Screen viewing by old eyes

[Fourdoor]

Sorry to hear about your wife’s vision problems.

As others have said, there is unfortunately no way to increase the font size. I’ve seen many complaints about this and there’s not a small number of people who think the UI designers were stoned when they came up with the latest version of the UI but either way there’s not a great solution right now.

As others have pointed out, you can purchase things like the S3XY buttons or an auxiliary dashboard to help, but those don’t fix the fact that fundamentally the car is a poor fit for your wife.

Are there other cars with which she would do better, or do her difficulties apply to most/all cars? If it’s not an option for you to drive the Tesla and for her to drive your current car I think selling it would be the best route.

As far as how to sell it, you can check on trading it in for the car she chooses to replace it, sell it online privately or sell it to a reseller like carvana.

The UI designers are young with young eyes, and they are for the most part Apple users who think customization is the devil.

Keith

 

[sleepydoc]

The UI designers are young with young eyes, and they are for the most part Apple users who think customization is the devil.

Keith

Actually iPhones have quite a few options for increasing font size, contrast, etc. to accommodate various visual (and other) disabilities. IIRC they actually got award for some of the work they've done. Tesla should follow suit. Of course Tesla's UI is a pain for everyone, so it's not like they're discriminating against people with vision problems!

 

[ElectricAnt54]

The UI designers are young with young eyes, and they are for the most part Apple users who think customization is the devil.

Keith

I disagree. IOS, MacOS & other apple OS types have extensive customizations available for people with hearing, vision & mobility issues.

The tesla is lacking in this area for now. I suspect accessibility is on the roadmap.

 

[andaconda]

During the ten months we waited for the car (Model Y) to be delivered, my wife had some medical problems with her eyes and now that the car has arrived she cannot read the display. Actually, she can read it with special glasses, but she cannot see the road while wearing those glasses. Since it was supposed to be her car, we have a problem.

I can think of two options. One, we can sell it. It has 101 miles on it right now and I have been told we could probably get more than we paid for it. Or we can find some way that she can deal with the screen viewing issue. Frankly, I was intending to keep driving my old beater pickup, which will probably outlive me, but I like this Tesla so much that I hope we can keep it so I can drive it when she is not using it.

I am very new to this car, so please be patient if there is something obvious that I have missed.

So is it possible to enlarge what you see on the screen, or at least the fonts?

Are there alternative "themes" or such that can be installed? Or is it possible for us to modify the layout, ourselves? Some things would be much easier to use if they just looked different without a change of size. The radio controls, for example, occupy about the same square inches on the screen that they do in her old car. But most of that is just white space surrounding little tiny icons. I'm sure someone thinks it is stylish in some bizarre way, but a visual cue to the edges of the buttons, perhaps with "shadows" to make them look like buttons, and slightly larger icons would make them much easier to see and push.

Is it possible to control the car by voice rather than finding and pushing "buttons" on the screen? How do we learn about that? (I thought there would be an owner's manual in that Tesla App; but if there is, I cannot find it.)

If all else fails, what is the best way to go about selling a brand new car like this? With minimal hassles. We hate buying and selling. I am driving my third Toyota pickup since 1980 and my wife's old car (which we kept, thankfully!) is a 2000 Toyota. And is it reasonable to expect to get our money back? A friend who owns one Model Y and has another on order tells me that I should post it at a high price and ask for offers over that. Sounds bizarre to me, but pretty much everything about the world we currently live in is becoming bizarre.

Thanks, --Brian

I have a problem seeing the display at night-so I wear a pair of half-glasses. But once I get on the highway I can take them off.

 

[JNM67]

For another take, how much does she actually need to see the screen while driving? I actually hardly look at it, except for speed.

 

[FatBear]

My cousin had cataracts, and had replacement lens surgery. They asked him if he wanted perfect up close vision, perfect distance vision, or one eye of each. He chose perfect up close vision in both eyes, and used glasses if he needed to drive.

Keith

Yes, most people end up with as good or better vision after cataract surgery than before. The problem is when you are not one of "most" people. In my wife's case, they did the two eyes separately, left first and right second almost a year apart. And she ended up with problems in both eyes. The right eye, the one on the side where the screen is, is the one that cannot see the screen. It's just bad luck. Like she rolled snake eyes.

 

[FatBear]

For another take, how much does she actually need to see the screen while driving? I actually hardly look at it, except for speed.

I don't know. I rarely ride while she is driving. But it is obviously an issue and I don't think telling her she is wrong it going to help. However, I mentioned the voice controls to her and she is interested. I just need to get her to actually try them. The speed is the one thing that is large enough for her to see and in fact, it is larger than the speed markings on her old car and right up in your field of view while driving. If I can identify the things she needs the display for while driving and figure out how to control them by voice commands, maybe that will suffice. She's unhappy about spending so much money for a car that comes with such hassles, so finding "work-arounds" might not make her happy. I agree that you shouldn't have to find work-arounds in order to drive such an expensive car. But so far she seems to be willing to give it a try.

 

[Fourdoor]

I disagree. IOS, MacOS & other apple OS types have extensive customizations available for people with hearing, vision & mobility issues.

The tesla is lacking in this area for now. I suspect accessibility is on the roadmap.

I knew they were pretty good with mac, I should have realized they would carry that over to the iphone.

An interesting fact is that you can make simple dummy buttons with zero electronics in them that will operate a touch screen... I can see manufacturers with customers that demand physical buttons using a hidden touch screen with dummy buttons and knobs on the front to interface with the touch screen to reduce costs. This is how the "volume knob" on the Mustang Mach E works... it isn't connected to anything, it just rotates on the touch screen and the screen interprets that rotation motion to increase or decrease the radio volume.

Keith

 

[Fourdoor]

Yes, most people end up with as good or better vision after cataract surgery than before. The problem is when you are not one of "most" people. In my wife's case, they did the two eyes separately, left first and right second almost a year apart. And she ended up with problems in both eyes. The right eye, the one on the side where the screen is, is the one that cannot see the screen. It's just bad luck. Like she rolled snake eyes.

It sounds like she would really benefit from the aftermarket screen swivel to give her left eye a better sightline on the screen. i have one and i love it.

Keith

 

[cosmith71]

Have you checked with the surgeon or optometrist to see if they have any suggestions that might help?

Otherwise, you might have to look for a different vehicle and eat the loss on the trade-in (if there is any). I'd certainly have her thoroughly test drive any possible replacement vehicles (preferably several) before making a purchase.

Sorry about all the problems with the surgeries. I'm an RN and I used to work in lens replacement surgeries. I've never heard of these kinds of problems before.

 

[Plug Me In]

I'd suggest a trip to the optometrist with this question if not done already. My near vision has gone bad over the past few years and didn't realize how much detail I was missing out on the screen until looking at it with readers. I now wear progressive lens for driving and watching TV, but still use my readers for most other stuff. I'll bet an optometrist can come up with a lens to work for your wife.

 

[ajstan]

What a terrible medical experience with your wife’s eyes. I can’t imagine the frustration of having to deal with that on a daily basis. Please consider finding an ophthalmologist that specializes in the PanOptix trifocal intraocular lenses. They will likely be at the high end of the skill level as Alcon wants great results while this recently FDA-approved technology gets rolled out. After almost 50 years of glasses and contacts with a challenging astigmatism, I now have 20/20-20/25 vision for reading, computer, and distance without the need for glasses. Feel free to PM me with any questions so I don’t take this thread even more OT.

Alcon Advanced Lenses | Cataract Corrective Technology

Learn how Alcon Advanced Lenses empower patients with cataracts to see and live brilliantly after cataract surgery by providing presbyopia-correcting options that suit their lifestyle.

www.myalcon.com

 

[redmunds]

The most complete list of Voice Commands I've seen is here:

A Complete List of All Tesla Voice Commands

A list of all Tesla voice commands for your car.

www.notateslaapp.com

 

[Charles415]

Lots of excuses in this thread (I'm sure people are trying to be helpful) but there is really zero excuse for Tesla not to add the same visual aids such as font resizing--the same aids we can all get on our mobile phones, laptops, etc. Some people need larger fonts and the Tesla design is much smaller than the historical ICE dashboards. Love my car but would love it more if Tesla respected the accommodations that some people need.

 

[ajstan]

A few thoughts:

Comparing the control screen of a vehicle to a phone or computer screen is a false equivalence. Phones and computers create space to accommodate larger font and button sizes by reducing the number of elements shown on a screen, which then typically creates a need for scrolling, pagination, or loss of available information that is displayed. That's not practical for a vehicle control screen.

If you want to get around that issue, I suppose you could just limit what everyone sees and design with a reduced number of elements to accommodate larger fonts/buttons, but that would reduce the information available to everyone, including the core/target market. The other option would be to create a separate UI for the outliers, for which it will be understood that reduced information is available.

Expanding the capabilities of a product to accommodate outliers can be prohibitively expensive (time, money, resources, degraded experience) and significantly detract from the efforts to improve the product for the core/target market. Every product has to draw the line somewhere.

Just because there is disagreement with business decisions a company makes, does not mean that the decisions were based upon malevolence, incompetence, or disrespect.

 

[sleepydoc]

A few thoughts:

Comparing the control screen of a vehicle to a phone or computer screen is a false equivalence. Phones and computers create space to accommodate larger font and button sizes by reducing the number of elements shown on a screen, which then typically creates a need for scrolling, pagination, or loss of available information that is displayed. That's not practical for a vehicle control screen.

If you want to get around that issue, I suppose you could just limit what everyone sees and design with a reduced number of elements to accommodate larger fonts/buttons, but that would reduce the information available to everyone, including the core/target market. The other option would be to create a separate UI for the outliers, for which it will be understood that reduced information is available.

Expanding the capabilities of a product to accommodate outliers can be prohibitively expensive (time, money, resources, degraded experience) and significantly detract from the efforts to improve the product for the core/target market. Every product has to draw the line somewhere.

Just because there is disagreement with business decisions a company makes, does not mean that the decisions were based upon malevolence, incompetence, or disrespect.

Except your points don't apply to this case.

Tesla has a huge screen and just got done removing everything so we could have a 'nice, clean interface.' There's plenty of room on the screen for larger fonts. Beyond that much of it could be improved simply by having text be black instead of light grey. That takes no room at all. Regardless, having a clear, easily legible interface should be a priority for any automobile manufacturer.

Interface design is not easy. It only looks easy if you've put a lot of work into it and gotten it right. Tesla has made a decision to have a fluid interface that they periodically update. If they are going go do that then they need to put the time and effort in to get it right. No excuses. They spent the time and money to port sonic and fart noises to their interface. Expecting an interface for the core functions of the car is not too much to ask.

I don't think Tesla's mistakes are made out of malevolence or disrespect, but it's pretty clear that competency was not high on their list of requirements for their UI team.

 

[ajstan]

Except your points don't apply to this case.

The topic is having a font-sizing option for the UI. I'm pretty sure I stuck to facts. What specifically is there to disagree with or is inapplicable to the topic?

Tesla has a huge screen and just got done removing everything so we could have a 'nice, clean interface.' There's plenty of room on the screen for larger fonts.

White space is important to an interface. I think it's handled well in v11. Maybe there's room to make some fonts larger, but it would be a more valuable discussion to talk about specific elements where the font could be larger, instead of broad generalizations.

Beyond that much of it could be improved simply by having text be black instead of light grey. That takes no room at all.

This comment is not related to anything in my post, but I agree that contrast is important and can be improved. I also hope they come up with a more intuitive way to highlight what's "on" or "selected" other than the current use of blue and dark gray as indicators.

Regardless, having a clear, easily legible interface should be a priority for any automobile manufacturer.

Agreed. I see v11 as clear, easily legible, and understandable. I know you think differently on this. I never used v10. Who knows maybe I'll hate v12 the way you hate v11.

Interface design is not easy. It only looks easy if you've put a lot of work into it and gotten it right. Tesla has made a decision to have a fluid interface that they periodically update. If they are going go do that then they need to put the time and effort in to get it right. No excuses.

Agreed. I am on the Advanced track for releases because I like the frequent updates. The Standard release schedule is an option for those who want more issues ironed out before updating. Again, I think Tesla is "getting it right." I don't expect perfection and I haven't experienced anything but happiness owning and driving the car (other than curb rash and the pothole that blew out the sidewall on one of my tires, both of which were my fault).

They spent the time and money to port sonic and fart noises to their interface. Expecting an interface for the core functions of the car is not too much to ask.

I don't think Tesla's mistakes are made out of malevolence or disrespect, but it's pretty clear that competency was not high on their list of requirements for their UI team.

Different teams do different things. The games and entertainment are part of the fun and appeal of the car. Friends and family that see it for the first time love the minimalist, "spaceship" interior, specifically ask to hear the fart noises, see the games, watch a video, and go for a ride to see how fast it accelerates.

Disagreeing with a UI design choice doesn't make that choice a mistake, nor does it mean the person who made the choice is incompetent. I see the UI getting better with each iteration.

You think differently. That's cool. Looking forward to the next thumbs-down!

 

[Bikeman]

I'm joining this thread since I'm in my upper 60's and also have a hard time reading the screen properly. Still waiting for my Y to arrive, but during the test drive it became clear to me (pun) that I couldn't read the small type on the screen from the driver's position, which is something I hadn't considered until then.

I work where I'm running a cash register system, but those screens are 15-20 inches away, and I can see those just perfectly. The Tesla screen in the Y is about 25 or more inches away, and I'm going to have to do something about that pretty soon. I'm thinking bifocals, but angled bifocals for just seeing just that distance and only to the right. Maybe only the bottom right quarter of the lens? Otherwise, I need glasses to drive for distance always. Going to be an expensive perscription, but visibility is pretty important.

 

[sleepydoc]

The topic is having a font-sizing option for the UI. I'm pretty sure I stuck to facts. What specifically is there to disagree with or is inapplicable to the topic?

They don’t apply because the limitations you cite for a small smartphone screen don‘t exist on a Tesla’s screen. Tesla has twice as much real estate on its screen as other manufacturers do, yet the others don’t have the same problems with legibility. Beyond that, many of Tesla’s menus already require scrolling, so your claim is pretty much a non sequitur.

White space is important to an interface. I think it's handled well in v11. Maybe there's room to make some fonts larger, but it would be a more valuable discussion to talk about specific elements where the font could be larger, instead of broad generalizations.

So you’re saying there is room To make things larger? That’s pretty much the entire point of this thread.

This comment is not related to anything in my post, but I agree that contrast is important and can be improved. I also hope they come up with a more intuitive way to highlight what's "on" or "selected" other than the current use of blue and dark gray as indicators.

The font color/contrast is an example of poor UI decisions made with V11 and something that would take almost no work to change.

Agreed. I see v11 as clear, easily legible, and understandable. I know you think differently on this. I never used v10. Who knows maybe I'll hate v12 the way you hate v11.

It’s not just me - there have been multiple complaints/threads about the poor legibility and overall design of V11. There have also been many articles written by people with professional UI experience panning the design decisions. For the record, with the exception of illegible street names on the map, I generally don’t have issues reading the display but I can easily understand how others do and also easily see how unnecessary it is.

Different teams do different things. The games and entertainment are part of the fun and appeal of the car. Friends and family that see it for the first time love the minimalist, "spaceship" interior, specifically ask to hear the fart noises, see the games, watch a video, and go for a ride to see how fast it accelerates.

The point is Tesla made a decision to dedicate financial and personnel resources to tasks that are unimportant to its daily operation.

Disagreeing with a UI design choice doesn't make that choice a mistake, nor does it mean the person who made the choice is incompetent. I see the UI getting better with each iteration.

There are plenty of design choices that I don’t care for but are not ‘wrong.’ As I alluded to above, V11 has multiple design decisions that objectively make the UI more difficult to use Or otherwise made more sense. (Example - 4 of the 14 apps you can put in the the app bar are things you should never use while driving, while other core functions like defrost and seat heaters are buried and less accessible.) I used to feel the same about the UI getting better with each iteration. until V11 came out.

 

[LincolnsDoctor]

I use these magnetic "clip" on lenses for sunglasses, but they can be used with any type of lenses to modify an existing pair of glasses. Chemistrie - Eyenavision

The advantage is that they are very easy to attach and detach, much easier and safer than switching between two pairs of glasses.