Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Redditors design worst volume sliders possible

designernews.co

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 92 posts

Re: Redditors design worst volume sliders possible

#41

Post by abruzzi »

throwaway899 wrote: post #30
mark242 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Volume is a percentage, and a very analog control. The idea that you would have to have a round knob to twist on a computer screen is ridiculous, almost like some imaginary need for a specific shutter button to press to take a photo on a phone (just touch the screen!). It's a one-dimensional value, make it a one-dimensional control. Slider. Done.

To be honest, I prefer the physical shutter button over tapping my screen on my phone when taking pictures.

Especially since screen tapping could be registering a "refocus to this point" action. Also since camera phones have no viewfinder, I use the screen to compose my shot. So to avoid obscuring what I am going to take a picture of, I keep my hand clear of the screen most of the time. That makes the act of triggering the shutter a more visible and deliberate act than just pushing a button that my finger is already touching. These probably don't matter to most people but are fairly frustrating to me. (the fact that I almost always shoot landscape, not portrait, may be the cause of the discomfort for me, since it changes my hold on my phone to something more like the hold on a camera.)

Re: Redditors design worst volume sliders possible

#42

Post by svantana »

colanderman wrote: post #22
cyberferret wrote: post #3

These are hilarious. I use audio software a lot, and it is amazing how something which seems quite simple in concept, such as a circular volume button, can be so differently implemented via UX. Every time I see a knob style button on any of my audio plugins UI, I have to think: * Will the point at which I touch/click on the knob set the knob value to that position, or will it simply be the starting anchor at which I…

Don't forget, is it linear or logarithmic? It baffles me that it's 2017 and people who implement volume sliders never even consider that the obvious choice might not be the best...

Well logarithmic doesn't make sense, because it never gets to zero. However something like p^0.42 (sound pressure with an exponent<1) works well because it is similar to the perceived sound level. An interesting connection is that the power function "becomes" a logarithm as the exponent goes to zero.

Re: Redditors design worst volume sliders possible

#43

Post by SAI_Peregrinus »

vkjv wrote: post #39
throwaway899 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be honest, I prefer the physical shutter button over tapping my screen on my phone when taking pictures.

I don't believe the parent meant a physical shutter button, but a specific area on screen designated as the shutter button instead of the much easier, "anywhere".

Well, having "anywhere" be the shutter button means tap to focus won't work.

Re: Redditors design worst volume sliders possible

#44

Post by s_kilk »

mark242 wrote: post #18
cyberferret wrote: post #3

These are hilarious. I use audio software a lot, and it is amazing how something which seems quite simple in concept, such as a circular volume button, can be so differently implemented via UX. Every time I see a knob style button on any of my audio plugins UI, I have to think: * Will the point at which I touch/click on the knob set the knob value to that position, or will it simply be the starting anchor at which I…

Volume is a percentage, and a very analog control. The idea that you would have to have a round knob to twist on a computer screen is ridiculous, almost like some imaginary need for a specific shutter button to press to take a photo on a phone (just touch the screen!). It's a one-dimensional value, make it a one-dimensional control. Slider. Done.

Sliders take up more space for the same "travel" though.

Re: Redditors design worst volume sliders possible

#45

Post by SAI_Peregrinus »

knolan wrote: post #16

In research environments we often have to use software with UIs designed by, and subsequently abandoned by engineers. Typically some expensive piece of highly complex equipment that only runs on some older version of Windows that every PhD student is expected to use. They're often buggy, resulting in Skinner pigeon troubleshooting workflows to get anything done. First guilty party to mind is FLIR. Their software is t…

The worst offenders by far have to be National Instruments, entirely because they loosed LabView upon the world. LabView essentially makes it impossible to make UIs that aren't terrible. Most of the volume controls in these posts are more usable than the best that can be done with LabView.

Re: Redditors design worst volume sliders possible

#46

Post by knolan »

SAI_Peregrinus wrote: post #45
knolan wrote: post #16

In research environments we often have to use software with UIs designed by, and subsequently abandoned by engineers. Typically some expensive piece of highly complex equipment that only runs on some older version of Windows that every PhD student is expected to use. They're often buggy, resulting in Skinner pigeon troubleshooting workflows to get anything done. First guilty party to mind is FLIR. Their software is t…

The worst offenders by far have to be National Instruments, entirely because they loosed LabView upon the world. LabView essentially makes it impossible to make UIs that aren't terrible. Most of the volume controls in these posts are more usable than the best that can be done with LabView.

I've managed to completely block NI from my mind. When I have to use their hardware (which is mostly good) I use pyVISA or the session based interface in Matlab.

Re: Redditors design worst volume sliders possible

#47

Post by CobrastanJorji »

twiss wrote: post #34
Ajedi32 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been hoping for a while now that digital assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant would implement that feature and respond in a volume similar to the one you asked your question in. That way you wouldn't have to be constantly messing with the volume to make sure you can hear the assistant without it being too loud.

On the other hand, if you're further from the device, it will hear you less loudly, while it should respond more loudly. Maybe it could distinguish speaking softly from speaking far away somehow.

That's a good point. It should reply with the inverse of the volume that it hears!

Re: Redditors design worst volume sliders possible

#48

Post by [deleted] »

SAI_Peregrinus wrote: post #45
knolan wrote: post #16

In research environments we often have to use software with UIs designed by, and subsequently abandoned by engineers. Typically some expensive piece of highly complex equipment that only runs on some older version of Windows that every PhD student is expected to use. They're often buggy, resulting in Skinner pigeon troubleshooting workflows to get anything done. First guilty party to mind is FLIR. Their software is t…

The worst offenders by far have to be National Instruments, entirely because they loosed LabView upon the world. LabView essentially makes it impossible to make UIs that aren't terrible. Most of the volume controls in these posts are more usable than the best that can be done with LabView.

[deleted]

Re: Redditors design worst volume sliders possible

#49

Post by hdjddjtjtj55 »

cyberferret wrote: post #3

These are hilarious. I use audio software a lot, and it is amazing how something which seems quite simple in concept, such as a circular volume button, can be so differently implemented via UX. Every time I see a knob style button on any of my audio plugins UI, I have to think: * Will the point at which I touch/click on the knob set the knob value to that position, or will it simply be the starting anchor at which I…

My personal favorite design, and I can't remember where I saw it used, was a scroll wheel centric version where you hover and scroll to adjust volume, with a bubble appearing above with current setting

I think it was on a UI portfolio. Not a production effort

Not sure how well it would work with a trackpad though. Worked great on a mouse with an obvious "tick" feedback in the scroll wheel though!

Re: Redditors design worst volume sliders possible

#50

Post by sangnoir »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #47
twiss wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, if you're further from the device, it will hear you less loudly, while it should respond more loudly. Maybe it could distinguish speaking softly from speaking far away somehow.

That's a good point. It should reply with the inverse of the volume that it hears!

Unless you're right next too it, but the baby is sleeping. Was sleeping.
Post reply on HN