Scroll Wheel Reversal

[msnow]

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but this seems like a Mac vs Windows ergonomic issue. I always get the scrolling wrong on a Windows machine because it is opposite the way it is on a Mac, which they reversed quite a while ago. It's called 'natural scrolling' or something like that.

I wonder if those who get tricked up are typically Windows users, and the Mac users find it intuitive?

Mac user here and I get it wrong every time.

 

[ibracem]

Mac user here and I get it wrong every time.

I don't think it is a Mac/Windows thing actually. Although, that has also been an area where people have complained about y-axis disorientation. It is the perception that the wheel is actually rolling the screen up and down. The portion that your finger touches is opposite the portion of the "virtual wheel" that touches the screen and moves it up and down. It isn't needed for the volume control because it is a horizontal bar that is increased or decreased. It is personal preference, but feels completely natural to many of us. It actually gives the feeling that the wheel is connected to the screen. Who knows, maybe it only feels "wrong" to a small percentage of users. Maybe there are 5% that feels like it is backwards. Or, maybe it is closer to 50%. Maybe it's 90%. We can assume that it didn't feel wrong to the designers and engineers (at least not the majority) that designed it.

 

[stace]

I'm in the same boat. It's like trying to plug in a USB cable. I mean, it's intuitive for volume, obviously. Or if I have the right scrollwheel set for temp or fan speed, it's intuitive. But when selecting displays on the screen? It's always the opposite of what I expect. I've just grown used to scrolling the way I instinctually feel like, and correcting if my instincts are wrong.

 

[msnow]

I don't think it is a Mac/Windows thing actually. Although, that has also been an area where people have complained about y-axis disorientation. It is the perception that the wheel is actually rolling the screen up and down. The portion that your finger touches is opposite the portion of the "virtual wheel" that touches the screen and moves it up and down. It isn't needed for the volume control because it is a horizontal bar that is increased or decreased. It is personal preference, but feels completely natural to many of us. It actually gives the feeling that the wheel is connected to the screen. Who knows, maybe it only feels "wrong" to a small percentage of users. Maybe there are 5% that feels like it is backwards. Or, maybe it is closer to 50%. Maybe it's 90%. We can assume that it didn't feel wrong to the designers and engineers (at least not the majority) that designed it.

Judging by everything else I don't think we can put much stock in what the devs thought was the "right way".
It seems intuitive to me that rolling back would open the sunroof not the opposite but I could be in the minority.

 

[NOLA_Mike]

Is it just me, or do others struggle with this as well? Even if it's not a big struggle for you, are there at least some out there who would prefer the scroll wheels work the other way?

I just assumed stuff like that was due to old age...

Seriously, it seems like 95% of the time I hit the scroll wheel I want naturally and without even thinking about it. But that other 5% I go to adjust the volume on the audio system and I completely draw a blank as to which wheel is which. When that happens I usually end up turning the wrong one (which is why I try and keep the right one on temperature setting because in the previous car if it was set to sunroof open it really annoyed me to accidentally open the sun roof when I wanted to turn the volume down).

Bottom line for me is I think I would have the same problem if they were reversed until I got used it. It was sort of the same where the first Model S had the turn signal stalk and cruise stalk reversed - I eventually got used to it - then they changed it again.

Mike

 

[Andyw2100]

I wonder if those who get tricked up are typically Windows users, and the Mac users find it intuitive?

I thought it would be interesting to try to find this out, so I started a poll:

Poll: Scroll Wheel Movement--What's Intuitive And Perhaps Why

 

[Gig103]

I don't understand the confusing you're experiencing, it doesn't feel backwards to me. I scroll down and it scrolls down through the menus (i.e. phone contacts A->Z). I scroll up and it increases temperature or sunroof percentage.

I guess a "invert Y axis" option like a video game has wouldn't be difficult to implement but I'd hope they don't change it across the board.

 

[nico180]

i dont understand the confusing about scrolling. up is up. thats all there is

 

[msnow]

i dont understand the confusing about scrolling. up is up. thats all there is

So you don't find scrolling up to open and scrolling down to close the sunroof counterintuitive? I sure do, feels backwards and I get it wrong 90% of the time.

 

[Andyw2100]

I don't understand the confusing you're experiencing, it doesn't feel backwards to me. I scroll down and it scrolls down through the menus (i.e. phone contacts A->Z). I scroll up and it increases temperature or sunroof percentage.

i dont understand the confusing about scrolling. up is up. thats all there is

I started this thread because I wondered if I was the only person having issues getting my head around the scroll wheel direction. It was pretty apparent from the responses that I was not.

I fully understand that for you two, and others, the current movement is intuitive. That's fine. The suggestion I sent to Tesla, if implemented, would not in any way negatively impact you.

To explain the confusion for @Gig103, our confusion is not when raising or lowering volume. But when the IC is showing three items, with the center one highlighted, we expect scrolling down will pull the top item down to the center, so that it becomes the highlighted one. Instead, scrolling down takes us down to the item below. We're not suggesting that that functionality makes no sense. We certainly understand it. It just isn't intuitive for many of us, and we have to concentrate or get it wrong. It comes down to whether the scroll wheels move the items (background) or whether they move the focus.

Also please remember there's a poll here: Poll: Scroll Wheel Movement -- What's Intuitive And Perhaps Why

 

[DriverOne]

I too get the scrolling backwards every single time. I emailed Tesla about this at least two years ago. So far no fix or user option Drives me nuts!

The only thing I get right is the volume