undefined | Better HN

0 pointsmcv5y ago0 comments

Exactly. Everybody does this. In anything using video, UI elements apparently need to be hidden as much as possible. In virtual meetings, Youtube, and it's often an option in games.

And sometimes it's great, because you get to focus on the content, and sometimes it's not, because you lose control. It's something that should be optional or configurable. It's great to have shortcuts for the most common commands (like space for pause in youtube), and I guess it would make a lot of sense if video conferencing tools also had such a shortcut for mute/unmute.

But again, give people more control over their UI. There are too many applications that mess this up one way or another.

0 comments

ajsnigrutin5y ago

But this has been a solved problem for ages.... just move your mouse a tiny bit, and all the controls are exposed, with large, visible buttons, help text, etc, click whatever you need to, and the controls slowly dissapear, revealing the video.

Having to find the exact spot to hover your mouse is a bad UX

coding_unit_15y ago

I don't disagree, but all the video conferencing tools have a shortcut for mute/unmute. Google Meet included (Cmd+D on a Mac).

magicalhippo5y ago

But what's the shortcut for the random conference tool the organizers of this meeting decided to use?

Just make it visible. It's supposed to be a tool, function over form.

vorpalhex5y ago

Which also happens to be the shortcut for bookmarking webpages in most browsers... and Meet doesn't let you rebind this to something sane like spacebar.

m4rtink5y ago

Not to mention the window might not have focus when you need to use it, making it preatty unreliable.

tuukkah5y ago

My laptop has a mute button with a status led - an absolute godsend this year.

julianlam5y ago

Yes, but they're also all different, so you need to play mind games to remember what the shortcut is for which solution.

Global hotkey would be nicer, I think.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse