Siglent Technical Support join in EEVblog

[KungFuJosh]

Their layout isn't great. Shrinking the size of the waveform graphic and making room for bigger text makes much sense that making it hard to read.

[oz2cpu]

exactly my point, we the customers have the power,
if we all write to our support departments and complain about this new fw release,
if we stop purchase items with tiny fonts,
if we only purchase items with good readable fonts,
we will very fast get it exactly like we want and need it to be.

[Sorama]

Not buying a specific device from a specific manufacturer  because of the used font… I don’t see it happen (as in: there is probably no alternative technically or financially).

Wish you luck in forcing a manufacturer to change just that.

Btw: I have Siglent gear too.

[oz2cpu]

Sorama, that is my point, no one care about only me,
but if we all.. did the same thing, we would get it exactly like we want,
but you are right, that is not going to happen

[tautech]

WOW thanks, i love to see the frequency change smoother too,
but i got old vintage analog stuff for when that is important, I upgrade ASAP and repport back,
and a huge thanks once again

The latest FW update was announced back in March so if you have this model I advise you contribute to the SDG6000X thread to get notification of new posts:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/siglent-sdg6000-series-awg_s/msg5852057/#msg5852057

[Sorama]

Sorama, that is my point, no one care about only me,
but if we all.. did the same thing, we would get it exactly like we want,
but you are right, that is not going to happen

Power to the people 

[pdenisowski]

Not buying a specific device from a specific manufacturer  because of the used font… I don’t see it happen (as in: there is probably no alternative technically or financially).

Wish you luck in forcing a manufacturer to change just that.

As someone who has worked for two of the biggest T&M instrument manufacturers - the user interface / user experience definitely matters.  Customers absolutely make purchase decisions based on usability.

Most often any "improvements" to the user interface come in the next revision of a product, not changing the GUI of a current product.  For ever customer who wants a change in the GUI, there is at least one other who wants the GUI to stay just the way it is.

[KungFuJosh]

For ever customer who wants a change in the GUI, there is at least one other who wants the GUI to stay just the way it is.

That's why things like font size should be an option the user can control.

[Sorama]

Not buying a specific device from a specific manufacturer  because of the used font… I don’t see it happen (as in: there is probably no alternative technically or financially).

Wish you luck in forcing a manufacturer to change just that.

As someone who has worked for two of the biggest T&M instrument manufacturers - the user interface / user experience definitely matters.  Customers absolutely make purchase decisions based on usability.

Most often any "improvements" to the user interface come in the next revision of a product, not changing the GUI of a current product.  For ever customer who wants a change in the GUI, there is at least one other who wants the GUI to stay just the way it is.

Hi,

That's is exactly my point.
UI is very important/personal (one of the reasons I will never buy Rigol), but sometimes the budget will not allow you to shop somewhere else, so you're stuck to that particular UI of that particular device or brand you don't really like.

And the UI does not often get modified wrt customer wishes.

[KungFuJosh]

And the UI does not often get modified wrt customer wishes.

Siglent is usually pretty good about that, though they clearly went the wrong direction this time.

When I was messing with the SDS5000X, I flashed like 7 years worth of firmware in order. You can clearly see how unpolished the old firmware was, and how well they gradually adapted it after that.

[Sorama]

And the UI does not often get modified wrt customer wishes.

Siglent is usually pretty good about that, though they clearly went the wrong direction this time.

When I was messing with the SDS5000X, I flashed like 7 years worth of firmware in order. You can clearly see how unpolished the old firmware was, and how well they gradually adapted it after that.

I would say: of course they do. Why wouldn’t they. 
But not at a single demand of some customer.

But I have seen too many devices with bad UI that never got changed.

[oz2cpu]

>>But not at a single demand of some customer.

exactly.. so please folks, start writing a polite and friendly phrased email to your favorite siglent support / sales departmens
do it all of you,.., this week ...
lets change the world to be better place, together  ..
I promise to release a new YT video ASAP this is fixed where i explain how happy i am

[Mahagam]

Is it possible not to overload engineers with the not-so-important work of changing fonts and rounding the corners of icons? Maybe it's worth fixing existing bugs first?

For example, in the SDM3055 it is impossible to use a bargraph - the screen simply slows down mercilessly. In fast mode, sampling takes place at completely random time intervals.
SDG2042X - is it possible to make it so that when the frequency changes, there would be no phase discontinuity? (This happens even if the channels are independent)
SDS2104X+ - Axis mode "fixed" cannot be used when zoom is turned on

It's better to fix these annoying bugs first, and then get back to playing with fonts.

[oz2cpu]

exactly Mahagam but They started, to waste time on making the fonts tiny and hard to read,
no one asked them to waste time on this.. Much better they should have spend time to fix bugs before anything else.
That is why it hurts even more to see this..

by the way
all signal generators from siglent have a signal level, frequency or phase spike, cut or drop,
when you dial the knob, it is not a smooth change like old vintage analog equipment,
it is a rather ignoring thing, if you see your self in the middle of an audio amplifier repair job.

[2N3055]

exactly Mahagam but They started, to waste time on making the fonts tiny and hard to read,
no one asked them to waste time on this.. Much better they should have spend time to fix bugs before anything else.
That is why it hurts even more to see this..

by the way
all signal generators from siglent have a signal level, frequency or phase spike, cut or drop,
when you dial the knob, it is not a smooth change like old vintage analog equipment,
it is a rather ignoring thing, if you see your self in the middle of an audio amplifier repair job.

Nobody wasted time on making fonts smaller for no reason.
Like I said before, you are showing only basic channel screen. There are other screens where stuff didn't fit anymore, and having to switch through dozens of secondary screens to set single function is no fun either.
It was a decision from necessity.
I have bad eyesight and would preferer to use an AWG with 10" screen personally... Except no such thing....
Engineering is an art of compromise.

[tautech]

exactly Mahagam but They started, to waste time on making the fonts tiny and hard to read,
no one asked them to waste time on this.. Much better they should have spend time to fix bugs before anything else.
That is why it hurts even more to see this..

by the way
all signal generators from siglent have a signal level, frequency or phase spike, cut or drop,
when you dial the knob, it is not a smooth change like old vintage analog equipment,
it is a rather ignoring thing, if you see your self in the middle of an audio amplifier repair job.

Nobody wasted time on making fonts smaller for no reason.
Like I said before, you are showing only basic channel screen. There are other screens where stuff didn't fit anymore, and having to switch through dozens of secondary screens to set single function is no fun either.
It was a decision from necessity.
I have bad eyesight and would preferer to use an AWG with 10" screen personally... Except no such thing....
Engineering is an art of compromise.

Maybe the SDG3000X 7" display will be the answer to your dreams....

[oz2cpu]

>Maybe the SDG3000X 7" display will be the answer to your dreams....

only if it comes in light gray, almost white
as all the other equipment we have and love so much
please dont tell us you go over to all items in black only like the others ?
it is terrible

[KungFuJosh]

Siglent has a new accessory to help with the font size; only $7000! 

[oz2cpu]

i need one.. amazon ?

[KungFuJosh]

i need one.. amazon ?

Yup. About $56 right now with their magic coupon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DNS9R2Q1

So I guess it would probably only be $5600 from a scope dealer.

[pdenisowski]

Regarding the "small fonts" issue:  when I was visiting customers in China a number of years ago, I was struck by the age distribution of the engineers in their labs.  In my experience, the age distribution of engineers in most US / European labs mostly follows the general population, but in China almost every lab I went to had a distribution that was very skewed towards young (20s) engineers.

I didn't think about it at the time, but perhaps this is - to some extent - responsible for the "small fonts" issue:  many younger people (my younger self included) often don't understand the issues that older people have with smaller text.

In fairness though: there are a lot of companies / products with fonts that are almost unreadable once one is past a certain age.

[oz2cpu]

EXACTLY
and that is why my suggestion :
lets make fonts as big as possible on each screen, to make most people, most happy,
stuff is just more user friendly the bigger the fonts can be

[2N3055]

EXACTLY
and that is why my suggestion :
lets make fonts as big as possible on each screen, to make most people, most happy,
stuff is just more user friendly the bigger the fonts can be

We can also make only single parameter with 72 font size per screen and 12342 different screens to setup a device. That is also not a solution...

Siglent was made aware of your opinion. They respect your honesty and will look into it.
If there is some optimization possible they will see what can be done.
If not, they won't. They are engineers, not magicians.
There is only so much stuff you can fit on 95mmx55mm screen.

That is less than half the size of my smallish smartphone that is 155x72mm.

[KungFuJosh]

If there is some optimization possible they will see what can be done.
If not, they won't. They are engineers, not magicians.
There is only so much stuff you can fit on 95mmx55mm screen.

No magic needed if they make better use of space.

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Original:



Thanks,
Josh

[oz2cpu]

you could have done it even better
see here..