Dan Saffer said: > I'd rather set the users' expectations correctly than to have them > click on a menu item and have a pop up appear telling them why they > can't do that. A really long tooltip: "If you want to Paste an object, > first you need to unlock this layer." is definitely better, but could > have tons of conditionals.
Right on, Dan. Making a menu item active to show a message why it is not actually available should be reserved for VERY unusual circumstances. In addition to the point you make, disabling menu choices in context provides a quick way to see what can and cannot be done at any moment: i.e., an effective tool for learning. And disabled choices also provide feedback to the more advanced user about what the current context is (e.g., it's sometimes hard to discern if 0, 1, or multiple items are selected, and the available choices can give good feedback about this). In addition to your suggestion about the wordy tooltip, one often overlooked area of online help in traditional software is information not only about what a field or UI element DOES, but also how to find it and how to enable it. Paul Eisen Principal User Experience Architect tandemseven ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help