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Ask DN: "Difficulty Rating" Design Pattern

over 6 years ago from Jason Etcovitch, UI Developer / Full-Stack Designer

  • Darren Treat, over 6 years ago

    Intent: To give a clearly recognizable scale (assuming 1:10)

    So To tackle this you are going to want to use something like the 5-star rating system. HOWEVER stars have a very clear connotation with rating something. Because difficulty doesn't equal quality rating, I would avoid the use of stars.

    Perhaps the use of simple dots could convey it well, I don't see a need otherwise for anything else.

    depending on what you are working on, Consumer reports uses a center weighted scale that goes from normal to bad or to great. Food for thought.

    1 point
    • Jason EtcovitchJason Etcovitch, over 6 years ago

      I agree against the use of stars, for sure.

      Simple dots could do the trick, but a line of 10 dots is rather long. Cutting some of them in half is so close to how stars are used, its too similar.

      What about having a numbered system, where the user sees the number rating?

      0 points
      • Stef KorsStef Kors, over 6 years ago

        Numbers don't mean anything without reference. How about just telling the user? Easy, moderate, hard. If you need more level you could use 6 step bar alongside the word to give a visual que.

        0 points