[instaviz-users] Opinions wanted: sketching vs scrolling

Tue Nov 11 11:56:31 CST 2008

Hi Glen and everyone,

I personally would prefer option 1 or 3 over 2.  I think instant  
responses are always preferable to small delays for the interface, and  
options 1 and 3 have no delays.  I would expect to be making small  
charts on the iPhone, and having a delay each and every time I drew a  
figure would drive me insane.  As long as the slider is visible on the  
interface so you always know what state it's in, option 3 would be  
fine.  Would it also be possible to adjust the scrolling momentum?  It  
seems like it's a little high at the moment.

Also, how do we log into the trac system for submitting bug reports?

Mike Mancini

--
Michael C. Mancini
michael.mancini at bme.gatech.edu

On 10 Nov 2008, at 22:27, Rick Stahlhut wrote:

>
> Hi Glen (everyone),
>
> It probably depends on how you plan to use Instaviz.   for instance, I
> currently plan to either:  1) draw small graphs and 2) navigate big
> graphs generated through Graphviz.  I'd probably set it on your third
> choice.  On the other hand, if you're going to draw large graphs on
> your iphone (hard to imagine, but someone might), they might hate the
> delay of choice 2 and prefer 1.
>
> Without usability testing, we'll probably guess wrong here.  What
> would be wrong with making ALL 3 choices available through a
> preference setting?   I'd make 3 the default, because it's so obvious
> how it works.  If someone wants one of the other methods, they turn it
> on.
>
> - Rick
>
>
> On Nov 10, 2008, at 9:52 PM, Glen Low wrote:
>
>> Hi All
>>
>> I hope you've all had a chance to play with Instaviz and are settling
>> into the group nicely. Special thanks to Richard, Jeremy, Thomas,
>> David and Juan for taking the time and effort to submit bug tickets
>> for Instaviz -- I'll be attending to some of them this week.
>>
>> I need your opinion on how scrolling and sketching should interact.
>>
>> In a typical iPhone app, you can scroll the screen by dragging,
>> swiping or flicking with your fingers. In a drawing app like  
>> Instaviz,
>> we have to support drawing with similar sorts of finger gestures. The
>> question is: how to get Instaviz to distinguish between a drag to
>> scroll and a drag to sketch?
>>
>> As I see it, there are three broad ways to do it:
>>
>> 1.	SKETCH: with one finger only, drag immediately.
>> 	SCROLL: with two fingers only, drag immediately.
>> 	(This was how it worked in 0.1.)
>>
>> 2.	SKETCH: with one finger only, wait a short while before dragging.
>> 	SCROLL: with one or two fingers, drag immediately.
>> 	(This is how it works in 0.1.1.)
>>
>> 3.	Use a slider to choose between SKETCH mode and SCROLL mode. New
>> graph default is SKETCH, old graph default is SCROLL.
>> 	SKETCH or SCROLL: with one finger, drag immediately.
>> 	a.	One variation is to use orientation to choose e.g. SKETCH when  
>> the
>> iPhone is horizontal, and SCROLL when the iPhone is vertical.
>>
>> These are some of the pro's and con's bouncing around in my head:
>>
>> 1.	SKETCH with one finger, SCROLL with two.
>> 	Pro's
>> 	*	Doesn't get in the way of sketching, since there's no need for a
>> delay.
>> 	*	Scrolling with two fingers extends to pinch zooming naturally.
>> 	Con's
>> 	*	Most users are more familiar with using ONE finger to scroll, not
>> two.
>> 	*	Sometimes when you end a scroll by lifting one finger off before
>> the other, the graph "bounces" back.
>>
>> 2.	SKETCH after a delay, SCROLL immediately.
>> 	Pro's
>> 	*	Users will be used to using one finger to scroll immediately.
>> 	*	The stuff you do often is the easiest i.e. browsing a graph rather
>> than creating/editing a graph.
>> 	Con's
>> 	*	Different interaction when graph is small (can sketch immediately,
>> no scrolling) and when graph is big (cannot sketch immediately,
>> scrolling allowed).
>> 	*	Can't sketch quickly since you're forced to pause between each
>> stroke. Feels much like writing on a slippery surface.
>>
>> 3.	Use a slider to choose between SKETCH and SCROLL.
>> 	Pro's
>> 	*	Explicitly tells the user what he can do.
>> 	Con's
>> 	*	If you choose SKETCH or SCROLL and get distracted or come back to
>> the app after doing something else, it may be easy to forget which
>> mode you're in.
>> 	*	Harder to switch quickly between sketching and scrolling.
>>
>> What do you think?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Cheers, Glen Low
>>
>>
>> ---
>> pixelglow software | simply brilliant stuff
>> www.pixelglow.com
>> aim: pixglen
>>
>> P.S. I moved from option 1 to 2 in 0.1.1 mainly because of technical
>> limitations, so even if you think 1 is the right way, I may not be
>> able to coerce the iPhone to do that...
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>
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