What would you say is the minimum number of knobs/buttons required to comfortably interact with a small embedded system with a menu, consisting of say 4 or 5 submenus, with a couple of adjustable parameters for each?
I was thinking you'd probably need a minimum of 4: a "menu" button to access the menu, an "enter" button to select submenus and lock in parameters, an encoder to select submenus/values, and a "go back" button to return to the top menu?
That sounds reasonable. I hate interfaces that are vague and you can't back out of. The Enter and go back make it clear you can always get out.
I've been playing with an fairly old device where the CLEAR button doesn't clear values and the center cursor (up/down/left/right and middle) button does. It's infuriating.
Perhaps two. One to scroll thru the selections which include 'Back' and 'Back to top' or 'clear'. The second button is used to select the options. First press of a button after a timeout could activate the menu system.
You could even get fancy and use a rotary encoder knob with an integral push button. That would allow scroll forward/reverse, select (knob pressed) and a third option of scroll while knob pressed.
If your encoder has a push switch, that can save you the real estate of an external button...
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One. If you have a high threshold of pain and if you know Morse code.
I would say four or five -- up, down, left, right, maybe plus "enter".
-- Tim Wescott Wescott Design Services http://www.wescottdesign.com I'm looking for work -- see my website!
Though it can be infuriating until you learn that the knob has a push switch. It is getting common enough that I am more likely to try it these days. A label might help, though I probably wouldn't read it for a while.
4 seems relatively common.
-- Les Cargill
The W1209 thermostat seems to do okay with three buttons.It uses " Set " and plus and minus. Search on Ali or Ebay for W1209 to find instructions. Pretty neat thermostat for less than $2.
Dan
How many? Why not count? :-)
Take the total number of menu items, numerical digits, adjustable ranges, etc. in your entire UI. Call this (options).
Estimate the time you want a user to spend faffing around in the menus, navigating to the thing they're trying to find (hopefully only a few seconds, even for the most obscure settings*). Divide this time by the average amount of time taken to find and press a button (~0.5s?). The result is the number of button presses you expect the user to enter, to get somewhere. Call this Np.
The amount of information conveyed by X button presses, selected from B buttons, is B^Np combinations. Maximum. So to get (options) = B^Np, you need B = (options)^(1/Np). Minimum.
*If your options have differing frequency of use, that implies you can save keystrokes, in the average case, by assigning priorities to them. On a side note, voila -- you now understand Huffman coding (as used in e.g. JPEG files)!A home thermostat might have menus countable on one hand, and total options countable on several. You only need a few buttons. Up and down are priority for a small-range numerical input, then you might add one more enter/escape/magic/more-magic button. Expect ~0.5s per button press, and total interaction of 1-2s. Menu naviation might be by menu item ("go back" item) or shortcut.
An oscilloscope might have dozens of menus, totalling hundreds, even thousands of options. The large number of numerical inputs (plus the historical influence of knobs on scopes) demands rotating inputs as well. I count 35 buttons and six encoders on my scope. It still doesn't feel like enough inputs, but that's Tek's fault for committing the number one mortal sin: the interface responds considerably slower than (average_time_to_find_and_press_button). The whole UI team should've been fired for that!
Indeed, the sheer dynamic range of some options makes not only bare encoders laughable, but demands adjustable-decimal-place entry. Which is a feature rarely supplied on scopes, yet so sorely needed! Compare to most function generators, which have all digits accessible for the frequency setting.
Tim
-- Seven Transistor Labs, LLC Electrical Engineering Consultation and Contract Design Website: http://seventransistorlabs.com "bitrex" wrote in message news:Hotoz.25$4a5.0@fx16.iad... > What would you say is the minimum number of knobs/buttons required to > comfortably interact with a small embedded system with a menu, consisting > of say 4 or 5 submenus, with a couple of adjustable parameters for each? > > I was thinking you'd probably need a minimum of 4: a "menu" button to > access the menu, an "enter" button to select submenus and lock in > parameters, an encoder to select submenus/values, and a "go back" button > to return to the top menu?
Relatively stupid devices with BUIs (Button User Interface) tend to get by with no more than three or four buttons, sometimes including power switching.
I *have* seen them with more buttons but not necessarily more functions.
I'm thinking about digital watches and cameras, MP3 players, things like that.
Mark L. Fergerson
Am 03.08.2016 um 23:31 schrieb bitrex:
This is a bad question for me. I hate devices that save every possible button. Buttons are not expensive! I have a kitchen timer with 12 buttons (numpad plus 'start' and 'stop') that I got as a freebie long ago. The buttons are worn out meanwhile but I would never give it away. I also have a microwave oven with numpad, the color of the case is fading and it has only 500 watts but I can't buy a new one since there are no user friendly ovens any more. You can even enter 'crude' numbers like 7:77 for a pudding (what makes 8 minutes and 17 seconds) or 1:66 for a cup of milk. (The 6 seconds won't roll a dice but 166 types faster than 160) Very convenient!
If it must be cheap, I would consider a rubber keyboard and make as many keys as required for a comfortable device. Especially a numpad if you have to enter numbers.
Cheers
Robert
Microwaves made in the last couple decades if not more all get a F for ease of use.
I just hit the "quick minute" buttons for anything. I have no idea why you'd need 10 power levels or what a baked potato feature even does. You can't even just type in 300 and start for 3 minutes anymore of those pieces of shit.
The old Tappan and Litton ovens with the time knob and a start and stop button were the best ones ever made.
Computer monitors have been using 4 buttons since 1990 or so. it's ok once a month, but would get tedious for hourly adjustments.
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