these things yet? From a UI perspective, why the following:

1. Why do microwaves need to have a built in clock?*
2. Why do the buttons have to beep?**
3. Is the smallest possible number of keys for a non-knob microwave 11?
(0-9, plus start?)

Guesses:
1. The microwave is the primary kitchen clock for most people? (If so, then why no battery backup?)
2. Switches behind membranes have such poor tactile feedback that beeps are considered necessary.
3. Would most people revolt if they couldn't reduce the power, and would that mean adding 1 switch, or four?

*pet peeve
**bigger pet peeve. When nuking hot water at 4am, I really don't want to be any more awake than I absolutely have to be.

1. Brownouts? In my kitchen? Unpossible! ;) But the primary clock thing - yeah. We have a regular analog one, but the microwave one is at eye-height.

2. Membranes are easier to clean. A solution would be industrial style "safety" buttons with a rubber cap, but those are incredibly ugly and they still have edges, and edges means places for grease to stack up.

3. I just had a revelation: use the iPod wheel! Dial to choose the time - it "naturally" works because the arms of a clock do the same, using the ticks as feedback for the seconds, then hit the middle button to nuke. Add a few preset buttons for the power.

The worst part of it is that these controls are supposed to <em>simplify</em> your life and <em>help</em> you figure out how much time to cook your meal...

It's like we're trying to outsource every thing we used to do into machines.

I completely agree. That's why I bought this microwave.

http://products.geappliances.com/ApplProducts/Dispatcher?REQUEST=SPECPAGE&SKU=JES1384SF&SITEID=GEA

It's still digital controls, but there is a big knob to set the time.

Hey Jeff,

here is how you can optimize Microwave controls on the fly. Popcorn button is good enough for most warming ups, unless you have a hefty bowl of soup which require double popcorn time.

Popcorn. Start. Done.

Don't press Poultry ever. It activates the Megatron which kills all Bluetooth in its path.

I couldn't agree more with you, Jeff.

And for those of you who thinks the buttons are there because "The 'high-tech' microwave interface is designed to diffuse the 'gunk' delivered by mucky hands (think hygiene). Check out the single dial interface - it's filthy."

I have one word for you: Click-Wheel.

Spot on. I never manage to operate new microwave properly on first try.

TIME? POWER? START? DEFROST?

Midori:

1. Why do microwaves need to have a built in clock?
Because a clock is essential in a kitchen, and one on your oven is the ideal place to put it. If you're cooking several things, you need to have them ready at the same time, a clock allows you to figure out when to start cooking the next thing.

2. Why do the buttons have to beep?**
Feedback is essential. They don't *have* to beep, they can provide a nice clicky response to your touch. You wouldn't be happy digging your thumb at a lump of plastic and having to look at whether you were pressing the button or pressing the plastic between them.

3. Is the smallest possible number of keys for a non-knob microwave 11?
nope, its 1. The cook-for-30-seconds button, press repeatedly to set longer times.

As people have said, the UI of the dial is poor - you cannot control it to a required degree of accuracy, it gets dirty and is difficult to clean. The digital one allows you to enter a time and wipe it clean.

Incidentally, I have used one of those all-in-one buttons on my microwave, the baked potato one (my m,w is a oven and a microwave in one). This sets the cooking temps correctly, I just have to enter the time to cook with those settings without having to remember whether its @450W and 220C, or 750W and 180C.

Hey Jeff, that's our microwave on the left! Obviously. If you can find a really simple one like that one on the right, let's get it for the cafe.

I'm actually fairly happy with my latest microwave, and it has a neat feature I'd never thought of before getting it. It has the "add 30" button, which I use most often, but the really neat feature is that, with no time entered, if you press and hold the start button, it runs and the timer counts up the seconds you've run for. This is awesome for something where you just want to heat it for a couple more seconds.

Thanks for the feedback.
Rob Janssen, the clickwheel thing (or the 2nd gen swirly thing) would be really darn cool.
AndyB, re #2, I'd love deep, clicky tactile feedback behind that membrane instead of beeping.

time to put IBM-style keyboard on the microwave instead of this cheap sensor crap. How about voice recognition? "Chicken!" "Popcorn"
"Boil" "Stop"

Based on # of responses, you hit a nerve. And, with me. When we bought our Honda van in 2000, I was stunned that the heater/AC control was on a touchscreen. And, you initiate the touchscreen by reaching across to press a button found in a vertical row of four, as far a reach as almost anything on the dashboard. So, everything about the process requires taking your eyes off the road. It's one thing to control a microwave standing in the kitchen, but how about controlling the heat on a snowy day tooling down the highway in Chicago. You just don't.

Can you make a phone call with the left oven? The numpad resembles a phone so much i'd like to try to call my house.

Maybe this can actually become practical. You could order some foods and it would be delivered warm in your microwave oven.

Count me in the "1-6 minutes plus add 30 seconds" camp. That's what I use 99% of the time.

Soup? Press 2, stir, press 1.
Pretzels? Press 1.
Hot Pockets? Press 3, then "add 30 seconds".
Almost anything else? Press "add 30 seconds" twice for each minute.

I never use the popcorn/poultry/reheat/defrost buttons. When I make popcorn in the microwave, I always use my ears to tell me when to stop. The one 'advanced feature' I consistently use is the timer function. (And when I try to enter a cooking time manually, I usually end up setting the clock.)

If you're there to listen, it's easy to hit exactly the right amount of time: if you need to cook something for 20 seconds, use the "add 30 seconds" button and press "stop" when the timer reads 10 seconds...