Charles,
I am a firm believer in "Rules are meant to be broken" and KISS (Keep
it simple stupid). I am also a Rebel at heart so I take the suggestions
from people about good form and then 'see' what it might look like in
real life. If my alternative solution works and is good enough than I
go for it. Also, I believe the audience is your judge and depending on
who the tutorial is for should dictate the actions you take.
I will say there are very good reasons for some standards and
guidelines. And simple for a user is not always simple for the
programmer in fact it sometimes takes complicated solutions to make
something appear simple for the user.
Lastly, I feel it is our duty as programmers(even hobbiest) to make any
app or tutorial follow good form and suggest others to think the same
way.
I would love to see your stack when finished.
GL
Tom
On Jul 5, 2005, at 7:46 AM, Charles Hartman wrote:
Yes, but couldn't it be argued that in this sense a tutorial app -- in
effect, just a slicker & thinner alternative to a textbook -- has
requirements-on-the-user's-attention different from a normal,
"productive" app? Even *opposite* requirements? Slow 'em down! Block
that skimming! OK, I know it isn't as simple (or as complicated?) as
that . . . I just keep remembering Einstein, Things should be as
simple as possible, and no simpler. But I didn't mean to start a UI or
HIG thread.
Charles Hartman
On Jul 5, 2005, at 7:31 AM, Thomas McGrath III wrote:
2 cents:
I agree. It is not good moving buttons in fields or groups. It makes
it too hard for users to develop a motor plan for those buttons. A
motor plan is what happens during touch typing or even during walking
where our muscles develop a plan to those activities without having
to think about it.
In fact having to think about it is what slows us down. Try to think
about the muscles in your legs moving while walking down the stairs -
careful because you might actually fall down. Using motor plans is
the 'only' way to become truly proficient at using professional
software. This is true for menus as well - constantly moving menus
around make a user stop and then have to search for the menu and item
visually.
There have been hundreds of papers and years of research done on
this. It is part of what I do for a living.
I think that games might be the exception to this where movement is a
part of the fun of the game.
Tom
On Jul 4, 2005, at 5:18 PM, Dan Shafer wrote:
Just my two cents -- and it's a holiday here so my brain may be
otherwise engaged -- I think putting buttons into scrolling fields
is a terrible UI idea. By definition, it puts certain functionality
out of the reach of the user until and unless s/he scrolls the
field. Lotus NOtes allowed this and every time I saw an app designed
to take advantage of it, users got confused.
I suspect I feel the same way about buttons in scrolling GROUPS.
Interactive functionality needs to be where users
can...well...interact with it, no?
Dan (who fears he's probably started another one of those "up your
opinion" threads that are so much fun)
On Jul 4, 2005, at 8:14 AM, Charles Hartman wrote:
On Jul 1, 2005, at 1:04 PM, Mathewson wrote:
I have just downloaded the SuperCard 4.5 demo and found
they have a new feature:
allowObjects
this lets the user embed object (images and so on) inside
FIELDS:
WOW - I would love scrolling text fields with pictures!
-- and buttons! (At the moment I'm doing this is a non-scrolling
field inside a scrolling group, but aside from being tedious that
has other disadvantages, such as the scroll-wheel not working
right.)
Charles Hartman
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