On Tue, Jun 08, 2004 at 08:03:10 +0100, Chris Cannam wrote: > On Tuesday 08 Jun 2004 7:16 pm, Frank Barknecht wrote: > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] hat gesagt: // [EMAIL PROTECTED] > wrote: > > > Aaaaaarrrrrggghhhh - knobs. One of my pet peeves. > > > > I actually wrote a knob GUI element for Pd, which normally only has > > sliders. I see one good application for knobs: Visualizing things > > that must not take up much screen space. > > They also have the advantage of a more obvious centre position than a > slider, I believe they can be significantly quicker to read, although > not to edit, and they can be placed in meaningful groups more easily. > I think they're a much better GUI element than people give them > credit for.
Agreed, or can be. The exat implementation can make a great deal of difference to the usability. One of the nice features is that you can set controls more accuratly that sliders without using vast ammounts of screen realestate. > The problem is knowing when to use them. Rosegarden uses knobs for > all LADSPA port controls, and the results are not very satisfactory. > Jack-rack uses sliders for all LADSPA port controls, and IMHO the > results there are not satisfactory either, although they are > generally better. The ideal would be a mixture but I don't think the > host can reliably tell which should be which. I imagine the real > value of a custom GUI is in contextual and organisational details > like that. (Although I do think flashy graphics can be nice too.) My guess is that, often, knobs are better for LOG scaled things and sliders btter for linear. Just a rule of thumb though. - Steve
