On Fri, 25 Jun 2004 18:54:20 +0200, Thorsten Wilms wrote > On Fri, Jun 25, 2004 at 05:22:55PM +0100, Dave Griffiths wrote: > > > > I like your fan idea Thorsten, but I also think it could work invisibly - ie > > no need for the transparent overlay. This would take a bit of learning that it > > was there to begin with - but transparent graphics like that are expensive > > (yeah, GPU's I know - but its something to keep in mind) and unnecessary after > > learing how to use the control. > > Requiring the user to read documentation to learn about > functionality he would not even expect is not an option. > > The graphics are not only for giving a hint at this functionality, > but also for making clear what is happening. With only the initial > (small) slider the user would not have the same feel for the way > to value change mapping. The fan and indication line make clear > how the mechanism works and help the user to build an exact > mental model.
You would be able to get a feel for it by the change in the motion of the slider control - I think it would become quite apparent once you knew it was there. I quite like hiding this sort of functionality in user interfaces for users to discover :) > The partial transparency is meant for allowing to see other sliders > > (or controls) in the background for comparison. But it's less important. >From (very subjective) experience I find any kind of popping up of elements annoying - but agree that it's sometimes required. I think it needs to be tried. > > It would be good to collect a repository of existing GUI elements in > > commercial packages - dunno what the legal implications would be, but it would > > be useful. > > Are there so many special widgets out there? I would like to hear > about any example someone around here might know. It's not just the individual widgets that are important but the whole design. I always post this, but: http://girl.yowstar.com/app.gif and of course: http://www.ableton.com/pages/products/live/live4tour/featurelist/Session-full.gif are often cited from users as "ground breaking" interfaces (others hate them :] ) I agree that all these designs simply rehash the old themes of interfaces - I think we should explore this more as free software types, as we can take risks with this sort of thing (but rarely do). cheers, dave
