Value List Arrows Backwards?

This may not be a bug but it is confusing:

It seems like the arrows in the Value List component do the opposite of what you think they would do. That is, when the "down" arrow is clicked, it moves to a higher item and when the "up" arrow is clicked, it moves the a lower item in the list.

If you have a list of items:

one = 1

two = 2

three = 3

and are currently on "one" and click the down arrow, nothing happens (unless you have cylindrical turned on). I would have thought going down in the list from "one" would get you to "two".

Maybe I'm just looking at the arrows wrong, but it seems like a triangle pointing down would go down a list and a triangle pointing up would go up a list.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Martin Dembski on May 20, 2011 at 12:53am

Hi Andrew,

when I was using the Value List component the first time I also thought it's weird, it goes in the wrong direction, I think because normaly you suggest positive numbers going upwards and negative numbers going downwards. But when you think of it little bit more it's working correct.

The arrow up mean the value you have currently goes up so you have in the next step the value below and so on.

You can also try it with a Digit Scroller component or the Number Slider component (when you using the scrolling) these are working the same way.

Best,

Martin.

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyes on May 20, 2011 at 2:25am

I think it's all relative, but you are not the only one thinking along these lines. I think its like a flight simulator controls why do you push the up arrow to go down?

The way I see it your list above is a list of increasing values therefore you use the up arrow to increase the value.

Just throwing a suggestion out here: would it be more intuitive to have previous and next arrows? i.e. side ways <-- Value -->

Permalink Reply by Andrew Kudless on May 20, 2011 at 1:04pm

Or even better would be a simple drop-down list. The "up" arrow could be removed and when you click on the "down" arrow a standard drop-down list could appear giving you quick access to all of the options. You can already do this by right-clicking, but why re-invent the wheel if users are already familiar with standard web-form drop-down menus?

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyes on May 20, 2011 at 1:17pm

I think that would be another component as this was requested to meet a need http://www.grasshopper3d.com/forum/topics/how-did-they-do-this

Permalink Reply by Andrew Kudless on May 20, 2011 at 3:58pm

I don't think it would be another component as it is just a change to the GUI and not the underlying functionality. The ValueList component is nearly a drop-down menu but it just doesn't drop-down yet (without right-clicking). Instead, it moves sequentially through a list of values. By changing the GUI slightly, it would combine the existing functionality you get with the right-click with added clarity (since it seems like others also are confused by the ordering). RhinoNest could simply use the updated component (similar to the updates that have occurred wit the number slider).

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on June 22, 2011 at 12:06pm

Done. This makes a lot more sense than the way it was before. Especially on long lists you never knew whether to go backwards or forwards and how far.