The dissident View: User Interfaces
"Where's my rack ears?"
Every now and then we get a question about the way our software looks. Some people have even gone so far as to say that it looks "dated", and lacks the flash of some programs available elsewhere. Why does our software look the way it does? As Bill Nye, The Science Guy is fond of saying: Please, consider the following: There is a trend these days to create applications which look like standard audio hardware items. For example, you might find a software application which looks just like a dedicated hardware effects unit, including realistic looking chrome switches, machined aluminum knobs, displays, and even rack ears! Granted, some people really like this because it's so familiar looking, but honestly now, what are you going to do with those rack ears? Don't they just take up valuable screen space that could be used for a more informative or easier to read display? What about that realistic looking numeric display? What is the point of using a high resolution, multi-color computer monitor to recreate the likeness of mid 1970's technology seven segment LED readouts? Why should software try to emulate the look of hardware which itself embodies the limitations of current or past technology? And what's the deal with knobs? Knobs make great sense in hardware since humans have these nice three dimensional appendages called fingers, so the knob is easy to grab and rotate. In software, though, people don't have fingers, they usually have a pointing device called a mouse. While pointing the mouse and depressing a button represents grabbing, there isn't a nice analogy to rotation. After all, if the software knob is programmed to respond to side to side or up and down motion, why not just use a standard slider? Everybody already knows how to use those (hardware or software). Is all this flashy stuff making the program easier to use and more efficient, or is it just a bunch of eye candy designed by marketing-droids as a means of getting your attention and creating a "buzz" among casual users of this gear?
In short, we don't go after the buzz. Instead, we consider the people who need to use our gear to get things done on a regular basis. We'd rather keep the interface simple, efficient, and functional, and where possible, give you control over how things look. For example, in Sample Wrench, you're not limited to some specific font or color scheme for the editors. You can specify just about any font you want for the axis labels, for example. Thus, if you tend to be far away from the monitor, you can choose a nice 20 point block style in bold if you so desire. Do you want a red waveform with blue markers on a black background? How about a dark blue waveform on a light gray background with dark green axis labels? It's your choice. We also tend to prefer crisp and clean dialog boxes where everything is clearly labeled and easy to manipulate. You tend not to see cute graphics. For example, in Sample Wrench's Parametric Equalizer function you will find controls for center frequency, cut/boost in dB, and filter width in octaves. You won't find an interactive drawing of the EQ response. Why? Isn't seeing the EQ curve a good thing? Well, if you're doing research in acoustics a technically accurate drawing of the response might be useful in certain circumstances, but let's face it, what matters in a musical context is how things sound. Would you prefer your tracks to be mixed by an audio engineer who sets the faders to the way he thinks they should look, or to what he hears? So, instead of the graphic, Sample Wrench gives you a Real-Time Preview button. You select your settings, hit Preview, and instantly hear the result. Further, you can adjust your settings during playback and hear the affect of those changes while playback continues (the immediacy of hardware with the convenience of software). Isn't that more useful in the long run? Granted, there are some places in which a graphic representation is quite useful, but it is our opinion that many products go overboard on this sort of thing for marketing reasons.
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