Action button labels: poll 2

[_wb_]

[PLEASE READ THIS POST BEFORE ANSWERING THE POLL]

Now we know what the layout will be for the 6 action buttons, I think it's time to have another poll.

The Layout is as follows:


+ @
@   @
+ @
where @ correspond to the Pandora action buttons and + are the two new buttons.

I selected some labeling proposals, based on the results of the previous poll and some new proposals. Before you select an option, please take your time to read the rest of this post and try to visualize how it would look.

1) Pandora layout + C and Z (YABX + CZ)
 
C  Y 
A      B
Z  X
 
2) Pandora layout + C1 and C2 (YABX + C1 C2)
(here shown as C1 and C2 but this could also be Z1 and Z2 or something like that)

C1  Y  
 A       B
C2  X
 
 
3) SEGA-style? (ZXCB + YA)

Y   Z 
X       C
A  B
 
 
4) Extended SNES? (XZAB + YC)
   
Y  X   
Z     A
C B
 
5) Colored letters (YCBG + MR)
(the other proposals can be colored too, but for this one it is obligatory)
      
M Y   
C     B
R G
 
 
6) Greek that looks like Playstation layout plus phi/psi (ΔΠΩχ + Φψ)
       
Φ  Δ     
Π      Ω
ψ  χ

7) Greek that looks like Playstation layout plus lambda/gamma (ΔΠΩχ + λγ)

λ       Δ

 Π          Ω

γ       χ

 
8) Pandora-like lowercase Greek layout plus mu/nu (γαβχ + μν)
    
μ  γ   
α      β
ν  χ

9) Pandora-like lowercase Greek layout plus zeta/omega (γαβχ + ζω)

ζ  γ
α     β
ω χ
 
 
10) Alphanumeric combinations (G1-G6)

G6   G5
  G4        G2
G3   G1
 

(or maybe some other ordering)
 

Proposals 7), 9) and 10) are new proposals compared to the previous poll. The other proposals are the top-preferred proposals from the previous poll -- Colored letters got 15 preference votes, while the next most preferred one got only 8, so I put the threshold between those two.

Of course if anyone comes up with another proposal feel free to describe it.

I'm not going to attempt to list all the pros and cons of each one of these proposals, they are numerous. In general though, these remarks are probably important to keep in mind:

- Latin letters (proposals 1-5) have the disadvantage that they can be confused with keyboard keys, which could complicate communication.

- Greek letters (proposals 6-9) have the disadvantage that they are hard to type and name, which could complicate communication.

- In all proposals we could add colors to the buttons.

- In all proposals we could add the names of the corresponding keyboard keys in small-print (Home/End/PgUp/PgDn/ Insert? / Delete?)

- Backwards compatibility is important but changing the labels does not have to be a big problem.

You are asked to give your personal top-3 best and top-3 worst choices (among these 10). Please do not cheat and don't pick the same option twice (this poll is public to discourage cheating).

 

[Granitehead]

I think having so many different Greek proposals creates too much fraction when you can only select three. Same for the latin combinations (though I care less about those ).

Maybe we should first do a poll Greek, Latin combinations of ABCXYZ, ABXYC1C2, YCBG + MR, Alphanumeric combinations (G1-G6).

 

[Grench]

Wishing the poll allowed voting against -all- of the Greek lettering options equally.

Options 1 & 3 are the only ones I see as viable - and option 1 is the only one that would be compatible with Pandora application layouts.

 

[Granitehead]

Wishing the poll allowed voting against -all- of the Greek lettering options equally.

Options 1 & 3 are the only ones I see as viable - and option 1 is the only one that would be compatible with Pandora application layouts.

Option 3 is the one I like most of the latin ones.But I think your wish to vote against all Greek letter combinations also indicates my previous post is right.

 

[Grench]

Wishing the poll allowed voting against -all- of the Greek lettering options equally.

Options 1 & 3 are the only ones I see as viable - and option 1 is the only one that would be compatible with Pandora application layouts.

Option 3 is the one I like most of the latin ones.But I think your wish to vote against all Greek letter combinations also indicates my previous post is right.

Which poll are you looking at? Option #3 is Sega style...

The Greek ones are, quite simply, all annoying AND would require re-writing every emulator's interface screen and every PND that maps to the buttons with items from non-standard character sets that probably don't even exist in the character files available on the systems being emulated. Simply bad all around.

#1 - Pandora layout with 2 more buttons (C and Z) is practical, keeps existing program mappings working, etc... The rest are piles of BS of continuously increasing depth.

 

[Kiga]

That is the best. These 6 letters are very famous and lowercase lambda/gamma look like 2 extra bouton as mot people won't use them often. An ti allow to see the 4 main button easily.

7) Greek that looks like Playstation layout plus lambda/gamma (ΔΠΩχ + λγ)

λ       Δ

 Π          Ω

γ       χ

 

[vinipsmaker]

The Layout is as follows:


+ @
@   @
+ @where @ correspond to the Pandora action buttons and + are the two new buttons.

This is unfortunate. What system emulation can be benefited by these two new buttons? N64? Mega drive? Some arcade machines? Nah.

I think we should just remap these two new buttons to select and start.

And sorry for flooding your topic.

 

[Granitehead]

Looking at this poll. Option 3 here actually makes sense as ABC top left row and XYZ bottom right.

Edit: (I'm against sacrificing /anything/ for backwards compatibility)

 

[Kiga]

Latin Letters just looks like random letters around and some syllable can be readen  like "CAZ",  "YXA", C1/C2 is the best option but it still looks a mess.




 

 

[levi]

I like the idea of greek playstation like buttons, for geek cred reasons, but I don't like either of the suggestions above. In number 6, omega is a circle with a line across the end and a gap in the middle, while phi is a circle with a line across it. I feel I could easily mistake those symbols in a rush. And in 7, lambda and gamma are almost the same symbol, rotated. I reckon other combinations of symbols might be easier to grok in a rush.

 

[LEOXD]

Looking at this poll. Option 3 here actually makes sense as ABC top left row and XYZ bottom right.

... 2 rows? Not without having some connecting stuff in the case. 
+ @
@   @
+ @I see 3 rows, 2 columns (or 3 colums, depending whether the most right key is counted as a moved buttom from the second column or not).
The progression of the latin proposals now looks somewhat random (not to say like a mess). The greek ones never had a logical progression, but it doesn't matter for them as many people see them as symbols rather than letters that need a logical order.

Also, the color thing might be more logical this way:

↓ ➘

C R

M   G

Y B

↑ ➚

 

[_wb_]

Wishing the poll allowed voting against -all- of the Greek lettering options equally.


Options 1 & 3 are the only ones I see as viable - and option 1 is the only one that would be compatible with Pandora application layouts.

Yes, the opinions about Latin vs Greek are quite polarized, we already knew that. Some people like Latin, others like Greek. By forcing you to order also the ones you don't like, at least if your favorite alphabet loses, you still have an impact on the result.

I like the idea of greek playstation like buttons, for geek cred reasons, but I don't like either of the suggestions above. In number 6, omega is a circle with a line across the end and a gap in the middle, while phi is a circle with a line across it. I feel I could easily mistake those symbols in a rush. And in 7, lambda and gamma are almost the same symbol, rotated. I reckon other combinations of symbols might be easier to grok in a rush.

Feel free to make a suggestion that improves upon that.


I personally like it that λ and γ look alike, it adds a nice symmetry and an association with "up" and "down" or "plus" and "minus" that could be useful for certain applications. But I guess for dyslectic persons it's not good to use rotationally similar symbols.

 

[hipnotoad]

So much for comfortable/natural n64 emulation. This layout is just horrible. Just as well spare the two extra buttons IMO as nothing is really achieved here... I think the layout should be fought over more so than the labels...

 

[Kiga]

Thinking about it, lowercase psi is better than lambda, because lambda isn't symmetric and it looks foreign.

ψ       Δ

 Π          Ω

γ        χ

I feel I could easily mistake those symbols in a rush.

I think with this their would be no problem, it's recognizable as m and n are recognizable.

 

[LEOXD]

So much for comfortable/natural n64 emulation. This layout is just horrible. Just as well spare the two extra buttons IMO as nothing is really achieved here... I think the layout should be fought over more so than the labels...

Take a look at this: http://youtu.be/ruFyq7fbfpU?t=26sWhere would you place the extra buttons in a way that feels natural?

 

[Kiga]

Plus, with this, all the 4 main button are downwardly, the 2 extra are upwardly and psi and gamma look alike, so it would be easy to mentally separate psi/gamma from others. Also all the letters are symmetric

ψ       Δ

 Π          Ω

γ        χ

 

[vinipsmaker]

Take a look at this: http://youtu.be/ruFyq7fbfpU?t=26s

Where would you place the extra buttons in a way that feels natural?

There is plenty of vertical space, then the buttons only would need be compressed horizontally. And you could take a little of space between the buttons and the nubs, making the "discomfort" even lesser.

 

[hipnotoad]

So much for comfortable/natural n64 emulation. This layout is just horrible. Just as well spare the two extra buttons IMO as nothing is really achieved here... I think the layout should be fought over more so than the labels...

Take a look at this: http://youtu.be/ruFyq7fbfpU?t=26s
Where would you place the extra buttons in a way that feels natural?

Well, if we HAD to keep the button spacing the same as in that video, I think the following would be more comfortable based on the natural resting position of your right thumb:

    @
@ + @
+  @

Which could then correlate to:

         cup
cleft cdown cright
     B    A
[/quote
Edit: Sorry quoting is off here.

 

[Majin Wamu]

If we use normal letters for the buttons I think it would be a good idea to make them all lower case if the keyboard will have letters in upper case/CAPS (and vise versa) just to reduce confusion.

 

[Neelix]

If we use normal letters for the buttons I think it would be a good idea to make them all lower case if the keyboard will have letters in upper case/CAPS (and vise versa) just to reduce confusion.

How is that meant to reduce confusion?  What do you press to enter an 'a' ?  A.  The keyboard keys though labelled with capital letters are by default lowercase letters.   That's because they are conceptually and nominally the same character.  If you want to avoid the confusion of having multiple buttons with the same label, it's not enough to simply make them visually different. 

(the same goes for adding underlines)

Did you ever take a test at school to determine your learning style,   Visual, Auditory or Tactile?  Different people assimilate information  in different ways.  To me,  A, a and A are all processed the same way,  because what I hear in my head when reading all three is the same.   That isn't to say that I can't tell the difference, I can,  but there is certainly room for confusion, especially if there's a delay between learning something and using it, or in spoken communications. 

- Neelix