Radial slider for user input on mobile devices

Question

I'm asked to implement a radial slider for user input on mobile devices. I looked through the Android and Apple specification and couldn't find such a radial slider.

The user will input data through this radial slider e.g. expected useful life in years (1 - 15 years), daily usage (1 - 24 hours) and weekly usage (1 - 15 times).

And the radial slider will also display said data for the user to show the current settings.

What do you guys think regarding this? Is it a useful approach? I'm still not sure if there's maybe a better way to implement this in regards of UX.

Sample for radial sliders: http://roundsliderui.com/

Thank you.

Answer 1

I clicked around with that radial slider in the link you provided and can tell you that I much prefer more standard methods of input (numerical input, horizontal sliders/range selectors, etc.). Why? Because a number range doesn't conceptually end where it begins as the radial slider shows.

Furthermore, it tends to be a bit unclear how to update the range values if you happen to select a zero range (both ends of the slider are at the same point).

However, it sounds like what you're doing is just selecting a single value rather than a range. Maybe you could get away with styling it more like a speedometer or other similar dial? This way, a user could have a skeuomorphic mental model to map the controls to.

Answer 2

Any interaction is only useful if the target users understand it.

I'd suggest making a quick and dirty prototype that just has the radial slider and asking users to input various values and see how they get on.

You should also test inputting the same values using two sliders, two text fields with number pads, and any other methods you can think of that will allow the user to achieve the same result.

This is such an unusual interaction that, I think, the only way you're going to find out if it works or not is to test it with real people.