An Example of Terrible UI Design: The Gas Gauge in the Volkswagen Atlas | Hacker News Reader

An Example of Terrible UI Design: The Gas Gauge in the Volkswagen Atlas

core77.com

43 pointsfortran7718 comments

>Is it just me? Would you glance down at that gauge on the Atlas and instantly read 1/4 full?

At a quick glance yes, but I noticed pretty quickly that the arrow is attached to the fuel pump icon and I already knew that it indicates the side of the filler cap so I quite quickly found the white lines next to it. It's pretty awful design though and you could immediately improve it by placing the pump icon below E.

I'm a big fan of the instrument cluster in my car (https://mbworld.org/forums/attachments/c-class-w204/337121d1...) since it's so clean and I feel that all of these digital clusters are going to be a massive downgrade when it comes to readability.

I was looking at that dash picture for a good couple of minutes trying to figure out where the f one saw the gas level

Edit: I realize you're talking about the picture in the GP comment (it's a Mercedes dash), below I'm talking about the UI in the article (the VW Atlas);

It's pretty bad UI, the 2 bars are thinner than the scale lines, and the fuel pump icon with the arrow seems to be just slapped on there not aligned to anything.

I don't really understand how. I think it's pretty big and obvious.

What does the coffee cup icon indicate to the left of P?

ATTENTION ASSIST: https://www.mercedesbenzhiltonhead.com/blog/what-does-the-co...

In the eighties and nineties, BMW and Mercedes spent a huge amount of money on researching how to lay out car interiors. The idea being, a car with easy to read displays and easy to use controls is going to be safer.

Although, TBH, I think the best heater controls are from old Toyotas. https://bringatrailer.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/1618833... Windshield fogging up? Push all the controls to the right. Don't even have to look at it.

I think I prefer my automatic climate control controls though, since I almost never have a need to touch it. I just have it set for 22°C and on full auto. During winter I may need to press the defogger or the rear window defrosting buttons but not even that often.

It's fine if you study it. This design would be no problem to an owner, but quite deceptive to a renter.

Speaking of terrible UI design.

Having a website that displays a modal dialogue asking for someone's email address to subscribe it to a newsletter, and making the close button not work properly is truly terrible UI design. Was so angry that it took me 10 touch-clicks to close the pop-up, that I didn't want to bother reading the article!

uBlock and one of the available "annoyances" filter lists blocked it. The web just isn't the same without it.

It says a lot about the web that such things are necessary just to have an experience that isn't dogshit awful.

I agree. I sort of forget about it until I'm using someone else's browser. I'm surprised that people are okay with it.

I wonder which is a bigger business advantage: a website that's optimised for tracking and engagement, or a website that offers a frictionless experience.

I built the latter [1]. It wasn't a strategic decision, just a personal preference. However I realise that a fast, straightforward website without SEO keyword soup, newsletter prompts, cookie notices, trackers, 4 MB of JavaScript and distractions is extremely valuable to the readers too. Even Google appreciates a fast, well-organised website.

I'm not sure if I could squeeze anything more out of my readership with any of those things. On the other hand, I have a feeling that when people see my domain in the search results, they might favour it over the others. I know I do for certain websites.

[1] https://allaboutberlin.com

> “An Example of Terrible UI Design”

> site content is 90% obscured by a newsletter promo and a cookie warning when viewed on a small-screen iPhone

I agree that it is weird to go on a rant on UI design on a site which clearly leaves as much to be desired as this one.

It often amazes me how little barrier people seem to have to point fingers instead of first reflecting on themselves and their own actions. Because let's be honost, this isn't some constructive feedback blog post on how he thinks they could improve it. It's a rant after someone nearly ran out of gas.

Also a whole random story around it just for that little tidbit of information. The article may have been actually good if it listed several examples of poor UI designs in vehicles with theme of "minimalist at the expense of legibility".

The arrow tells you which side the fuel door is on. It’s a pretty common design, but I agree it’s not positioned particularly well here. It’s not impossible to figure out what they were going for either, and I’ve seen far worse design choices in far more expensive cars.

I am guessing the design intent here is that the Average Driver is has been cultured to look at the "range remaining" number and not the fuel gauge. Fewer automotive companies are using actual analog gauges for 2 reasons... they are expensive and take up too much precious dashboard real estate. While I love tech, I detest virtual gauges. Not to say that real gauges are always better... in my car there is a real water temp gauge...needle and everything. I have been told it does not display the real temp...it shows 90C when all is well...and nothing else. Only when things really get bad will the ECU tell that needle to move. Some gauges can lie better than others, I suppose.

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