Difficult to release slider on a specific value

[zachkinstner]

@squakmix wrote:

After using the slider for color selection for a bit, I've noticed that its extremely difficult to release it on a particular value and other users I've tested this with have complained about the same thing. I'm wondering if youre looking for a way to make it easier to release the slider without changing the value?

[zachkinstner]

The interaction settings provide an option for "Sticky Release Distance". As a first step, please try adjusting that to see if there's a value that seems to work best. The balance here is that the value can't be so low that it becomes easy to accidentally release the slider while dragging it.

[zachkinstner]

Beyond that, there might be some more complex ways to improve this.

For example, the slider could become less sensitive to up-and-down cursor movements as the distance between the slider and cursor gets larger. So, as the cursor moves away from its "sticky" selection on the slider's handle, it would become harder to change the current slider value, and thus more likely to stay on its desired value.

[zachkinstner]

Potentially interesting idea: allow the slider to auto-release if you hold it still for some unit of time. This may not work well in cases where the tracking is a little jumpy, since it would be harder to determine if the user is actually trying to stay still.

[pollesbog]

Sounds great, I'll give the sticky release distance setting a try. I was imagining something like your last idea; when I sit still in one place with the slider for long enough I want it to release cleanly. I'm not sure if that would be confusing for some users who go a little bit slower though; the wait would have to be long enough that it doesn't accidentally go off for slow users but short enough that its not frustrating for people intentionally using it.

[ddutchie]

Could we have an option to reverse the slider. For example 1-24 could go 24-1 with values on opposites of the slider.

[zachkinstner]

Started work in the slider-release branch.

[zachkinstner]

Here's a quick animation showing a slide from hue 90 to about 185, then using the new "precision" sliding to get to 199 (and yes, I was aiming for 200...):

[zachkinstner]

the slider could become less sensitive to up-and-down cursor movements as the distance between the slider and cursor gets larger.

The latest commit (referenced above) tries this approach. It seems to work pretty well.

The slider now has a "reaction time" that occurs based on the cursor's distance away. You could think of this like a lagging effect -- when your finger is farther away, the slider handle follows slowly behind the cursor. The basic usage is:

• With your cursor near to the slider handle, move the handle close to the target value.
• Move your cursor away from the slider.
• Move your cursor up/down, and the handle will slowly follow.
• Once the handle hits your target value, move the cursor further away from the slider until the "sticky" selection releases.

In general, I think there is only so much precision we can expect to achieve with a hand-based menu like Hovercast. The hue slider packs 360 values into a 50% size (of the entire menu arc), and it is pretty difficult to select an exact value. From a developer perspective, you have a few options:

• Use the "steps" feature to ensure the user lands on a round number. For example, the hue slider could use steps so that the slider always stops on a multiple of 10. This is only perceived precision, though.
• Use up to 100% of the entire menu arc for the slider.
• In cases where high precision is vital, try splitting up the sliders. For the hue slider, for example, maybe there is an initial "red", "yellow", "green", etc. radio selection, and then the hue slider's range is narrowed to about 60 units (instead of 360). Or, maybe there is an initial "overall" slider that gets within 20 units, and then a "precision" slider that has a range of +/- 10 units.