Re: Inspirational exercise!
Re: Inspirational exercise!
- Subject: Re: Inspirational exercise!
- From: Alberto Ricci <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 3 Oct 2002 17:48:52 +0200
Let me add my .02 euros to this hot topic of sliders and knobs and
interface issues. I wouldn't want to restart the "AU interface
consistency" thread though.
I basically agree with John and the others who say that mimicking
real-world controls such as knobs is not necessarily the best choice
in interface design. The question of consistency is a relatively
marginal issue, in my opinion - the point is that a human using a
mouse will have big trouble rotating a knob on a computer screen.
Whereas vertical and horizontal movements, such as those required for
sliders, are more natural and easier to perform.
Both are a metaphor and have a physical, real-world counterpart. But
one is usable with a mouse, the other is not.
However, I also understand what Urs and others are saying: that knobs
allow the plug-in designer to group the controls in a better way,
they usually take up less room, and so on.
So - after saying all this - let me post my idea of a usable control
so that people like Robert Grant who want to implement a new HIObject
or whatever can consider it.
I am not quite convinced of my own idea, but we could elaborate on it
and come up with something interesting.
The idea is a combination of knob and slider - the control has the
appearance of a knob. When you click it, though, a pop-up slider
appears. When someone else sets its value or it receives a parameter
changed notification, no pop-up slider should appear, of course. But
as soon as you click it, a slider pops up.
The knob view when the control is not being "moused" has the
advantage of showing the parameter value at a glance without taking
up too much room.
The slider view when the control is being moused has the advantage of
showing the user which is the direction in which he/she should move
the mouse in order to increment or decrement the value, which is
something otherwise really confusing in a knob alone.
Take QuickTime's controller, for instance. Its volume control shows
you an approximate value at a glance, and clicking it allows you to
control it in finer-grained steps through a pop-up slider.
Of course an editable text field should be provided, if there's room enough.
Then, there is an issue of parameter type that makes it more
appropriate to use a horizontal slider rather than a vertical one, or
a knob rather than a slider.
There are things that should be considered by the developer, and
can't be extrapolated by a host. For instance, when we think about a
gain slider or fader we picture it as a vertical object. When we
think about a delay slider, we expect it to be horizontal. Pan
controls are either rotational or horizontal, but never vertical.
And please, please, please, don't use knobs (or sliders, for that
matter) for enumerated parameters. Radio buttons are made for that.
If you want to give your plug-in a distinctive look and you choose
not to follow the Aqua guidelines because you think the user is more
comfortable with something different, go ahead. But there are some
basic interface rules that are way beyond the look of items, be it
aqua or platinum or brushed steel or wood. It's a matter of usability.
Alberto.
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