[HN Gopher] The worst volume control UI in the world (2017)
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The worst volume control UI in the world (2017)
Author : andsoitis
Score : 39 points
Date : 2026-03-18 10:22 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (uxdesign.cc)
(TXT) w3m dump (uxdesign.cc)
| jibal wrote:
| I just want to be able to get to 11.
| pseudohadamard wrote:
| Here you go, https://store.thodio.com/products/new-anodized-
| aluminum-a-bo...
| jibal wrote:
| whoosh
| pseudohadamard wrote:
| Is that self-referential? I knew exactly what the OP was
| asking.
| jibal wrote:
| Whoosh again. I'm the OP in this case.
| socalgal2 wrote:
| How is it whoosh? Seemed exactly like what you where
| referencing. Knobs marked by up to 11 inspired by the same
| source, Spinal Tap.
| bigfishrunning wrote:
| Just 1 more loud
| socalgal2 wrote:
| I just want it to be able to be set between 0 and 1, because on
| iPhone 0 = off 1 = 30% volume
| 10 = 100% volume
|
| You are not allowed to set it between 0 and 1.
|
| + Mud flaps
| sph wrote:
| Beautiful, forgot about this one. The precursor to some of
| neal.fun's creations.
|
| - https://neal.fun/not-a-robot/
|
| - https://neal.fun/password-game/
| aa-jv wrote:
| I once worked for a mainstream headphone manufacturer who added a
| volume control to a product that was so widely despised that a
| special firmware release had to be done to disable it completely,
| or else the returns bin would overflow almost overnight ..
|
| So this had me chuckling so hard, having worked professionally in
| the pro audio world for decades - I can say that some of these
| 'solutions' would actually be accepted in certain market segments
| .. I especially love the designs which use a built-in
| accelerometer.
|
| It seems the good ol' knob is not going anywhere any time soon.
| sillywalk wrote:
| I'd add the volume control for Quicktime 4. A dial that you had
| to use a mouse to use.
|
| http://hallofshame.gp.co.at/qtime.htm
|
| EDIT:
|
| previously
|
| 763 points by yankcrime on July 13, 2021 | hide | past | favorite
| | 477 comments
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27819384
| pseudohadamard wrote:
| Ah yes, skeuomorphic design, where you take something that's a
| physical artefact of the hardware and force-fit it onto an
| utterly different device on which it makes no sense whatsoever.
| nico wrote:
| Every now and then I get these hilarious volume control videos on
| TikTok. They show the most horrible ways for doing volume control
|
| One example (you need to play tic tac toe to set the volume)
| https://www.tiktok.com/@vivancodes/video/7612511893340671240
|
| It seems like that account has quite a few more too
| sanjosanjo wrote:
| Tic Tac Toe is hilarious
| RiskScore wrote:
| I've seen this same thing like 100 times. I do not mind.
| harvey9 wrote:
| I liked the one where you make a noise at the level you want to
| set the volume.
| efebarlas wrote:
| I feel like that one's actually pretty good, why should the ear
| calibrate to the device when it can be vice versa?
| semolino wrote:
| How about the most depraved volume control design of all: the
| actual reddit web video player (at least the embedded player on
| old.reddit)?
|
| The slider is hidden by default. Hovering the volume icon makes
| the slider appear. There is margin between the icon and slider,
| though, so you have to quickly "zip" your mouse across this
| gap/chasm before the slider disappears. If you make it over to
| the slider in time, your hover then preserves its visibility.
|
| I know for sure the devs at Conde ain't dogfoodin' on _that_
| interface anymore!
| Sohcahtoa82 wrote:
| > Should is interesting because of its subjectiveness. It's a
| question that only makes sense to be asked in first person. And
| you have to know about much more than just design to be able to
| answer it -- you have to understand about business, technology,
| culture, people. Answering the should question is a skill you
| only get after many, many years answering questions alike.
|
| I wish more front-end designers would consider "should" more
| often.
|
| "Oh, we can make the scrollbars in our web page auto-hide so PC
| users get the same experience as Mac users"
|
| But should you?
|
| No. Because one of the reasons I use a PC is because auto-hiding
| scrollbars on a desktop/laptop is a bug, not a feature, and I
| disabled that bug while I had a Mac because it's annoying.
|
| "Oh, we can implement smooth scrolling in JavaScript!"
|
| But should you?
|
| No. Because browsers _already do it_. And your implementation
| will fail on at least one browser and cause scrolling to just be
| fucked up. If a user has disabled smooth scrolling, it 's
| probably for a reason. Don't force it back on.
|
| "We can create our own implementation of a drop-down box"
|
| But should you?
|
| No. You're reducing accessibility for literally zero gain. I hate
| when I'm entering my address, tabbing through the fields, reach
| the State, and pressing O then R doesn't bring me to "Oregon" or
| "OR", and instead brings me to Rhode Island. Side note: The order
| of entering an address is street address, city, state, zip code.
| If your form order is any different, you're a madman.
| himata4113 wrote:
| Have seen this every single time, the iPhone one is my favorite.
| If you know, you know.
| busymom0 wrote:
| Can you explain that one?
| socalgal2 wrote:
| I get it's not the same thing but I wish iOS had lower volume
| settings. As it is, if 100% is max volume then the difference
| between 0 and unit above 0 on iPhones is about 30% volume. Like,
| in the middle of the night when everything is quiet, if I was the
| set it on the lowest setting and make some game sounds I could
| hear it 2 rooms away with doors open. But, Apple decided you
| don't need to set it below 30%. Maybe they're trying to force you
| to buy Airpods
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