Round knob controls

[dragonstorm]

Just an observation on round controls, from the point of view of user interface design.

Since round knob controls are not a standard control type, they tend to be implemented differently every time. Sould I click and drag up and down? Drag left and right? Try to drag in a circle? Simply click on the point where I want the control to be set? All of the above? (The circle motion, while it may be natural for a physical object, isn't so natural with a mouse.)

What happens if you choose the wrong method of operation? (When I first tried one, I didn't get it right until the third try.)

What happens if you drag too far? For example, with the Probe skin, I have twice so far accidentally taken the volume control from mute to full on, blasting my speakers, ears, and neighbours in the process. I can't seem to replicate this behaviour on command, but it's very annoying when it does happen. :) One method to protect against this might be to allow only about 300 degreess of rotation instead of 360 degrees.

Be careful not to put form over function. I'd suggest we don't see round controls often for a reason. :)

[Naamloos]

ROund controls is not an easy way ,that's why they arent implented
that much...

You have to click and then try to make a circle... its different for every skin how it reacts... :)

[KrunkedUp187]

dude, one of the skins u can download the offical site has off it so u can right click on the circular volume control and a menu pops up that let u chose between different movement modes. Check that out. I think its the blue one.

[kingo'mountain]

u mean boxor!!!!!

yes..... great thing
i wish wa3 will have more volume knob effects!

and when the DSP's will come......

who knows! :D

[theancient]

I have boxor... it's probably the coolest looking skin so far -- a nice demonstration of what Winamp3 is capable of... but I wouldn't use it for my everyday skin. I guess that's a good way to describe it -- "form over function." It's the same reason I couldn't stick with Sonique.

One of my pet peeves of many Winamp 2 skins was the use of four identical unidentified circles for the clutterbar. I've used Winamp for years, but still can't remember which button is which. And now, to leave the 5 main controls unmarked? Really bad. You learn about this stuff in the first week of any HCI course -- it shouldn't be necessary to mouseover to figure out what a button does.

I'm using Probe -- pretty nice, although I do wonder why the seek bar seems to be using an exponential function rather than a linear one. I also stay away from the volume knob... it's jumped around strangely a few times.