milleage accumulator
back in the day, cars only had one odometer. it told you how many miles had been put on the car since day one. this interface had one odometer and no buttons.
sometime later a second odometer, commonly called a trip meter, was added. this showed the number of miles taken on a trip, and could be reset by pushing a button. this interface had one odometer, one trip meter, and one button.
sometime slightly later, with the advent of digital displays in car dashboards, the odometer and trip meter were consolidated into the same digital meter and a button to switch between them was added. this interface had one odo/tripmeter, and two buttons (one to select which meter to view, and one to reset the meter).
modern cars tend to still have one display (though some buck this trend and have two displays, one for odometer and one for trip meters), but have added at least one additional trip meter. this interface has one display (with a label, "odo/trip1/trip2"), and two buttons (one to sequence through the available meters to view, and one to reset the meter).
given the number of people who own cars and work, and given that many jobs reimburse for mileage, i propose a simple addition to this scheme: an accumulator (to rack up miles for work, or another purpose, separate from the trip meters). this would allow you to hit a button to start/stop accumulating mileage; push it when you go "on the clock" and when you go "off the clock". this would allow you to record mileage easily, hassle-free, without easily lost or forgotten pen-and-paper mileage logs.
proposed interface: one display (shared by odometer, trip meters, and accumulator) with a label, and three buttons: one to change display mode between odo, trip, and accumulator; one to reset the current meter, and one to toggle the accumulator on/off. oh, and while we're at it, let's label the frigging buttons, so i don't reset the meter when i want to switch to view another meter, mmkay?
discussion?
sometime later a second odometer, commonly called a trip meter, was added. this showed the number of miles taken on a trip, and could be reset by pushing a button. this interface had one odometer, one trip meter, and one button.
sometime slightly later, with the advent of digital displays in car dashboards, the odometer and trip meter were consolidated into the same digital meter and a button to switch between them was added. this interface had one odo/tripmeter, and two buttons (one to select which meter to view, and one to reset the meter).
modern cars tend to still have one display (though some buck this trend and have two displays, one for odometer and one for trip meters), but have added at least one additional trip meter. this interface has one display (with a label, "odo/trip1/trip2"), and two buttons (one to sequence through the available meters to view, and one to reset the meter).
given the number of people who own cars and work, and given that many jobs reimburse for mileage, i propose a simple addition to this scheme: an accumulator (to rack up miles for work, or another purpose, separate from the trip meters). this would allow you to hit a button to start/stop accumulating mileage; push it when you go "on the clock" and when you go "off the clock". this would allow you to record mileage easily, hassle-free, without easily lost or forgotten pen-and-paper mileage logs.
proposed interface: one display (shared by odometer, trip meters, and accumulator) with a label, and three buttons: one to change display mode between odo, trip, and accumulator; one to reset the current meter, and one to toggle the accumulator on/off. oh, and while we're at it, let's label the frigging buttons, so i don't reset the meter when i want to switch to view another meter, mmkay?
discussion?