I heat my dinner for …wait, I do not know what is happening
When I took out my food left yesterday and was about to heat it, I was thinking of heating it for 2 minutes. Then I searched on the button panel to see what I could do.
I did not understand how to input the time by looking at the number panel. Well, I can definitely press “add 30 sec” for four times to get my two minutes. But I am too lazy to do so. So I pressed 2, expected that I will get 2 minutes on the display area. I did get 2 on the display, is this right?
I pressed the “START” button. And my food got heat for 2 seconds.
Let me try it again. I pressed “2” and “0”, does this means I will get 20 seconds? Yes, I did.
Okay, so, to get 2 minutes, should I try to press “1”, “2”, and “0” to get 120 seconds? Let’s see.
Well, I got 1 minute and 20 seconds.
Finally, I figured it out how this works. Every time I input another number, the previous number will move one slot to left.
I was wondering what will happen if I press “1”, “8”, and “0”…
Ah-ha, I got 1 minute and 80 seconds! This is so funny.
What is wrong with my microwave?
Actually, after getting used to this setting, every time I just type the minute and second I need as the sequence, then it is easy to get what I need. But for the beginner, the way to input the time totally does not make sense. And the fact that we can input more than 60 seconds in the second area is just non-intuitive at all. If a person using a tool must expend cognitive effort to translate what he or she wants into a plan based on the tool’s available operations, then the available operations should be as close to people cognitive model as possible.
How to fix it?
There are many different ways using to input time in microwaves. We should always provide an intuitive way for the users to input time or at least let them know how to get them. Having a unit after a number for only adding minutes or seconds will work. If some people do not think it is an intuitive way, then at least providing a simple instruction to illustrate how it works.
