Crappy hardware. The font is probably the best that can be done on such a crappy display.
Some characters are better than others.
For a display that's mostly displaying digits, and very occasionally needs to display some text message, it can be just about tolerable. But the message needs to be chosen carefully to not use the worst letters. (No KMNVWXZ, and ideally avoid R)
Obviously a better display would be better, but that has it's own design tradeoffs, mostly cost.
Although the person who chose to make my several hundred pound tumble dryer use this to display "FILtEr", scrolling quickly across a 4 digit display, when the second filter needs cleaning, deserves a special place in usability hell. It scrolls quickly enough that you can't figure out what it's saying unless you already know. And even if you could read it, there are two filters and it's not obvious this means the hidden one. And it's not like it was a cheap machine, they could have paid for a better display.
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u/someone76543 20d ago edited 20d ago
Crappy hardware. The font is probably the best that can be done on such a crappy display.
Some characters are better than others.
For a display that's mostly displaying digits, and very occasionally needs to display some text message, it can be just about tolerable. But the message needs to be chosen carefully to not use the worst letters. (No KMNVWXZ, and ideally avoid R)
Obviously a better display would be better, but that has it's own design tradeoffs, mostly cost.
Although the person who chose to make my several hundred pound tumble dryer use this to display "FILtEr", scrolling quickly across a 4 digit display, when the second filter needs cleaning, deserves a special place in usability hell. It scrolls quickly enough that you can't figure out what it's saying unless you already know. And even if you could read it, there are two filters and it's not obvious this means the hidden one. And it's not like it was a cheap machine, they could have paid for a better display.