Controller glossary
The words used on the tester, in one place. A shorter set sits on the homepage.
- Gamepad API
- The browser interface that exposes buttons, axes, and, on some browsers, vibration. This tester reads it on every animation frame.
- WebHID
- A Chromium feature that lets a site request a specific USB or Bluetooth HID device after you pick it. Desktop Chrome and Edge only.
- Stick drift
- A resting offset. The stick reports movement while your thumb is off it.
- Deadzone
- The region around center that a game ignores. It hides drift and also hides the start of your aim.
- Circularity
- How close a full rotation stays to radius 1 around the gate. Oval wear shows up as sector error.
- Axis
- One direction of a stick or other analog control, usually from −1 to 1. A stick is two axes.
- Analog button
- A button that reports a fraction, not just off or on. Triggers are the common case.
- Standard mapping
- The W3C order: south face button at index 0, east at 1, west at 2, north at 3, then bumpers, triggers, menu buttons, stick clicks, and the D-pad.
- Polling rate
- How often a host asks a device for a report. On this site the number is the browser-observed delivery rate, not the USB poll rate.
- Sample age
- How old the newest gamepad reading is when the page draws it. One slice of input lag, not the whole path to the display.
- Dual rumble
- The pair of eccentric motors in the handles. This is what the Gamepad API plays. It is not voice-coil haptics.
- Trigger rumble
- A buzz in the triggers. Distinct from adaptive trigger resistance, which pushes back and is not available here.
- Adaptive trigger
- A DualSense motor that changes how hard the trigger resists. Console games drive it. This tester does not.
- Gyroscope
- A motion sensor. Present in DualSense, DualShock 4, and Switch pads. Absent from the standard Gamepad reading.
- VID/PID
- Vendor id and product id, four hex digits each. 054C:0CE6 is a DualSense on USB. The browser does not always include them in the name string.
- Hall effect
- A stick that senses position with a magnet instead of a potentiometer track. It usually avoids classic drift. The browser cannot see the sensor type.
- Potentiometer
- A contact sensor. Wear and debris move its resting voltage, which games read as drift.
- XInput
- Microsoft’s API for Xbox-compatible pads on Windows. Browsers on Windows prefer it, which is why many pads appear as Xbox devices.
- DirectInput
- An older Windows input API. Some legacy pads only speak this, and their button order may be non-standard in the browser.