![]() (As in many other areas of interaction design, selecting good defaults based on task analysis or other user research will be crucial for the usability of these systems.) Kayak used input steppers to allow users to change the number of travelers in on its search form. In these cases, input steppers are an appropriate design choice for supporting small adjustments of default values. For example, using a keyboard on a smartphone is error-prone, and some computer systems (such as transit terminals or museum kiosks) do not have keyboards. Steppers can get around device limitations. In this article, we discuss the pros and cons of this UI control, and how to use steppers correctly. Though input steppers are a handy tool for entering numbers in some cases, they’re not an ideal choice in every scenario. (Contrast this type of control to an absolute one such an text-entry field with absolute controls, the user specifies the new desired value with no reference to the previous value.) In this article we focus on the design of GUI input steppers. The key defining attribute of all these steppers is that they are relative controls - the user’s action changes the value of the specified variable by a certain fixed amount. And in a 3D gestural interface, waving your hand up might increase the value of a selected variable. For example, saying “volume up” or “volume down” to a voice-controlled TV set will modify the volume by a set quantity. Most input steppers are visual elements of a graphical user interface (i.e., they’re GUI controls), voice and gestural interfaces can also have steppers. Example of steppers: horizontal (left) and vertical (right)ĭefinition: An input stepper is a two-segment UI control used to incrementally increase or decrease a numeric value. There are many input options, but not all methods are suited for every task.Ī common input control is the input stepper, a user-interface element for inputting numeric information. Limited screen space on a mobile device or high interaction cost can make it difficult for users to type information.
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