On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 19:03:35 +0200
Thorsten Wilms <t_w_(a)freenet.de> wrote:
Hello again!
The discussion about linear or radial mouse movement for
knobs finaly got me to mockup an idea i had in my mind
for sometime already.
For now I call it fan sliders:
http://wrstud.urz.uni-wuppertal.de/~ka0394/forum/04-06-10_fan_slider_01.png
It's all about concept, not style.
The idea is to allow rather small sliders, but on mouse-down lines
from top and button appear on one side (important for making the
feature discoverable). Outside of the inital slider the pointer
position is indicated by the crossing middle and vertical line. The
straight horizontal extension is only meant to make reading easier. So
up/down is value change, outwards increases precision (can of course
be turned for stuff like pan).
If the graphics do not fit on the screen, it still can work because
the value is indicated by the initial slider and inclination of the
center line (well, at least I hope so).
Default expansion direction should be reading direction, but moving
the pointer out on the other side could make it turn over. Close to
the right screen edge the behaviour could be as known from menus.
The first mockup has a slider where the dragable part is clearly
defined. The second gives a stronger sense of value, but is not clear
about where to click (I propose everywhere on the slider area, always
grabbing the actual value. No special behaviour like known from
scrollbars). It's also more space efficient, because the whole are can
be used (with the other one a half button must be spared on both ends
each.)
For those concerned about precision of pointer movement /
inadvertently changes to precision while adjusting value:
Instead of linear spreading out, it could be stepped (lines looking
like stairs). But that would be much less elegant.
Comments, please!
I really like it. Utilises the two degrees of freedom very effectively.
It wouldn't even strictly be necessary to display the fanned bit - just
have the behaviour.
Incidentally, it does have an exact parallel to radial knob control,
just 'straightened out', and thus more ergonomic!
-
Myk