AU interface consistency - a user's view
AU interface consistency - a user's view
- Subject: AU interface consistency - a user's view
- From: Graham Lee <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 03 Oct 2002 08:31:28 +0100
I've been following the discussion on HUI design for a while now, & feel it
may be time to join in with my tuppenceworth.
I wrote 'a user's view' as I have never coded a word in my life, although
have much admiration for those who do, but I have spent many years working
with the results of others' hard work.
I worked for ten years in the R&D department of a large musical instrument
manufacturer, during which time I spent a not inconsiderable portion of my
time using in-house software that was designed to be only functional, never
pretty.
A lot of this used the 'all parameters are equal' approach, which to my mind
made it look more like a spreadsheet than a piece of music software...and
even after many months of living & working with it, I'd still need to go
hunting round for a parameter I didn't often use.
We had the occasional DX7-like ADSR representation, but more often than not
just a list of numbers - sometimes not even a slider but a click & type
parameter field.
Now compare that to some of the finer, or even just plain 'wacky' designs
that currently exist as VST plugs etc. Given a little time to learn it, as
you would any control surface, & so long as, as someone mentioned, the knobs
follow the user prefs for drag/rotate action you can very easily a)
recognise which window you want in a crowded screen & b) dive straight for
the parameter you're looking for without having to read all the little
labels under each one until you come across the one the seems to fit the
bill.
Humans set great store by pattern recognition. Imagine if your car's control
surface was a row of identical sliders. Flash the lights & toot the horn at
some errant other, or spray the screen with suds & activate the hazard
lights in your haste - any preference? Visual representation of varied, &
therefore easily-recognised, control surfaces are of paramount importance.
Even the character of the representation gives us a hint as to what the
device may do.
I would far rather have an eclectic collection of instantly recognisable
devices than identical soldiers, purposeful though they may look, standing
in a row.
Just MHI ;-)
Graham Lee.
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