Yes this is an interesting point. And it differs from visually highlighting a field once the user has encountered a form validation error. For example, a user misses or incorrectly fills out a mandatory field and when the form is re-presented, those fields are visually highlighted with a background colour. In this example, I find users actually like this method and find it useful/helpful.
-----Original Message----- From: Geoff Deering [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] *Another* thing I see that is happening in design a lot lately is that input fields are in greyed background by design, not function. What this is telling the user is that that field is *read only*. That is the standard way operating systems manage read only data, and the same way it is done on web based systems. It's absolutely sending the wrong message to users, when the input field is open to accept data input. If users are used to working on complex data retrieval systems, where there is a lot of read only data, then they will be confused by this because this type of design breaks the standard by which GUI's function. If this type of design continues, it will only confuse users more. -------------- Geoff Deering ****************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ****************************************************** ****************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ******************************************************
