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Subject:Re: Terminology Question-Joystick Movement From:"Frost, Jonathan" <J -dot- Frost -at- DIALOGIC -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 5 Jun 1998 17:38:18 -0400
On Thu, 4 Jun 1998 at 08:45:01, Robyn Grover <RKGROVER -at- QTIWORLD -dot- COM>
wrote:
<snip>
> Subject: Terminology Question-Joystick Movement
>
> Hello,
> I am documenting an application thats console includes a joystick.
> I am not sure how to document the movement of a joystick, are
> there any standards out there? Some of the joystick movements
> that have been suggested include the following:
>
> Tilt the joystick to the right, left, up, and down.
> Push the joystick right, left, and up.
> Pull the joystick down.
>
> What do you think?
<end snip>
Assuming that the application supports a pointer or application display
change (perhaps a field becomes highlighted) corresponding to the joystick
movement (and if not, why not?), you could describe the joystick movement by
what happens on the display comparable to using a mouse in a GUI. For
example, "point to <fill in the blank> or "select <fill in the blank>."
If you must describe the physical joystick movement and you cannot find a
standard, why not show joystick movements as the graphical results, either
by themselves or in conjunction with the text description? You could create
small graphic icons showing the appropriate orientation. (Please pardon the
clumsy text-based examples that follow--they are best viewed in monospaced
font.)
___
__
/ / | |
+ - +/ /+ + - + - + + - + - + + -| |- +
| / / | | | | ___|__ | | | |
+ @@@ + + @@@ + + @______| + @@@ +
| | | / / | | | | |
+ - + - + +/ /+ - + + - + - + + - + - +
/_/
If rotation is required, you could show a grayed-out (ghost outline)
starting position, an arrow showing rotational direction, then the joystick
in the ending position.
For a text description, you could use (after setting the reader's
orientation beforehand):
- degrees or compass directions, such as point the joystick 45 degrees, or
"northeast"
- hours on a clockface, such as point the joystick to 9 o'clock
Before committing to a method, I recommend testing one or more approaches on
some users to see which one consistently gets the desired result.
Jon
===============================
Jonathan Frost
Group Leader--Tech Pubs & Usability
