Poll: Touchscreen or Buttons (E-ink)

[Donnageddon]

Originally Posted by ApK

Seriously? SERIOUSLY? You can't see that the smallest number up there is the number of folks who say touch is all they need, and EVERYONE else prefers non-touch for at least some purposes? Which is the point I've been trying to make since page one?

A wise person said "Blindness is required for that sort of 'vision.'"

OK, you got me, I can't keep up.

ApK, I can see you're a nice person. Probably a fine person. But in what way does "I like touch, but also with page turn buttons" put them in the "prefer non touch" category?

As a fine, and good person, I am sure you will admit your mistake.

[astra]

Originally Posted by ApK

Seriously? SERIOUSLY? You can't see that the smallest number up there is the number of folks who say touch is all they need, and ALL THE REST say they prefer non-touch for at least some purposes? Which is the only point I've been trying to make since page one?

A wise person said "Blindness is required for that sort of 'vision.'"

OK, you got me, I can't keep up.

I like touchscreen, but with physical page-turn buttons. 		136

How do you come to this conclusion

they prefer non-touch for at least some purposes

from this poll is beyond my comprehension

I guess it is a classical case of

Engage in wishful thinking

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by ApK

and ALL THE REST say they prefer non-touch for at least some purposes?

Oh, I'd like to remove my vote then. I prefer touch. But there are times where physical buttons are more handy. For example when I'm eating and have my reader propped up on the table. Or am laying in bed, and don't want to get my hands above the blankets. Or simply because I just put some suncream on.

[anamardoll]

Clearly we need a new poll.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by astra

I like touchscreen, but with physical page-turn buttons. 		136

How do you come to this conclusion from this poll is beyond my comprehension

I'd say "you're the only one" but there seems to be a few of you, so I really have no idea what the disconnect is here. Perhaps you can explain it:

If one would choose to have physical page turn buttons, does this not imply that, at least some of the time one would prefer not use the touch screen for turning pages? Is turning pages not a basic purpose of a reader? If one could not find a reason to prefer non-touch for at least some purposes wouldn't one choose the "more touch more better" option?
Have not the several respondents who said they'd ideally like some additional buttons, like 'back' made it plain that they'd prefer non-touch for those purposes they explicitly stated? Have not several people besides myself said that while touch is really handy for a lot of things, when we notice that we fail to get the results we want from the touch interfaces we use (like fat-fingering selections) we'd prefer a non-touch option to achieve that purpose?

I admit I only speak one language, but I thought we were all using English here, and in English I cannot think of any way to interpret all these words and comments other than as I have. What are you seeing here that I'm not?
All I'm hearing back, repeatedly, ad nauseum, is "Touch is clearly better and none of your arguments change that."

p.s. I've always wondered why the smiley guy in the 'help' graphic looked grumpy. Now I understand.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Oh, I'd like to remove my vote then. I prefer touch. But there are times where physical buttons are more handy. For example when I'm eating and have my reader propped up on the table. Or am laying in bed, and don't want to get my hands above the blankets. Or simply because I just put some suncream on.

You mean that sometimes, for the purpose of not getting oily fingerprints on your screen, you'd prefer non-touch? And because sometimes depending on how you are using your reader, you find the ergonomics of buttons work better for the purpose of turning pages?

And you'd want to change your vote why exactly?
Cuz that's ALL I have been saying.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by ApK

You mean that sometimes, for the purpose of not getting oily fingerprints on your screen, you'd prefer non-touch? And because sometimes depending on how you are using your reader, you find the ergonomics of buttons work better for the purpose of turning pages?

You're really twisting words...


Let's rephrase what you said:

And because sometimes depending on how you are using your reader, you find the ergonomics of a touchscreen work better for the purpose of turning pages?

And I never prefer non-touch to touch. Simply because I don't use touch for every single action, doesn't imply I prefer non-touch. As that is what you've been saying.


And the reason I don't like to touch the screen with dirty fingers is not because of fingerprints, but rather because I'm not sure what it'll do to the coating of the screen... And it's not a purpose, but a reason to use the buttons.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Let's rephrase what you said:

That wasn't a rephrasing, that was the converse argument. You've managed to cleverly deduce what I've been saying explicitly all along.

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

And the reason I don't like to touch the screen with dirty fingers is not because of fingerprints, but rather because I'm not sure what it'll do to the coating of the screen... And it's not a purpose, but a reason to use the buttons.

Very well. For those who are not willing to include both "want to avoid the annoying appearance of marks left by fingers" and "want to avoid any possible detrimental effects of marks left by fingers" in the single category of "want to avoid fingerprints," I'll add it as an additional item to my list reasons why someone might reasonably prefer non-touch. Thanks!

[Poppaea]

Oh, come on, APK, stop being ridiculous! There is a difference between eating a grilled chicken and touch your screen and just touching your screen with normally clean/dirty hands!

Those who answered no touch for me, are those who won't touch it even with clean finger, while those of us who like their touchscreens, won't touch it with gooey or sticky fingers anymore as we would touch anything else we own.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by ApK

That wasn't a rephrasing, that was the converse argument. You've managed to cleverly deduce what I've been saying explicitly all along.

What, that the majory wants a touch screen?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

Oh, come on, APK, stop being ridiculous! There is a difference between eating a grilled chicken and touch your screen and just touching your screen with normally clean/dirty hands!

Oh come on, Poppaea, stop being ridiculous! Some people's fingers are naturally oilier and apt to leave marks even when clean, and also some people don't want to have to scrub up before reading a book. Heck, I hear some people even read while snacking or on a lunch break!

And folks like Harmon an JSWolf are repeated telling us that for all of these people, swiping is clearly the superior option.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

What, that the majory wants a touch screen?

That was never in doubt or argued. The argument on that matter is that the majority also has good reasons for NOT wanting to use a touch screen sometimes.

And, no, that's not what your converse argument said, nor what I was referring to.
What your converse argument said is that sometimes people prefer touch screens. No kidding. I'm one of them. As I've said, explicitly, many times.
(In my personal case, I NEVER prefer touch for page turns, just for other ops, and it's not logically valid to claim anyone does from the actual argument you made, but I can see how others might. I'm the reasonable one, here.)

This is aside from the observation that more people seem to be saying they'd prefer to NOT have a touch screen at all than are saying they'd want a touch screen only (a la the iDevices or new Kobo), and yet several people are repeatedly doing a Homer and ignoring them.

[Poppaea]

Originally Posted by ApK

Oh come on, Poppaea, stop being ridiculous! Some people's fingers are naturally oilier and apt to leave marks even when clean,

Well, this is really is too funny as there are no oil glands on the palm side of your hands...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebaceous_gland

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

Well, this is really is too funny as there are no oil glands on the palm side of your hands...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebaceous_gland

Wow, what a great point. Oil never spreads. Latent finger prints are a myth. Free everyone from the prisons convicted on fingerprint evidence unless we can prove they were eating fried chicken right before the crime.

[anamardoll]

I think maybe there's a disconnect between two sets of people that have been accidentally represented in a single "some touch, some buttons" group.

There's the "buttons are for special situations" group. This group would use touch screen all the time, but can't because sometimes they have chicken grease or Cheetos dust on their hands and prefer to use buttons in those cases. Or sometimes they read one-handed, and physical buttons are (generally) more supportive of that. So these groups would be fine with an all-touch screen except that Real Life interferes with that dream.

Then there's the "buttons are for special functions" group. This group actually wants dedicated buttons for things that they can't/won't/don't use touch screens for. This would include people who prefer hard keyboards to soft ones (fair enough if you're typing by feel -- soft keyboards are tricky for typing by feel), people who prefer a dedicated "back" button to searching for one on the screen, and people who prefer page buttons to page swipes for ergonomic reasons. These people are different from the first group, because they don't want buttons because they are a sad necessity in an imperfect world; they want buttons because they prefer buttons for certain things. (They still like touch screens for other functions, though, so they couldn't select the "no touchy!" option on the poll.)

I think we're seeing both of these groups represented in the "middle ground" portion of the poll. For instance, I voted "I like touchscreen, but with physical page-turn buttons." but I really, really LIKE buttons.

I just got a Sony 950 and -- for me -- it's much more intuitive to have dedicated buttons for book options and zooming rather than the Nook Color buttons that popped up every time I touched the center of the screen. I didn't like that particular touch interface at all.

So while I like touch screen for some functions, I prefer buttons for others. I think that stance is a little different from some people saying "I voted the second option, but really just because page buttons are a necessary evil for the way I use the device." Maybe that's the source of the disconnect here?