Style question for LCD display

[Dan Moos]

Ok, lets say I the numbers 1-9 written in order on an  2x16 LCD to represent 9 selectable things.

That's easy.

What if I want 1-12? I can't think of a decent looking way to represent double digit numbers on such a display. I could to letters, but that doesnt seem as intuitive to me. Its an option, but not my ideal.

I know I can get one more than nine by starting with zero, but while the nerd in me can see that just fine, I think the guitar players I'm targeting might thing otherwise. I don't hate that idea, but I don't love it. And that only gets me to 10 selections.

I could do custom characters, but I am not convinced squishing the numbers 10,11, and 12 into so few pixels would look good. Its probably the best option, but still not great to me.

I could get a fancier LCD, but my wife has caught on to the growing number of Mouser deliveries, and I may be pushing my luck already.

So, any idea's I haven't thought of? and if not, if you were the user, which of those I mentioned suck the least to you?

[ataradov]

Do everything with letters to begin with. You will have 26 options right away, and no need to deal with counting from 0.

[ade]

If they are fixed selections, then another option might be to simply provide text labels outside of the LCD (e.g., painted on the case on top of the LCD). 

It might be better than requiring guitarists memorize what selections "2", "4", "B" or "J" might mean.

[DimitriP]

 1 For this
 2 For that
...
 9 For the other
10 Do nothing

Are you displaying the option number and then the option description as a string?
Why not just add the number in front of the option string ?
Are you one character short so you can't use double digits ?

What am I missing?

[sleemanj]

What if I want 1-12? I can't think of a decent looking way to represent double digit numbers on such a display.

It's not clear what your " numbers 1-9 written in order on an  2x16 LCD to represent 9 selectable things " interface actually looks like in practice, I'm maybe imagining that you have no spaces between the numbers, all on one line, and are inverting the selected number?

If that is the case, then yes that wouldn't look good when you get to double digits.

DimitriP's interface suggestion of being able to scroll through numbered and/or named options is a better idea from an interface standpoint.  A rotary encoder with push function is the usual control chosen for that sort of thing, turn to option you want, press to select.

[Dan Moos]

Yes, just 9 numbers that can be highlighted.

Scrolling through named selections does sound good, but there is still a hitch.

Let me give you the application. I'm building a guitar pedal controller that will allow one to select which stomp boxes are active, and in which order. My first Idea was the pedals represented by numbers listed on the top line, and the user can select a number, and drop it on the second line, so that the selected numbers are listed on the second line in the new arbitrary order.

Naming the pedal slots and scrolling is a great idea, and probably what I'll do, but I still want an "at a glance" list of the active selections and order, which implies some sort of list that fits on the whole screen.

Letters will probably be the way I guess.

[Buriedcode]

Whilst I still love using character LCD's, these days it is just as cheap to use monochrome graphic.  Also, many tend to be FSTN which gives better viewing angle and contrast. 

A 128x64 will have similar sized pixels to a standard 16x2, but of course with no gap.  Often for a similar price.

Sometimes the controllers have built in character roms, but mostly you'll have to store your own on a micro. Doing animated whole screen graphics can get hairy, but just a splash screen, and text is straight forward for an 8-bit device.  As many are SPI you'll also save on pins.

[obiwanjacobi]

Using letters or numbers is convenient for the developer but not so for mere mortal users.

I suggest you make a menu with actual words and use a rotary encoder with push button (as suggested) for easy navigation.

Keep it as simple as possible. Go over the most used functions and put these on top and ensure they can be achieved with minimal number of 'clicks'.

[2c]

[amyk]

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F

Who says musicians don't know hex?

[westfw]

lets say I the numbers 1-9 written in order on an  2x16 LCD to represent 9 selectable things.
What if I want 1-12?

It depends on the audience.  Hex Digits 0-9A-F would be fine for a technical crowd.  Otherwise I like the idea of starting with 'A' for the shorter lists as well.

Isn't there a basic tenant of user interface design that says that menus shouldn't have that many choices?  You want 7 +/- 2 (short term memory size) or whatever can be taken in in a glance (which might or might not be different.)  If you have a menu with 12 items, it should probably be 2 menus...