Types of sliders (simple, circular and multi-thumb sliders)

[terracoda]

I am thinking about the Sphere and Charge position sliders in the the GFL series (GFL, GFLB, and CL).

@jessegreenberg and I have discussed how multi-thumb sliders are represented before. In a technical sense they are just two sliders, but visually they are communicated/appear as one.

So in Gravity Force Lab, the sphere positions are very much like a multi-thumb slider. I think a multi-thumb slider will have slightly different design considerations to communicate that it is a multi-thumb slider, rather than a single slider.

This got me thinking about the sliders we have experienced thus far, we seem to have three types:

• simple horizontal or vertical slider (Mass 1 and Mass 2 Values in GFL, OL and RIAW)
• circular slider ( arm and leg in JT)
• multi-thumb slider (sphere positions in GFL, GFLB, CL)

I think we have experienced difference challenges for each of these interactions, and may need slightly different design considerations for each as well. They will have common aspects in the code but at least some differences in considering labels, help text, and of course position values.

My question: Do folks agree we might want to keep in mind three design patterns (or sub patterns) or at least three distinct examples that demonstrate the differences between these interactions?

Aside: Some challenges I am considering about multi-thumb sliders for these 3 sims are:

• a single heading that labels the two sliders as a single grouped interaction with two thumbs
• communicating how position values are restricted by the other thumb's position
• strategies to communicate the state information of the interactive object that the thumbs are representing
• additionally unrelated to the slider thumb, where to put other state information about the interactive object
• and finally, strategies for alerts that communicate what is happening as slider values are increased or decreased

[terracoda]

I don't want to get into a huge online discussion. Alternatively, we could just discuss Tuesday's design meetings.

[emily-phet]

@terracoda (I love this issue, by the way!)

Let's talk about this in an 'office hours' topic on Tuesday.

In addition to the three types of sliders you mention above, we could also consider different types of position values (qualitative, quantitative, relative values, etc.).

Go ahead and put this on the office hours spreadsheet, please.

[terracoda]

@emily-phet, will add to office hours! Thanks! (done)

[emily-phet]

This issue discussed Aug 14th 2018. Taliesin, Emily, Jesse, Michael B. and Lynne were present. Conclusion - in the future we may decide to have standardized html description content provided in addition to the typical slider content as an additional "circular slider" attribute to accessible slider. We also may decide to create a new common slider type (?) that uses two accessible sliders that essentially provides standardized html description content for "multi-thumb slider" scenarios.

We need to further investigate the need for this in JT (circular slider) and GFL/GFL:B/CL (multi-thumb slider) before making a decision on this.

To be continued...