Re: [LAD] Mouse/knob interaction

Hi,

On Wednesday 08 September 2010 21:06:29 Philipp Überbacher wrote:
> Excerpts from Arnold Krille's message of 2010-09-08 19:18:54 +0200:
> > On Wednesday 08 September 2010 16:35:31 Andrew Bryant wrote:
> > > Previously:
> > > > That's actually a neat idea, color for immediate visual feedback. I
> > > > imagine the problem is the colors. What would be sane? I guess three
> > > > basic colors and interpolate between them?
> > > > low = blue
> > > > middle = yellow
> > > > high = top
> > > >
> > > > It needs to be rather intuitive. I guess the more colors the less
> > > > intuitive it will become. Maybe two are enough.
> > > > I wonder which color would best represent 'low' or 'bottom'.
> > > > Blue, black?
> > >
> > > I suggest you keep it simple, i.e. only two colours if possible, but
> > > make them configurable for the benefit of those with visual
> > > disabilities.
> >
> > Two colors simply isn't enough. You need a color for low, a color for
> > middle and a value for high. And then you haven't even looked at a
> > fourth color for mute/off.
> > And fading from green directly/linear to red gives an ugly brown in the
> > middle. It looks much nicer to go across yellow. And then you can really
> > use that third color to stand for a special step, not just "in the
> > middle of the slider".
> If all you want is 'middle' and that doesn't need to be well defined,
> then two colors will do. I suggested blue because of the ugly brown you
> get between green and red. With blue the middle will likely be some kind
> of purple, which may or may not be optimal. Maybe black to red would be
> nicer, it just gives you an increasingly bright red.

I don't want 'a' middle, I want a special middle. Like 0dB between -48dB and
+12dB (the middle doesn't have to be in the geometrical middle). And I want to
know when that special middle value is reached by looking at the color.

> Mute/off, if required, would be the same as the lowest setting.

There is a difference between mute/off and the lowest setting. At least there
can be.
Software-mixers might not make that discrete step between off and almost
silent. But some hardware mixers in devices do make that difference. And there
it will make a difference to your ear whether the signal is attenuated by 36dB
or muted.

> > If these colors are taken from the color-scheme the user has chosen, I
> > feel confident, that these are suitable for all kinds of color-blindness
> > (otherwise the color-scheme is chosen wrongly). But I don't know (yet)
> > which color roles to use from the color-schemes...
> To what kind of user chosen color scheme do you refer to?

The one the user choose for his desktop. Which is the only real way to
compensate for visually impaired people (if thats the political correct name).
I don't like this every-app-chooses-its-own-colors at all. Though I do
understand that sometimes you need more colors, but that still is different
from "I define my apps colors on my own because I think that is cool". The
later results in apps with black text on dark-gray background in an otherwise
very light desktop-environment => bad. Or in apps with white window background
while the rest of the desktop is optimized for on-stage-in-the-dark with black
background and red foreground => bad. Or it results with using two collors to
"distinguish" which half visually impaired people can't discriminate => bad.

Thats why I really advocate using the systems color-scheme as much as possible
(and a bit more) every time the discussion regarding colors comes up.

Have fun,

Arnold

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