Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] Knobs, the reply
From: Tim Hockin (thockin_AT_hockin.org)
Date: Thu Jun 10 2004 - 21:28:01 EEST
On Thu, Jun 10, 2004 at 08:02:48PM +0200, Thorsten Wilms wrote:
> > When you move the mouse slowly, you get very fine control. When you move
> > it faster, the control gets coarser. So you can move a knob from 0.0 to
> > 1.0 quickly with a fast mouse gesture, or you can move it from 0.5 to 0.6
> > very slowly.
>
> Thanks. Sounds like trouble with controlabilty/predictability to me.
It is unpredictable. I don't much care for it as a UI feature. It is
very hard for me to stay below the 'fine-grain' speed limit.
> > I'm still going to put my bet on linear. If you do a usability study of
> > linear vs radial, I bet linear will be more obvious and easy to control.
> > And you will not convince me otherwise until I see a usability test done
> > with non-LAD users :)
>
> Maybe linear is easier to handle, but the usual knob graphics are
> still misleading (you can't tell me something round with clear center
> hints at linear movement, even if the real world metaphor is left out).
I think that your frontal lobe is saying "knobs are round, move the mouse
around them" but I still believe that your hand will find it more
intuitive and correct to move the mouse in one direction - up and down.
> > This is such a bad idea, unless the control is an X/Y control to start
> > with.
>
> No, I did not mean 2 axes for one widget. Only that a linear widget has
> to indicate it's direction even before interaction happens, and that it
> makes sense to use vertical for volume and horizonal for pan in the
> same interface.
OH! Hrrm, yes, well. I see the point, but I don't think it will work.
Differing semantics for similar-looking widget is the worst of all possible
choices.
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