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Two button interface

 Simple control for small devices.
 
(0) 		 

If I proposed this years ago, I cannot find it in the records, so here goes again...

I used to have a Casio watch. This had a very deep menu structure, but it did not use the buttons in a consistent way. Some menus used the buttons on the side, while others used the buttons on the front. My central heating controller has the same sort of madness, where the last and next keys become the enter and cancel options on a lower level.

Can we design something simple that can be used on all gadgets that need a simple dialogue? I think we can do this with two buttons I shall call them L and R for Left and Right though they could go Up and Down because I am thinking of the Casio watch again.

Tap L or R to step left or right. Hold L or R autorepeats. Tap L and R for enter. Hold L and R for 1 sec to cancel.

That is the basic stuff. You can also support fancy things...

Holding R autorepeats stepping right. Holding R and tapping L can jump right. Holding L and tapping R can jump right. This could be used for alphabetic entry to jump to the next vowel.

You can also roll right and left: press L, press R, release L, release R to roll right. I don't know how that would be used.

I have put this under mouse buttons because mice use two buttons heavily, but in conjunction with pointing at something. Please change the category if you can find a better one.

—Richard K, Oct 01 2026





       What is the advantage of using only two buttons? This feels needlessly confusing, especially since your own instructions have an error. I can understand the desire where space is critical, but even Casio watches have more than two buttons.
—Aq_Bi, Oct 01 2026
   

       My idea was to see what is the minimum number of buttons that works. You could have one button and type morse but that would be absurdly difficult. Two buttons works if you use two buttons together to select. However, many interfaces which use one button to step and the other to select, which means you can only traverse the list in one way. It is like they were trying to re-invent the interface every time. Maybe they are.   

       The modern solution is to do the settings with bluetooth and your phone, but people still make devices with buttons.
—Richard K, Oct 02 2026
   

       Buttons are made for unbuttoning
—pocmloc, Oct 02 2026
   

       I think you're just complaining about bad UI design. Casio aren't great at it, and it's exacerbated at increasing complexity levels. I have other poor experiences with Japanese UIs.   

       I wonder if it's a language/culture thing if your writing is symbol based but has two forms: Vertical, right to left and horizontal left to right - is there a less fixed logical order?   

       My perception is that UI design is a relatively low priority in engineering and technically led organizations, this is prevalent more broadly. Sometimes the UI is logical based on understanding how the machine works.   

       For things like thermostats I think it's cheapness. Simple device: simple UI> ship. New feature... er.. add a sub menu> ship.
—bs0u0155, Oct 02 2026
   
         


 

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