Hi,
Alexey Proskuryakov wrote:
One way to come up with a good name for something already in existence is to look how other people call it. For example, a Wikipedia article on USB HID devices puts everything this spec cares about into "game controllers" section. How about GameController?
Yes, agreed, GameController was the third candidate that was discussed in the WG (other than Joystick and Gamepad). Gamepad was favoured, because "Controller" seemed to imply too much generality (cameras, et al.). The discussion is in the minutes here for those interested http://www.w3.org/2011/09/20-webevents-minutes.html. Personally, I see Gamepad as a representative name rather than necessarily all encompassing. Analogously we use "Mouse" in other specs. Many people use trackballs, trackpads, joystick-like devices, etc. to control "some indexed buttons with a 2d location + scrolling indications". This is because there's no particularly better word for that input concept than "mouse". I believe this is the case for "gamepad" too. Jerry Seeger <vikingjs@me.com> wrote:
I read the scope, and it seems pretty clear, but it's worth asking: If you stated what you DO cover better, is it no longer necessary to state what you DON'T cover. If the scope is clear, why is the name so difficult? In this case a 'gamepad' has been defined as a collection of analog inputs with input values between either 0..1 or -1..1.From my (very brief) scanning of the spec, it seems like this is the 'bounded (or finite?) analog input collection' spec.
Thanks for the feedback. That does seem like a good way of summarizing the scope, and I think we should include something like that in the spec to help make things more explicit. As a name though, boundedAnalogInputDeviceCollection seems a bit unwieldy. scott