Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ginosko!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!apple!sun-barr!newstop!texsun!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: dsacg1!dlscg1!drms3002@cis.ohio-state.edu (Andy Meijers) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Phone Design For Humans Message-ID:Date: 26 Sep 89 00:21:06 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Organization: Defense Logistics Service Center, Battle Creek MI Lines: 50 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 410, message 1 of 9 A minor plea to those who design 'modern' telephone sets, esp. for offices. 1. Make them HEAVIER, and put a nonskid base on them. As I write this, I have just pulled my ATT-issue (came with System 8.5) sculpture off the desk for the umpteenth time. Guess I'll end up taping it to the desk, like many do around here. 2. Shape the handsets to FIT THE HUMAN HEAD! Real people do not talk daintily holding the handset in their fingertips. They jam it on one shoulder so they write. This worthless thing promptly shoots out of sight if you try. 3. Don't position the cord connectors so the handset cord tangles unto itself 2 inches from the base. (see # 1, above). Put the line cord where the it won't cause the phone to trip over it whenever you move it six inches. 4. Put a button for each function! (ie, hold, transfer etc). Phones should not require constant referral to the manual to operate; they should be self-evident. While you're at it, make the buttons REAL, with a click. A pox on squishy membrane switches and finger-nail-tip size buttons a quarter inch apart. 5. Make cords that don't lose their coil in a month, or that act like a DNA molecule and coil back on themselves, with a non-porous surface that doesn't get filthy immediately . (That also applies to the whole phone. Make it cleanable!) 6. Make a ringer/bell that can be tracked by ear. In an office full of chirping crickets, all with the speakers buried, it is often hard to tell which one is ringing. I could go on for another page, but you get the idea. Fancy sculptures may sell well in the catalog or showroom, but are often miserable for the users. (This translates to Lo$t productivity.) Buyers: Get a thirty-day 'test-drive' clause. Designers: (including ATT, WECO, etc): Go back and look at the 500 and 2500 series desk sets again. There is a reason they lasted so long, and were so widely imitated. They WORKED!!! Specific disclaimer: I do NOT speak for my agency. ( In fact, they do not know I'm on here right now.) Andy Meijers DRMS-LZA Phone:(616)961-7253 Defense Reutilization & Marketing Service FTS:552-7253 AV:932-7253 Battle Creek, MI 49017-3092 Internet:ameijers%dlscg1.uucp@dsac.dla.mil UUCP: {uunet!gould!dsacg1,osu-cis!dsacg1,eecae!dsacng1}!dlscg1!ameijers