Chris Green wrote

Why is it that table and desk lamps are so badly designed nowadays,

Plenty arent, most obviously with some
of the Ikea and Philips Hue models.

I have several I have bought over the past
couple of years and not one of them is ideal.

You hardly ever see a perfect design with any product.
Design is almost always about compromise, even if that
is just what it costs to make the best designs.

It's not as if getting it right would be difficult,
it's just total lack of thought about the design.

That last is bull****.

There are several problems, as follows:-

1. You can't simply turn the light on and off.

You can with plenty of them.

Most lamps now have ways of adjusting brightness
and some even have colour temperature settings.

Yes, but with the best of them like the Philips Hues,
you can still have simple completely cordless on
and off with the on anything you specify once.

These are all very handy but you don't want to have
to go through lots of settings every time you turn
the light on or off, you just want to turn it on and off.

Philips Hues do that fine, with a kinetic switch
with no wires or batterys which you can put
anywhere you fancy effortlessly too.

And even get real radical and have the switching
completely automatic so it only comes on when
necessary and there is someone there and goes off
completely automatically when there is no one there to.

(Torches also suffer from this, torches I have to
click more than once to turn off drive me crazy!)

You can still buy ones with simple on off switches.

2. The on/off switches are 'quirky' in some cases.

Not with the best designs.

I have one light where you push a switch on the end of the
light to turn it on and off, the trouble is you have to hold the
light with your other hand to do this otherwise it falls over.

Thats just bad design. There will always be examples of
that and if you dont like that, you are free to return it for
a full refund when you discover that with the best retailers.

If they had used a touch sensitive switch
in this position it would work well

Trouble with those is that they dont work reliably for some.

but, almost to make it awkward on purpose, it's a clicky
switch that needs a push. Another lamp I have has a
switch in the cable which I can see no good reason for,

Then you need new glasses, bad. It allows a more
convenient switch position in some situations.

it's difficult to find!

Then you shouldnt have bought it, stupid.

3. One desk lamp that I have that's *almost* Ok has a
very silly fault, the controls are on the flat base of the
lamp and it has a separate control for on/off so doesn't
have problem 1 above. But, for some wonky reason, the
controls are lit only when the light is on, completely
pointless as then they are illuminated by the light itself.
They are nice, small, low-powered blue LED indicators
and would be perfectly OK to have on in the dark, quite
pointless when the light is on!

Then you should have returned it, stupid.

If I could mix and match the features of my several
lamps I could get a sensibly designed lamp,

No need with the Hues.

none of them was desperately expensive so
it's not cost that dictates the bad design, it's
just lack of bothering to think about it.

And you being too stupid to research your purchase
and find one that does what you want,

Ggggrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!! :-)

Down fido, or its castration for you.