I've previously known two methods of entering names etc. on a tv screen.

[conuly]

The first is the alphabet in alphabetical order in a grid of perhaps 3 - 6 lines. The second is, of course, the QWERTY keyboard.

Recently I was introduced to a third method, because the kid's dad kindly shared a different streaming service with us (and I forget one, I'm so incensed at this bad design): Alphabetical order in a line.

Why? Dear god, why? If I could just remember which one I could condemn it more strongly.

***********

A Dutch inventor is cleaning the world's most polluted rivers in an effort to save the oceans

Why the hidden world of fungi is essential to life on Earth

The Strange Saga of America’s Most Reviled Statue, Nude George Washington

Bottled Up: Three Centuries of Whimsey Constructed Within Walls of Glass

My blind cat with her stuffed penguin (The cat door leads to an enclosed catio, she's not wandering outside unsupervised)

Fossil footprints: the fascinating story behind the longest known prehistoric journey (I'm charmed by the image of children in the misty past jumping between mammoth footprints)

This gorgeous songbird is half male, half female

What does the cerebellum really do?

Israel unblocks big immigration of Ethiopian Jews

How a Chilean raspberry scam dodged food safety controls from China to Canada

The Sorority That Tried to Abolish Itself

The Few, the Proud, the White: The Marine Corps Balks at Promoting Generals of Color

Public Transit and the Postal Service Have the Same Problem

Pandemic Quiet Means We Can Eavesdrop on Rare Australian Dolphins

‘I Feel Like I Have Dementia’: Brain Fog Plagues Covid Survivors

Kids struggle with Covid-19 and its months of aftermath

The World Needs a New Refugee Convention

How a Road Trip Through America's Battlegrounds Revealed a Nation Plagued by Misinformation

‘We Were Bulletproof’: As Child Soldiers Grow Up, Legacy of War Lingers

'I Don't Want This Fate For My Children': Lebanese Leave Amid Growing Crisis

Oil Companies Are Profiting From Illegal Spills. And California Lets Them.

Comments

[wolby]

I've seen nude GW! I came across it all unawares in a Smithsonian basement 7-8 years ago and immediately started referring to it as The One That Makes You Contemplate George Washington's Nipples.

[ex_inklessej388]

I've had many nights where I sit down to watch a movie and it all comes to a crashing halt trying to use the search function.

[conuly]

It's such a terrible layout.

[conuly]

What's weird is that he isn't even nude. He's sitting draped in a towel.

[melita66]

I am always absurdly happy if the cursor can wrap around--AKA something like A to L or Q to P on a QWERTY layout. It's so rare I don't always check.

[ex_inklessej388]

I am not sure which I prefer however, or hate less perhaps, the alphabet layout with 3-6 per row (a la Apple TV) or the QWERTY keyboard. And at the end of the day I think the problem isn't so much the GUI but the hardware device, television remotes suck for moving a selection tool around like a cursor. We need mini track balls, bring back the track ball!

[ex_inklessej388]

Also, relevant (thank you for the inspiration):

It's time for...what text input method do you hate the least:

1) Alphabetical in rows of 3-6.
2) Straight line alphabetical.
3) QWERTY style on screen.

For the life of me I *always* struggle with these on the television. pic.twitter.com/uzj8SQdlLS

— Eric James (@StoicCatholic) October 13, 2020

[oloriel]

Yeah, our TV box follows that system too. If you want to insert text, you have to go through ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZÄÖÜ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzäöüß .:,;-_'"!&/\() and it's the WORST.

I'm not a fan of the alphabet in a grid way either, though. I'm so used to followying QWERTY (or rather QWERTZ) that an alphabet grid confuses me and makes me search helplessly for letters like the five year-old learning to type on a mechanical typewriter I once was.

[conuly]

Trackballs get gunk in them, though. Not as bad as trackball mice, but still.

[conuly]

What gets me is that it'd be trivially easy for them to allow us to pick our input method in settings.q

[conuly]

That's a whole nother issue - when you reach the right end and it doesn't just stop, does it go back to the start of that line or does it move to the start of the NEXT line?

[ex_inklessej388]

Well, we could Black Mirror this and what we need is implants that read our minds when we want to watch something and just *know* where to go and what to put on.

[conuly]

What's the error rate, and how does it handle disputes between family members? Because if I don't have to deal with this crappy interface again, I'll consider it.

[oloriel]

Nooo! You can't let people have options!

[ex_inklessej388]

Well this is Black Mirror so there is something nefarious that you are only vaguely made aware of when you start the process. In this instance, it turns out that the implant that goes into you is merely a transceiver that sends signals to a receiver in the device. The "receiver" in this instance is a part of your brain that can read the signals and understand the demands from your own brain, which the engineers determined worked best what it was a literal copy of your being programming into the box. So you get this cool implant and you can just turn on the television and get the shows and content you want without ever having to use a remote or search screen ever again. But...a part of you is living in complete horror inside the box *forever*.

[conuly]

I choose choice!

[conuly]

But I'm never aware of it, so whatevs. That's a price I'm willing to pay.

[ex_inklessej388]

I like your style.

[greghousesgf]

I was just going to say that's a strange definition of "nude".

[kengr]

My blu-ray player will let you hook up a USB keyboard. But ity will only let you use the letter keys when entering passwords. The rest of the time you still have to use arrow keys on the keyboard or the remote to enter text.

This is an *insanely* stupid design.

[conuly]

Ugh.

[conuly]

Listen, we can't watch TV without breaking a few souls.

[wolby]

It is, but trust me, when you see it in person, all you can think is "nipples??"