The Mystery of Why Gas Pump Interface Design Sucks So Badly
jalopnik.com
jalopnik.com
Those aren't things in question here
> it seems like the author is conflating visual design with effective user experience
often the fact that people separate those things so much is an issue in itself. visual design is definitely a big part of an effective user experience and a user's feelings about the product they are currently using
much like how the feeling of responsiveness of an interface can be manipulated by simply changing the duration of a few animations (but not the actual duration of the action)
It's funny to watch young kids using quick taps and get nowhere, expecting it to work like an iPad.
The Pepsi equivalent puts Freestyle to shame on UI polish.
I have a hazy memory that in the field of ATM design, the reason you don't get your money before you take your card back is to ensure that people take their card back; because people were focused on getting money, they would leave the card behind as soon as the money was in their hand. The solution was to make getting the card back a necessary step towards getting the money.
The analogy doesn't quite hold; people want the fuel, at the point they have the fuel (and are effectively done getting what they want) the nozzle is still in the car, but is there a way to make finishing the transaction more difficult without replacing the nozzle in the holster? Perhaps if paying by card, the machine could hold onto the card until the nozzle is replaced, or in some other way make payment impossible without replacing the nozzle. That would work where I am, but for all I know there are systems out there in which people complete payment in advance, get their card back, and are then dispensed a pre-agreed amount of fuel.
They could have a mechanical version of this, although the placement would have to be figured out, cars have different dimensions and park differently at the pump.
A rental I had required you to use the ignition key to open the inner fuel cap, and you left the key hanging from that cap as you refuel This makes sure you turn off the engine, and it also makes sure you won't leave without replacing the fuel cap (and obviously that can only be done without the pump nozzle in the way).
That was exactly how it worked in the US until about 20 years ago. But then stations started to require prepayment because there were a number of people skipping that important final step.
In Europe most pumps are a lot simpler and the only screen is the segment LCD giving you the price and liters. Sometimes you'll have a couple of buttons on the pump like "30E", "50E". You'd press one and then do exactly what you described with the difference that the pump stops at the preset mount. Other unattended pumps will ask you to put the card in, authorize a payment, the fill up and they will charge based on that authorization and all this using the regular ATM style keypad unit with a tiny LCD (the kind you'd see at any parking, or automatic ticket dispenser).
They are all very straight forward in their usage even when you don't understand a word from the written instructions. Very simple UI that's shared across industries to make sure people have some familiarity. With the downside that the UI looks very '90s, should anyone see that as a problem (Jalopnik probably would).
And of course no tap/pay like the rest of the world.
Another retailer (Z Energy) has a new “Fastlane” service where you drive up, fill up, then drive off. It uses a camera pointed at your vehicle’s licence plate to figure out who to charge. (I haven’t used this, though. I’m a staunch BP customer.)
If I have to physically enter a gas station, I never return. I want my gas, and then I'm out of there.
Are you sure?
Yes
NoThey let the IT guys handle the graphics.
This small company did the software, probable not a lot of UX/UI experience there, so get something together that ""looks good"" and most importantly was done without extra cost (well, maybe GIMP or an "unofficial" PS version * wink * ) and voilà
The receipt screen looks nice because it's probably "native", meaning, there's some SDK for the ATM/dispenser hardware that makes it easy to ask questions on the interface
Ah, my friend, I see you have yet to do business with SunTrust!
On top of that, how can every one of those unique combinations be so consistently bad. Generally evolution finds at least one good option.
At my local station, the final step before you actually get gas flowing is to push the "Enter" button on the physical keypad, which also happens to be right next to the "Call" button which if you accidentally hit it (wearing gloves, too fast, etc) you get the tinny disembodied voice asking "can I help you?" instead of gas.
I've always kind of thought it was because these important/widespread devices lacked sexiness. So you get engineers working on them and not UI folks. You get solid transactions, and UI is just not a priority.
Meanwhile at game companies, you get fancy UI folks self-selecting to work there.
A new one I used had a wheel to adjust value, and a touch screen to chose which value to adjust. The touchscreen was almost completely irresponsive touchscreen (like long hard press 5 attempts before it works). Effect was preselected despite rather than time which varies more. The visual indication of which one is being adjusted is ambiguous (one light, one dark).
Look for commercial microwaves.
Here’s one: two knobs. Power and Time. Even a reasonable price $120. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004S28WEM
1. Popcorn button, that uses a sensor to detect when the popping slows down and stops at that moment so I don't need to babysit it.
2. Beverage button, that detects the start of boiling and stops at that moment.
But the one item I want most of all, is to clear the timer if food is removed early, say after 5 minutes or so.
I try to open the door when there's one second left to avoid the beeps.
They have been giving away paper towels and glass cleaner since the dawn of time. Why not hand out screen cleaners too, and let people wipe down the touchscreen if it needs it? People could also use them on their phones and would be delighted.
Or why not allow people to place their orders from their own screens?
There is no competition for this equipment around UX because there is little competition at all in this space. Its a remarkably regulated product, from weights and measures to EPA checks. UX only has to be good enough for the seller to close the order, and they go in 2500 locations. People buy gas on price and location, not UX, so the theory goes.
Who wants to disrupt gas pumps?
When working with credit cards and chip/PIN systems the entry of the PIN needs to be secure. This usually means the scanning lines from the keypad go directly to a security-hardened subprocessor inside the pump - the same one reading the PAN from the EMV chip or magstripe. Then the PIN/PAN block is encrypted and sent off to the application processor and/or bank to complete the transaction.
If PIN entry was offloaded to the application processor, that processor would need to be audited to make sure of certain requirements (PIN isn't sniffable, it isn't held in RAM after deallocation, encryption isn't breakable, etc). At the end of the day it pretty much has to be as hardened as the little subprocessor attached to the EMV reader, except any change to the app now needs to be recertified like the subprocessor is.
PCI is beginning to come around to allowing PIN entry on non-secure devices, see the following standard for more information:
https://blog.pcisecuritystandards.org/new-pci-software-pin-e...
Or why not allow people to place their orders from their own screens?
This exists.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/exxon-mobil-speedpass/id6681...
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.webmarketi...
You can't input a pin without looking with a touch screen. Plus you never know if your press actually registered.
With a software touch screen you have no guarantee and no reasonable way of telling if the software is not harvesting your details and sending them off somewhere so your card can be cloned and used by criminals.
[Edit typo]
I'm always puzzled about picky people who make trivial mistakes, like using "light years" to express time.
So the, it clearly has the word “year” in the name. Which is a measure of time.
But it’s also a measure of distance, because the speed of light in a vacuum is a constant, and the distance it can travel in a year is also constant.
So, why not both?
I am pretty sure that the approximately 10 inch screens are color and reasonable resolution but the UI is entirely character-based and often manages to obscure what little text is presented by placing it close enough to the border that the outer frame easily hides it (at my height) leaving about 90% of the screen unused -- the easily visible part.
Not sure what happened on this project. I figured they would roll out v2 of the firmware/software shortly after I first saw it. Nothing so far.