alt Hacker News >they're easier to clean
>though they usually manage [to mess up the interface] anyway by having them go up to 30 minutes or whatever
>My microwave is close to doing it really well. You press a high/med/low button, then 1s/10s/1m/10m buttons to the desired time, then start.
Enter time on the keypad, optionally press Power and enter that, press Start. Also needs a Plus 30s button. This is the one and only correct way to implement a push button microwave. ;)
I count five presses instead of 3 to get 90 seconds, including one way that's just pressing the same button 3 times (+30s).
>needs 1 minute 50 seconds. 2 minutes and they'll reliably complain it's too hot.
The dial microwave I use can distinguish between those two. It helps that the shorter times are given more room, so you can adjust them more precisely. 1:50 vs 2:00 will make a difference in my experience, but 7:50 vs 8:00 generally won't.
You could have a hybrid approach of course, but then I suspect the engineering tendency would be to "lock in" the time after starting the oven, so it can't "accidentally" be changed.
Looking for a photo of my microwave dial, I came across this surprisingly relevant post:
https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/90769/why-do-microwav...
> What's the issue? I've microwaved that long before.
Really? What for? Anyway the vast majority of microwaving is going to be in the 1-5 minute range. By making the dial linear and giving it a huge range up to 30 minutes, you end up making e.g. 30 seconds and 1 minute impossibly close.
The commercial microwave oven someone else linked had a solution - make it logarithmic.
> Seven presses?
Eight actually, but it really is quicker and easier than doing the same with a dial though. I agree it could be optimised though. It shouldn't be necessary to select the power and a 30s button would be good (down to 5 presses).