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Comment by anton-c | Hacker News Reader

As a typeface and legibility enthusiast I obviously have my problems with it.

I've found that in the creative work I do, lots of things moved away from skeuomorphism too far. Yes it's easier to read the text on a flat black background with all the controls in a grid. but you lose some intuition compared to when it actually resembled a hardware unit that has logical places for things.

I'm in the market for a new vehicle so I'm particular interested in that last line: which companies are bringing back physical controls in cars?

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I would adore a new car that has no digital displays or touch screens.

I have a feeling I will need to settle for finding and restoring a car from before 1990.

> I have a feeling I will need to settle for finding and restoring a car from before 1990.

You don't have to go back that far. I'm with you, I'm actively repulsed by newer cars because (in part) of the touch screens and other such nonsense, so I expect that I'll never be buying a car that was manufactured too recently.

But my current car is acceptable, and it was made it 2008.

My car has suffered through 20 salty winters, and I'm not sure it's going to be acceptable much longer. Which is unfortunate, because it seems like new cars mostly aren't.

That can't happen now that backup cameras (and a display for it) are mandatory. And they're never going to leave a big screen in the dash unused except for when driving in reverse.

> And they're never going to leave a big screen in the dash unused

They could, at the very least, only use the touch screen for things that you don't want to adjust while driving.

> They could, at the very least, only use the touch screen for things that you don't want to adjust while driving.

My 2019 crosstrek is like this, and I dread the day I need to retire it. Physical controls for everything, supports carplay+android auto, and the only thing the touch screen is used to adjust are sound balance, and auto-headlight sensitivity.

That sure would be nice.

I bet I could add that to an old car. That's tempting.

Yes you can definitely add a backup camera after the fact.

Look at the slate truck. I hope they succeed!

Bugatti has chosen with the new Tourbillion to go for an all analog gauge + button setup. Because handcrafted gauges and buttons (these days) shows of luxury. https://www.bugatti.com/en/models/tourbillon

A flat touchscreen in a car is something that is now used in anything from a base Fiat Panda to the most expensive Mercedes S class. And it all looks cheap because visually there is little visual difference between that and a 25,- dollar AliExpress tablet.

At some point in time the luxury car brands must be getting this feedback from their customers.

Mazda has embraced physical touch controls for the most part.

I don't want skeuomorphism personally, but the problem isn't with the lack of that, it's with the lack of any consistent way to differentiate the various controls in general. Is it just a bit of text? A button? A checkbox? Who knows when it's all the same kind of flat.

Win95 was very much not skeuomorphic, but it had very strong visual cues in UI even so.

My new Toyota is all physical interfaces for everything except infotainment.

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