Dennis, I can't argue about what is or is not standard Windows behavior, but based on what others have said, I'm just repeating that this behavior can be avoided by proper coding. It seems as though Microsoft has provided a number of ways to achieve the very same screen appearance, so the "standard behavior" of poorly behaving code is irrelevant if better code eliminates the issue.
I still maintain that the boxes and circles on the current Individual screen are indeed misleading, however pretty they might be. The current state of the control can be displayed just as well without the box or the circle being present. Does a check mark inside a box mean anything different than a check mark without a surrounding box? Same for the dot inside the circle. A white background appears to be used (consistently, except for the events) wherever user input is expected -- not only inside the text boxes, but also inside the check boxes and circles. Plain text appearing on the background should NOT cause data input. Most of the background-colored areas on the screen where user interaction can be done are identified by square or rectanglar outlines, making very clear the exact size of the clickable area. If the labels of the check boxes and radio controls are supposed to be considered as input areas, why are they not contained within a well-defined outlined area, and why is that area not white? Sorry, but I still don't understand why making it perfectly clear what areas of the screen are hot would make things any more difficult for anybody, no matter how they choose to work. And it definitely eliminates the unintentional consequences of HIDDEN hot spots -- the navigational ones are merely nuisances, but the data-altering ones can create errors that are never detected. Bob -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Dennis Nichols Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2004 11:39 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [LegacyUG] Hidden "hot spots" At 12/15/2004 07:57 AM, Bob Janetzko wrote: >(3) Regarding the check boxes and radio controls on the Individual screen, >it has already been pointed out by others familiar with PC programming that >this is simply the result of sloppy screen design and coding -- not >separating the actual control from its label. There is no reason why the >active area needs to be any larger than the box or circle itself, but there >is reason why it should not be. Labels are a totally separate issue from >the active control and they should never have been active in the first >place, no matter how long or short they are, or whether they are the exact >length of the displayed text or contain a lot of extra blank space. If the >text that constitutes the label is hot, then the preceding box and circle >are not only unnecessary, but they are completely misleading to the user, >since they serve no purpose whatsoever. Having kept quiet until now, I have to argue against this logic. First, it *is* standard Windows behavior that the label for a radio button or check box be hot. Your argument about this should be with Microsoft, not the Legacy folk. Second, I really like having the labels hot and am very annoyed that web browsers don't use the same standard. And finally, your argument about the "box and circle" being unnecessary and misleading is just not supportable. The box and circle most obviously serve the purpose of indicating the current state of the control. And the user is quite free to click in the box or circle area with the resulting action exactly as expected. The addition of hot labels makes mousing around much easier because there is that larger target for those of us who may have some fine motor control issues. And those people who use keyboards instead of mice are rewarded because the labels are highlighted while tabbing through, and that's much easier to see than just highlighting the box or circle (I don't much like the tabbing order of the controls, however). Dennis Nichols Legacy User Group Etiquette guidelines can be found at: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/ To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp Legacy User Group Etiquette guidelines can be found at: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/ To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp
