Mar 22
Nov 25
I was observing the low-usability of the buttons on the elevator of my building…
To choose a floor you must slide your finger on the button or simply touch it. The feedback of this action is a sound and a light, but there is no indication of where the finger should be slid.
The sensor is not in the full extent of the button, just in the middle and in one side. The other side has an indication of the floor in Braille. The fact of having information in Braille is another curious fact … because the elevator doesn´t indicate (with non-visual information) on which floor it is… how blind people will know on which floor they are?
And you may notice that the buttons don’t have a standard position. The buttons on the right are a reflection of the buttons on the left side… Null accessibility.
I really like pushing buttons and I think I’m not alone. Several times I saw broken buttons and nervous people trying to push this piece of hard plastic with a sensor inside it. Many people do not understand how this “modern” button works, so they try to push it stronger.
Apparently it’s obvious that there is no sensor in the Braille’s place (how blind people could read without selecting many floors) but a logical thing isn’t necessarily easy and intuitive.
It’s not intuitive thinking about a button that cannot be pushed….