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Author Topic: Looking for the best widget for numeric input  (Read 3739 times)

vlastimil

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Looking for the best widget for numeric input
« on: April 25, 2013, 03:41 PM »
Hi guys,

I have a problem, I cannot design a good control for numeric input and I need your help. Look at these concepts I have drawn - they suck.
The classic Windows controls are marked by 0, possible alternatives are marked 1, 2, 3, 4.

number-control.png

My goal is to have a widget for numeric input that:
1. works with keyboard - at least as good as the "classic" edit box with spinner
2. works with mouse - quickly adjust value by dragging something/clicking somewhere; ideally, it should be possible to somehow specify "good" numbers like 100, 10, 5, etc. with mouse (imagine doing that with a normal slider - it is not trivial to select exactly "30" if your slider goes from 1 to 100)
3. works with touch input - areas that need to be touched must not be tiny
4. looks good - good presentation of current value, simple design without too many distracting or eye-hurting details

My question: Do you know a program with a great widget for numeric input?

Thanks for all opinions.

Stoic Joker

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Re: Looking for the best widget for numeric input
« Reply #1 on: April 25, 2013, 05:18 PM »
4 looks nice, and could be keyboard friendly if set to advance by 1 by default, and then advance by 10 of you hold shift (or some other accelerator key). Biggest issue is usually boring the user to death with the setting crawling across the screen with the +1 default increment (I'm guessing based on what annoys me :)), so maybe reverse the above with a +/- 5 default movement and a pres shift + arrow for more granular +/- 1 movement.

phitsc

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Re: Looking for the best widget for numeric input
« Reply #2 on: May 09, 2013, 02:11 PM »
If you haven't done so already, have a look at how it's done in Adobe Lightroom. You can use both keyboard and mouse. You can set a specific value either by entering into the edit box (at the end of the slider), or by clicking on a position on the slider. You can "move" the value both on the slider and the edit box. If these elements would be big enough I'm sure they would work well for touch input. You can re-set to a default position by double-clicking the slider handle. I don't think your multiple "good values" requirement is covered though.