Help my brain please ?

[Externet]

Frequently I encounter situations I cannot discern.  

Example:  Touching the volume knob on a "smart" phone device, the screen shows an interactive icon   among other things...

Is that telling me that the bell is off or is it a button to turn the bell off ?  How to know what these "intuitive" icons mean ?  There is nothing that helps identify it as a button nor a signal.  Do I need a second brain transplant ?  Does it happen to you too ?  How do you resolve the doubt ?  What is crooked in my thinking ?

Is implementing these things a product of intelligent or idiots designing operational interfaces ?   Are these meant for intelligent operators or for idiots ?

 

[CharonY]

I think you are just fine. Binary symbols often have these ambiguity and often these things are not universal. Sometimes they have an indicator for the active state, so if pressing a button results in these icon being highlighted or appear it can provide more clarity.

17 minutes ago, Externet said:

Are these meant for intelligent operators or for idiots ?

I think the the answer is yes. Ultimately many of these decisions are made to make things less cluttered and slick. At the same time it means that it conveys less information. The basic idea is probably that after trying it out once you get the idea. There are whole discussions about resolving ambiguity in UIs. Often the answer seems to be setting design standards, but if folks cannot agree on them, it will remain ambiguous. I also think that smartphones are designed to make us less smart, but I guess that is another discussion :).

[Peterkin]

3 hours ago, Externet said:

Frequently I encounter situations I cannot discern.  

Example:  Touching the volume knob on a "smart" phone device, the screen shows an interactive icon   among other things...

Is that telling me that the bell is off or is it a button to turn the bell off ?  How to know what these "intuitive" icons mean ?  There is nothing that helps identify it as a button nor a signal.  Do I need a second brain transplant ?     What is crooked in my thinking ?

 

You don't need crooked thinking. The people who make them know what they mean and expect everyone else to know what they mean. Sometimes they're wrong. Well, geez, they're only human - and maybe of a different generation or a different culture. I'd guess that icon means the sound is turned off. The only way I can think of to test the hypothesis is to have someone call me and listen, then toggle it to the other setting and have the same person call me and listen. (The person who calls must be a cohort and sympathetic, and now I owe him one we won't talk about.)  

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Does it happen to you too ?

 I shun the devil's devices! nevertheless, they are inescapable. I've been ducking Microsoft's nags about Windows 11 for a week or more. Probably can't avoid it forever: it will just sneak up on my compy in the night while I'm sleeping and order me to restart so it can install and reconfigure or whatever and half my programs will promptly crash.

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How do you resolve the doubt ?

I don't. I self-medicate, then punch buttons at random and live in constant doubt.

Edited January 20, 2022 by Peterkin

[beecee]

2 hours ago, CharonY said:

I think you are just fine. Binary symbols often have these ambiguity and often these things are not universal.

Especially if you're an old bastard.